This little voice, so soft and delicate, it's naturally seamless!
"Hello, who's this?" Chen Yan said while coughing.
The beef stir-fry he had for lunch was a bit spicy, his throat tensed, and after a few words, he couldn't help but start coughing.
There was a brief silence on the other end, then the tone became more solemn.
"Mr. Chen, I'm an old acquaintance of your family... entrusted by someone, I came to..."
Chen Yan hung up immediately!
From what my granny said, my biological mom is a white fox!
And we still don't even know what species my biological dad is.
Besides, that sweet and nice voice... it might just be AI-generated!
I've never heard such a naturally seamless clipped voice in real life.
These days, phone scams are getting more and more common!
Personal information, privacy protection, the government should do a better job!
Hmm, I'll download an anti-scam app later.
While thinking this, Chen Yan set his phone to block all unknown calls.
Then he went back to his suitcase to look for the ring.
On the other side of the call, standing by a public phone next to a newsstand, the girl looked bewilderedly at the receiver in her hand.
He actually hung up on me?!
Why can't I reach him?
After a moment of silence, the girl, pale-faced, put down the phone, and took out a one-yuan bill to give to the newsstand owner...
The owner, momentarily stunned, took the money — someone still uses cash?
Moreover, this money... hmm?!
He subconsciously glanced at the girl, who looked a bit ethereal and enchanting.
Such an old bill, haven't seen one in ages. And it's now a collector's item, not in circulation anymore.
Whose family is so generous to spend something that should be a collectible?
Such a pretty girl, but a fool.
Chen Yan retrieved the hidden jadeite ring from the compartment of his suitcase.
He had taken a towel from the bathroom in the hotel before leaving Port City and carefully wrapped it, placing it in the compartment of his suitcase.
He was originally worried if there might be any problems at customs, but everything went smoothly.
He figured he was probably overthinking. After all, Port City is a shopping paradise with a huge daily influx of tourists. Unless you're blatantly carrying large quantities, customs usually doesn't bother with small stuff .
Holding the ring, Chen Yan felt its cool touch, and the vibrant green color brought him joy just by looking at it.
Following a simple method in the artifact identification Chapter from the manual, Chen Yan channeled a bit of Primordial Qi into the jadeite ring.
With the infusion of Primordial Qi, the jade ring's green color seemed to react slightly, becoming a bit more vibrant.
Chen Yan observed this with satisfaction, judging that the nurturing technique seemed effective on this item. Without further hesitation, he increased the infusion of Primordial Qi.
After a few minutes, Chen Yan started to feel a bit tired, but also surprised.
He had been continuously infusing Primordial Qi for several minutes, but it showed no sign of reaching its limit.
According to the nurturing technique, even the best jade materials from the mundane world could only absorb a bit of Primordial Qi each day — regular jade couldn't handle a huge initial infusion.
Then, by continuously infusing small amounts over time, its quality could gradually improve.
But this ring seemed to exceed the described capacity in the nurturing technique.
Of course, Chen Yan was not entirely certain, as the manual's descriptions were rather vague.
It mentioned that ordinary jade could only take a small initial amount of Primordial Qi.
But how much is "a small amount" exactly?
Chen Yan felt this was as unclear as some vague cooking recipes.
Adding "a small amount" of salt, "a small amount" of soy sauce.
How much is a small amount exactly?
If you've never cooked, how would you know how much is "a small amount"?
Only those who know how to cook know how much salt, how much oil to add!
Two kinds of people, those who cook, and those who don't.
Which group is the main target of cookbooks?
For many years, Chen Yan never understood the mindset of those who wrote cookbooks.
Is the material of the ring too good? Or hasn't my infusing reached its capacity?
Or... am I just too weak? After all, I'm just a beginner. Could it be that despite my best efforts, I haven't even reached the "small amount" mentioned in the nurturing technique?
In short, it's either the material is too good, or I'm too lame.
Chen Yan had a sudden thought: This item was left by my grandmother in the safe. If it's my grandmother's, could it be a magical artifact?
With this new thought, Chen Yan's spirits were lifted.
The secret manual's Artifact Identification Chapter contained a method for identifying and recognizing magical artifacts.
Previously, Chen Yan had no magical artifacts, so this miracle art was of no use to him, and he didn't pay much attention to it. Now, he quickly took out the manual — he valued its importance, personally sewing a cloth pouch for it, which he wore around his neck, always keeping it close except when bathing or sleeping, pressing the pouch under his pillow at night.
He took out the secret manual and re-read the identification technique, attempting to channel Primordial Qi into the ring according to the instructions.
According to the manual, this miracle art works through resonance. If the item is indeed a magical artifact, its built-in Primordial Qi would react when triggered.
But after performing the spell, the ring showed no reaction, straining Chen Yan's eyes to the point of soreness without any hint of abnormality.
Unwilling to give up, Chen Yan considered another possibility: some magical artifacts come with restrictions set by their owners, which only the owner's unique spell can activate.
With this thought, Chen Yan didn't dare use the nurturing technique on the ring anymore.
If he recklessly infused too much Primordial Qi, it might damage the internal array of the magical artifact.
Chen Yan pondered for a while, feeling an itch to find out, and came up with a way to identify it.
To see if this ring is truly a treasure, he just needed to test its Primordial Qi capacity.
He would find a piece of regular jade, infuse it with Primordial Qi, and compare its capacity to the ring.
If the regular jade's capacity is close, there's no need to dream.
If the ring's capacity far exceeds the regular jade, it might indeed be a treasure!
Chen Yan, being a man of action, immediately put on his coat, put the ring in his pocket, and headed out!
Let me explain something. Some readers have asked why they can't reward or vote for this book...
I've seen some trolls gleefully saying this book is doomed because no one has rewarded or voted for it.
The truth is, this book hasn't signed a contract yet.
So, rewards and votes weren't possible until now.
I delayed the contract process myself.
Old readers from my previous book know, a while back, my father had a serious accident while traveling, needing a major joint replacement surgery far away (a Level 4 surgery). As the only child, I had to drop everything and rush 2000 kilometers to handle it, spending many days away.
This caused the conclusion of my last book to be delayed for several days. Being 2000 kilometers away, I had no time to write the ending of the old book or the beginning of the new one, as the new book's contract needs the opening to be submitted for review first.
This delayed the submission and processing of my new book.
So even though I've expedited the contract process, it still needs a few days.]