So it really was called the Dragon Pearl.
It had several heaven-defying functions:
First: treasure hunting and antique appraisal.
Anything of value within a three-meter radius, whether a cultural relic or antique, could trigger a strange response in him. The stronger the response, the more precious the treasure.
Second: extracting skills from cultural relics and antiques.
Those who had achieved great things in history were all resolute and possessed powerful minds. Their paintings and calligraphy, the brushes, inkstones, weapons, and tools they had used could all contain their spiritual imprints. As long as he touched them with his left hand, he could extract those imprints and gain the skills they had been best at in life.
Third: Storage.
Inside the Dragon Pearl was a space fifty meters in diameter.
It could be used to store things.
Fourth: the Dragon Pearl could absorb the spiritual energy within treasures and store it in the Dragon Pearl Space. As the concentration of spiritual energy increased, the range of Treasure Sense would expand, and the Dragon Pearl might even unlock new functions.
“Is this for real?”
Zhang Jun’s heart pounded wildly. His breathing quickened, and both hands trembled.
He picked up a stone and thought to himself: Store!
In an instant, the stone vanished from his hand!
At almost the same time, a wisp of his “consciousness” seemed to split off and enter a strange, hazy gray space.
The stone was lying quietly inside.
“Come out!”
The next second, the stone appeared silently in his left hand!
“Oh my god, it really can store things! Then the other functions must work too—treasure hunting, antique appraisal, Storage, and skill extraction. Especially skill extraction—that’s incredible! So many amazing people lived in ancient times, and their skills have all been lost. Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy, Hua Tuo’s Medical Skills, Tang Bohu’s painting… If I can find the objects they used in life or their works, I can extract those skills?
“This is practically tailor-made for me, a Cultural Relics Appraisal graduate! I must be the luckiest person alive to have obtained such a peerless treasure!”
Zhang Jun’s face lit up with wild joy. He was incredibly excited.
At last, his chance to turn his life around had come!
And it had come in such an unbelievable, shocking way!
Zhang Jun immediately headed for Antique Street, brushing shoulders with the bustling crowds.
Stronger and weaker traces of “Treasure Sense” flickered in and out within his “three-meter radius,” like fireflies dancing through the grass on a summer night!
Ahead to his left, a wealthy, overdressed woman wore an ice type jadeite bangle on her wrist, radiating a cool, rich Treasure Sense.
A white-collar girl hurrying past on his right wore a fine gold necklace at her throat that gave off a faint but distinct response.
A middle-aged man carrying a briefcase wore a watch whose case seemed to be no ordinary item, either.
Even the tiny pearl studs in the ears of a young woman holding hands with her boyfriend across the street gave off the faintest ripples of Treasure Sense…
As he walked along a stretch of stone-paved road in the old city, a fairly strong but numerous Treasure Sense emanated from three meters underground!
There weren’t just a few traces, but dozens!
“There’s treasure underground? An ancient tomb? A buried hoard?” Zhang Jun jolted in alarm and stopped in his tracks.
Good heavens, the three-meter sensing range wasn’t limited to the surface! It could even detect things underground!
As he passed a large dump, he sensed another extremely faint, almost imperceptible trace of Treasure Sense.
“There’s something!” Zhang Jun perked up, his heart involuntarily beating faster.
Following that faint trace of Treasure Sense, he quickly fixed his gaze on an old wallet, filthy beyond recognition, half-hidden beneath wastepaper and rotten vegetable leaves.
Carefully, he pulled the wallet out with two fingers.
It was made of cheap faux leather, its corners already split, and it gave off a musty smell.
He unzipped it. It was empty except for a few supermarket receipts.
He carefully felt around the wallet’s inner structure, his fingertips stopping at a slightly thicker spot in the lining.
With a forceful tug, he ripped open a hidden pocket. Inside lay a crumpled red banknote!
“A hundred yuan!” Zhang Jun’s eyes lit up, and joy surged in his heart!
At last, he wasn’t completely penniless!
He put the banknote away, his confidence greatly boosted.
He continued wandering around the dump.
Soon, he sensed something incredibly, incredibly strong!
Its source was just a few steps away, inside a crushed cardboard box printed with the logo of a certain wedding pastry brand.
The box was half-open, and seemed to contain some sticky, suspiciously colored sludge, covered in dust and grime.
Zhang Jun walked over, his face alight with excitement. Fighting back the strange smell, a mix of sweetness and decay, he opened the box fully.
Inside was a pile of completely melted wedding candies, all stuck together. Judging by their shape, they had probably once been chocolates or milk candies, but now they had turned into a patch of blackish-brown “candy sludge,” covered in scraps of paper and dust.
But the wrappers around the candies were a dazzling gold!
They were crumpled and smeared with sticky candy residue, mixed in with the melted sludge.
“Could these candy wrappers… actually be made of gold? Otherwise, why would they give off such a strong Treasure Sense?” An absurd thought that made his heart race flashed through Zhang Jun’s mind like lightning!
Excitedly, he separated the dirty golden wrappers from the candy sludge one by one, along with a few cleaner ones underneath, and stuffed them into a relatively clean plastic bag.
Just then, a familiar yet grating female voice rang out behind him, full of undisguised surprise and contempt:
“Zhang Jun? Is that really you?”
Zhang Jun paused and turned around.
His ex-girlfriend, Ding Lan, stood several meters away with a black garbage bag in hand, looking him up and down as if he were some kind of monster.
Today she wore a tight floral dress. Her makeup was exquisite, and her figure was on full display. She was certainly attractive, but compared with Liu Qingxue, the gap in her looks, bearing, and figure was as clear as the difference between heaven and earth.
“Seriously, talk about running into the last person I want to see. Why did I have to run into her again?”
Zhang Jun’s expression darkened.
Ding Lan’s gaze fell on the plastic bag in Zhang Jun’s hand, filled with filthy golden scraps. Then it settled on his face, smudged with dust from his excitement and rummaging. Her lips curled in undisguised mockery.
She tossed aside her garbage bag, crossed her arms, and took another step forward in her high heels. Her voice was scathing. “I never thought you’d sink this low! Picking through garbage? Are you… so broke you’ve lost your mind? Thank goodness, thank goodness I broke up with you early. Otherwise, would I be digging through garbage with you for food now? Just thinking about it disgusts me!”
Zhang Jun curled his lips into a cold smile. “You blind woman. What do you know? This is called ‘antique appraisal’ and ‘bargain hunting’! A garbage heap might still hold a priceless treasure. Open your eyes, and don’t use your pitifully limited knowledge to judge others.”
“You… who are you calling blind?” Ding Lan trembled with anger, her voice suddenly rising. “Antique appraisal? Bargain hunting? You think you can do that? You’re picking up filthy, disgusting candy wrappers from who knows what wedding banquet and treating them like treasure?
“Zhang Jun, you’re not just poor—you’re completely out of your mind! You’ve gone crazy thinking about money. You’re hallucinating now!”