Chapter 3: Copying the Gold Bracelet and Selling It

Ding-dong!

A clear notification sound shattered the room's silence. Qin Hao jumped, quickly picking up his phone.

【Your loan application has been approved, the amount has been successfully deposited into your linked account; please check.】

Success!

Qin Hao let out a long breath, a complex mix of excitement and anxiety welling up in his chest.

He immediately checked his bank card balance, and indeed there was an extra twenty thousand yuan.

To him, this sum was undoubtedly a huge amount, and also a double-edged sword.

The night passed in silence.

The next morning, Qin Hao took a day off, then headed straight to the biggest gold and silver jewelry trading market in Zhou Cheng, clutching that 'huge sum'.

He chose this place because gold prices are a bit cheaper here and there are more styles.

Entering a resplendent jewelry store, the dazzling array of gold ornaments sparkled under the spotlights, making Qin Hao feel a bit dizzy.

He tried to appear calm and natural, not letting anyone see his nervousness.

"Sir, hello, what would you like to look at?" a finely made-up salesperson greeted with a smile.

"I'd like to look at bracelets," Qin Hao said calmly.

His gaze swept back and forth over the counter, preparing to pick a suitably priced one to buy.

In the end, he chose a simple-design plain gold bracelet, about forty grams, priced at 450 yuan per gram.

The total price was over eighteen thousand.

This weight and price fit exactly within his budget.

"This one!" Qin Hao said, pointing at that bracelet.

Then came payment, invoicing, and packaging.

The whole process was completed in under two minutes.

As he walked out of the jewelry store holding the exquisitely packaged box, he felt the sunlight a bit glaring.

Suppressing his excitement, he hailed a taxi and left.

Returning to that familiar rented apartment, Qin Hao double-locked the door, drew the curtains, and made sure no one would disturb him.

Then he carefully opened the jewelry box; the gleaming gold bracelet lay quietly on the red velvet, radiating an alluring glow.

Suppressing his excitement, Qin Hao first picked it up and scanned it.

System: 【Copying the target gold bracelet requires 380 Energy Points】

"Hmm? Looks like I don't have enough energy!" Furrowing his brow, Qin Hao had no choice but to first charge up.

This time, he directly charged it to 400 points.

"Four hundred Energy Points—finally enough!" Qin Hao felt excited,

then quickly picked up the gold bracelet; its slight heft and cool touch invigorated him.

He silently chanted, "System, give me a copy!"

In the next instant, his left hand, which had been empty, now gripped an identical gold bracelet!

The two bracelets were completely identical in color, weight, size, and even the minute marks—there was no way to tell which was the original and which the copy.

"Haha, success! Great!" Qin Hao could no longer contain his inner joy.

He picked up both bracelets, turning them over and over, his face brimming with incredulous excitement.

This feeling was completely different from copying paper money. Paper money has serial numbers, making it worthless.

But this gold bracelet has no such thing as a serial number! This means the copy in his hand is real gold! It's genuine gold that can be taken to a gold shop and pawned for cash!

He immediately checked the system interface.

Energy Points remaining: 20, exactly having used 380.

Qin Hao silently clicked his tongue.

It seems the energy consumption for copying different items is worlds apart.

But that doesn't matter now.

What matters is that he succeeded!

He now possessed a heaven-defying ability to endlessly copy gold!

After the shock came immense elation.

He seemed to see himself marching toward the pinnacle of life.

Those once-distant dreams—luxury cars, mansions, financial freedom—suddenly felt within reach.

"Calm down, calm down!"

Qin Hao forced himself to calm down.

Now he held the key to change his fate, but the more so, the more he needed to be cautious.

He couldn't get carried away, nor let anyone know this secret.

He carefully put away both bracelets, placing one back in its original box and wrapping the other in a cloth, hiding it.

Next, he needed to consider how to monetize the copied gold.

Taking it straight to the shop where he just bought the bracelet to sell? That definitely wouldn't work—it would arouse suspicion too easily.

"I need to find another shop to sell it."

Having decided on the plan, Qin Hao immediately went out again, found a jewelry store farther from him, and prepared to sell the copied bracelet.

Zhang Liufu Jewelry Store.

"Boss, do you take this bracelet?" Qin Hao asked bluntly as soon as he entered.

At the same time, he produced the copied bracelet and handed it over.

Got it! But I need to verify authenticity first.

The gold shop owner is a shrewd middle-aged man; after taking the bracelet, he brought out professional tools to carefully appraise it, then weighed it.

Hmm, pure gold, just over forty grams, today's buyback price is 415 yuan per gram, total is yuan.

The boss quoted a price.

Qin Hao did a quick mental calculation; although he'd lose a little compared to what he paid, it was still reasonable.

He nodded: "Okay, let's go with that price."

However, just then the shop owner asked Qin Hao: "By the way, little brother, do you have the purchase invoice?"

Having anticipated this situation, Qin Hao casually found an excuse to explain.

"I don't know where I lost the invoice; I can't find it anymore."

The boss listened, then gave a slight smile,

"Oh! If that's the case, the price might..." He didn't finish the sentence, instead giving a knowing look.

Qin Hao understood: "I get the rule, boss, just tell me a price and I'll consider it."

"How about this: 400 yuan per gram? After all, gold without an invoice carries risk for me too."

After saying that, the boss kept observing Qin Hao's reaction.

And Qin Hao naturally knew this was the other party deliberately lowering the price; for his few dozen grams of gold, the other side felt no pressure at all.

After all, it's not several tens of jin.

"Alright then! That price, but I want cash."

Qin Hao deliberately furrowed his brows, thought for a while, then reluctantly agreed. In fact, he was secretly overjoyed— a few hundred points of energy equals a few hundred kilowatt-hours of electricity, just a few hundred yuan in electric bills.

What he got in return was over ten thousand yuan; this profit would make even capitalists tear up.

After receiving the money, Qin Hao went home.

Then he began seriously thinking about how to make money using this system.

If he duplicated gold every day, consuming several hundred to a thousand degrees of electricity, the power company might think he'd opened a mine and show up any minute to check the water meter—oh no, the electric meter.

There's simply no way to get away with it,

"Moreover, selling the gold is also a hassle." Qin Hao sighed.

This time selling a bracelet went relatively smoothly.

But if he regularly took gold jewelry to sell, and each time "coincidentally" lacked an invoice, even a fool would suspect.

Gold shop owners are all sharp; if they caught on and called the police, things would get big.

"We can't only sell to one shop, and we still need to solve these two problems." Qin Hao kept thinking.

The first problem to solve is the energy issue. Can't do it in the rental unit, so we need to find a place with high electricity consumption that wouldn't easily draw attention.