Richest Rag-picker

Chapter 502: Chapter 474: Brother Xiaoma’s Phone Call

Qi Xiaotian pointed in the direction of the asteroid and said,

"With all that commotion last night, of course I know what happened."

When Fang Chenyi heard this, his interest was immediately piqued. It was the perfect opportunity, as he still had no idea what had happened the previous night.

’Maybe Xiaotian and the others saw it,’ he thought, so he asked,

"What on earth happened last night? I was inside a cave, so I have no idea what was going on outside. All I know is that when I came out, I found... a new volcano."

Qi Xiaotian had been wondering why Fang Chenyi didn’t know, but hearing that he’d been in a cave cleared things up. He began to explain.

But as Qi Xiaotian explained, Fang Chenyi couldn’t help but smile wryly.

The reason was simple: it turned out he himself was the one who had created the volcano.

Originally, the lava pit where the meteorite had crashed was quite stable. It would occasionally spurt out some lava, but there was no way it could have formed a volcano on its own.

But after Fang Chenyi entered the pit, he first placed the Rune Stone into the circular disk on the Meteorite, which immediately caused a violent tremor.

This caused the first massive surge of lava to erupt, forming a small mound.

The second time, when Fang Chenyi turned the asteroid around to inspect it, an even greater amount of lava erupted frantically from underground, directly piling up to form a crater tens of meters high.

And that wasn’t all. A short while later, to keep others from discovering the secret of the disk, Fang Chenyi pulled the asteroid out and flipped it over.

That single action caused another massive eruption of lava from below—even more than the first time—creating the scene they saw today.

To put it bluntly, Fang Chenyi himself was responsible for all of it.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. The existence of a volcano meant there was now a prominent landmark.

If he ever wanted to come back, finding this place would be much easier.

Moreover, the volcano would prevent the lava pit from being buried by the shifting sands of the desert.

’I just don’t know if the lava inside will cool and solidify. It’ll be fine if it keeps churning like this. But if it solidifies, finding that asteroid again won’t be so simple next time I come back with another Rune Stone.’

Of course, none of this was within Fang Chenyi’s control. What he needed to do now was get back as quickly as possible and find the remaining Rune Stones.

The group packed up quickly. In less than five minutes, they had dismantled the entire camp and loaded everything onto the vehicles.

And since their main vehicle was already massive, being one truck short didn’t make things feel crowded.

They turned the vehicles around and drove quickly toward the edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Perhaps because they had spent so much time in the heart of the desert, the air felt refreshingly cool with every mile they drove outward.

Time passed slowly. Along the way, they passed numerous oncoming vehicles. It was clear their destination was the location of the asteroid.

However, Fang Chenyi wasn’t worried. After all, the asteroid was hidden inside the volcanic crater, which was quite secure.

By evening, the convoy had successfully arrived at the small town.

Fang Chenyi did not go back on his word. He had someone bring a leather bag from the truck and took out thirty thick stacks of bright red banknotes, handing them directly to the young man.

Seeing the thirty stacks of cash, the young man’s eyes went wide with amazement. He bowed repeatedly to Fang Chenyi, thanking him profusely.

Just as the young man was about to leave, Fang Chenyi called out to him, making his heart skip a beat.

’What is it? Is he going to do something to me?’ Before the young man could let his imagination run wild, Fang Chenyi spoke.

"This trip, you were with us for a total of four days, right? We agreed beforehand on 1,000 per day. Here, this is 4,000."

Hearing this, the young man’s anxious heart finally settled. However, he had already accepted 300,000, so he felt a bit embarrassed to take another 4,000.

He quickly waved his hands and refused, but Fang Chenyi simply stuffed the money into his hands, chuckling as he said, "This is the payment you’ve earned."

After dropping the young man off in town, the convoy didn’t linger, instead heading straight for the nearest airport through the night.

With his business here concluded, Fang Chenyi didn’t want to spend another moment in this place.

It wasn’t just him; Fang Chenyi could tell that all his crew members felt the same way.

RING RING RING.

Just as the vehicle drove out of the small town, the phone in Fang Chenyi’s pocket suddenly rang.

He took it out and looked at the screen, frowning in confusion.

’Why is this guy calling me all of a sudden?’

He answered the phone and was greeted by a hearty laugh from the other end.

"Haha, Younger Brother Fang, you’re a hard man to reach! I must have called you at least ten times before I finally got through."

Fang Chenyi heard this and understood. His phone must have had no signal after he entered the Taklamakan Desert, which was why he hadn’t received any calls.

But now that he was out of the Taklamakan Desert and back in town, he had service again.

He laughed and replied,

"Haha, I was in the mountains where the signal is spotty. Just got out. What’s up, Brother Xiaoma? Are you calling because you’ve decided to sell the Penguin Group to me?"

The caller was none other than Brother Xiaoma of the Penguin Group.

The two had met before; in fact, Fang Chenyi had even acquired Penguin Games. But they hadn’t been in contact since then. ’I wonder what he wants to call me for this time,’ he thought.

"Younger Brother, stop teasing me. With an empire as big as yours, why would you even look twice at my humble little group?"

Fang Chenyi just laughed.

"Who says? I’ve been drooling over the Penguin Group for a long time, Brother Xiaoma. Just say the word. If you’re willing to sell, I’ll buy the whole company outright! After all, it’s a part of our generation’s collective memory, isn’t it?"

After some lighthearted banter, both men burst into laughter. Brother Xiaoma then steered the conversation to the real topic.

"Haha, alright, jokes aside, Younger Brother. I have something serious to discuss. Do you have some free time in the coming days? I’d like to treat you to dinner."

’There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ Getting invited to dinner out of the blue... Fang Chenyi didn’t even have to think hard to know that the man was after something.

Still, Fang Chenyi’s impression of Brother Xiaoma was quite positive.

Just as he’d said, the Penguin brand carried so many memories for people born in the 90s.

Fang Chenyi could still vividly remember how, every time he went to an internet cafe, the first thing he would do was launch Penguin Messenger. The second thing was to help a bunch of his friends log in to keep their accounts active...

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