Chapter 51

Ye Heng's control of spiritual power is stronger than Lin Meng's; with this space as a link, pulling a small cheat is always possible.

Thinking this, Lin Meng instead calmed down.

Whether or not we buy the raw stone today, at least we can figure out the relationship between Stone Gambling and spiritual power, treating it as practice.

Ye Heng originally was with Sun Hao and two team members, carefully moving through the uninhabited zone.

Zombies pose little threat to them, but the frequently appearing mutant beasts still require vigilance.

But when Ye Heng heard Lin Meng's call, he still immediately raised his hand to signal everyone to stop advancing.

"What's up, Team Captain?"

Ye Heng inwardly inspected with his spiritual power; it was Lin Meng seeking him to ask about Stone Gambling, so he immediately told the other three:

"The goddess has business with me; quickly find a place to stop."

Upon hearing it was the goddess calling, Sun Hao and the others dared not delay, quickly finding a relatively safe shelter and all four hid inside.

"Lin Meng, you're doing Stone Gambling? Although I've never really touched it, we here have exploration scavenging, which also relies on spiritual power to distinguish rare metal materials, so the principle should be the same."

Lin Meng then said: "Then take a look, how is this piece in the space?"

She had previously examined it; the raw stone's aura was ordinary, and its spiritual power fluctuation was minuscule.

She guessed there was indeed something here, but likely just worthless seed material; cutting it might only yield enough for some small trinkets, and factoring in the raw stone's price of several thousand, it would be a major loss.

Ye Heng solemnly took the raw stone out of the space, introduced it to Sun Hao and the others, and the four studied it carefully, ultimately concluding that this raw stone would not yield anything good.

Lin Meng, in the VIP room with a view, sent each raw stone one by one into the space, asking Ye Heng to help identify them.

After an hour of discussion, Lin Meng finally locked onto the raw stone with the highest cost-performance ratio, intending to purchase it.

In her interaction with Ye Heng, she also became proficient in applying spiritual power to Stone Gambling.

Just as she had previously judged, raw stones that cause intense spiritual power fluctuations definitely contain excellent material.

It's a pity that none of these stones contain excellent material; today we came up empty-handed on a big find.

When Lin Meng returned to the outer area, Wang Xiang had already been waiting, somewhat impatient.

Just as he was deciding to press harder to coax Lin Meng, she instead directly spoke to the staff.

"This piece I'll buy; the rest I don't want. Please settle the bill and arrange an experienced stone-cutting master to help cut the stone."

Wang Xiang took a look; it was a medium-priced ordinary piece, not the aged stock he wanted to sell her, so he was about to speak to coax her.

But Lin Meng had long lost the patience to play along with him; she coldly exposed him directly.

"You don't really think I know nothing, do you? This rookie killer?"

Wang Xiang stared, suddenly feeling that the young girl before him had completely changed her aura; earlier she seemed easy to deceive, a college girl, but after stepping into the VIP room she became sharp-eyed and hard to provoke.

Lin Meng had already followed the staff to complete the procedures; seeing Wang Xiang still trying to catch up, she said without turning back:

"Don't think I don't know you're colluding with the people here; keep those aged materials you introduced for yourself to digest slowly—I won't be the sucker."

Seeing his little scheme thoroughly exposed, Wang Xiang dropped the act and immediately changed his expression toward Lin Meng's back.

"Young lady, recklessness comes at a price! I, Wang Xiang, may not be a good person, but in this stall I have some reputation; my ability to judge goods is no worse than those with certificates."

"I'll tell you straight: that raw stone you want won't yield anything good; if you don't listen to me, you'll have to pay even more tuition here!"

"Damn little brat, really good at pretending; I've been smiling all this time and ended up being toyed with!"

Wang Xiang muttered curses under his breath, turned and headed toward the stone-cutting room.

He wanted to see what would finally come out of it.

After a while, when the stone split with one cut, he would definitely have to mock that woman harshly.

Originally he'd only have to lose a couple thousand, but now he'd lose a gold bracelet, just to make her not listen to his advice!

Lin Meng spent eighteen thousand to buy this stone, then followed to the stone-cutting room; upon entering she saw the ill-intentioned Wang Xiang.

She ignored him, walked straight to the platform-recommended cutter, and handed over the raw stone.

"Master, please help cut the stone; be careful, taking more time is fine."

Here, senior stone-cutting masters charge fees; the one Lin Meng hired charges by time.

Thus, upon hearing she had no time limit, the stone-cutting master immediately showed a professional smile.

"Alright, miss, go sit over there and wait; we'll surely handle this stone material carefully and meticulously."

In the waiting area there were many customers having stones cut here; Lin Meng, being a newcomer and the youngest, was hard not to attract attention.

Someone recognized her as the newcomer Wang Xiang had set his sights on; seeing she hadn't been fooled by him, many thought Lin Meng was quite clever.

But upon inquiry, they found this girl had actually spent eighteen thousand on her first try on a stone that looked mediocre, and they sighed anew.

One of them, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looked experienced, a retired old man with a high pension, leisurely said:

"Young lady, I don't think the material you bought is any good; that kind of skin usually yields nothing good; since you're just starting, you should first buy some low-priced pieces to practice."

Someone agreed:

"Yes, young lady, you're too impatient; you can't get fat in one bite with this; moreover, this stall is a big mix, containing jade, Hetian jade, red agate, turquoise, etc.; even getting dog feces counts as lucky; you come in and spend ten thousand right away, tsk tsk tsk..."

Several old-timers, relying on their experience, pointed and commented on Lin Meng's actions.

Lin Meng had her hands in her pockets, very confident.

"Don't worry, gentlemen; eighteen thousand is nothing—I can afford to play."

The young lady's tone was bold; the old-timers felt bored and went back to staring at their own materials.

Two hours later, the stone-cutting master's side finally had some movement.

"It's open, it's open—big gain!"

That exclamation drew everyone in the stone-cutting room over.

Lin Meng hurried over and saw the old master excitedly say to her:

"Young lady, your hand is truly divine; on your first try you picked a top-grade Hetian jade raw stone!"

The reactions of the people around were all similar; they didn't really believe it.

But when they took a close look, everyone was shocked to see a small patch of white, fine, and moist jade revealed at the cut.

It's oiling out — this is such fine material!

Look at this, it's definitely mutton fat jade, little lady — you're going to strike it rich!

What kind of luck is this? She hits it big right off the bat — how are we old players supposed to keep playing?

Could this be the legendary newcomer's protection period?

Wang Xiang swayed on the brink of collapse, his guts turning green with regret.

That's top‑grade mutton fat jade that could be a family heirloom — if he hadn't blushed in front of this girl, he'd still be considered half her guide, and he'd surely reap some benefit.

Now it's great — not only did the benefit fly away, but afterward he'll surely be mocked by his peers.

Lin Meng saw that it was mutton fat jade, felt a bit pleased, but remained composed, unperturbed by praise or blame.

Her mental power told her that this raw stone certainly held something good, but the fluctuation wasn't big — perhaps the seed material wasn't large.

"Master, keep going, cut it clean."

Hearing that, the master didn't dare touch it again — this was top‑grade mutton fat jade worth at least ten thousand per gram; how could he still dare to cut?

Soon, a heavyweight figure behind the scenes of the Stone Gambling Venue also arrived.

The venue turned up mutton fat jade today, sure to cause a sizable stir.

Lin Meng saw the person arrive, rolled her eyes — isn't this Uncle Yellow Tooth, Fifth Lord Qin?

"Uncle, is this Stone Gambling Venue also your business?"