Had it been in the Immortal World, Tang Xiu wouldn"t have believed it if this Water Progenitor Stone was sold as jewelry, but this was Earth. Tang Xiu had seen too many precious treasures in this world that were sold by ordinary people as regular objects.

"Where else can I buy this thing?" Tang Xiu took a deep breath and turned to look at Hao Lei.

Only then did Hao Lei finally realize that Tang Xiu"s expression was unusual. She was surprised and glanced at the Heart of the Ocean again before slowly answering, "To the best of my knowledge, there"s only one such aqua crystal of this quality. There have been several amethyst crystals in existence, the most famous of which is the "Gem of Rose" owned by the Kingdom of Great Britain"s royal family and is currently in the Queen"s crown. Unfortunately, that treasure is not for sale no matter how much is offered."

Tang Xiu"s eyes s.h.i.+mmered, and he nodded and said, "Help me pay attention to the world"s top crystals or gems. If they are of this quality or better, contact me immediately. Also, I"ll take this Heart of the Ocean as it"s very important to me."

"For this Heart of the Ocean to be fancied by you is truly a blessing for us, Boss," replied Hao Lei with a smile.

****

Inside an exclusive café near the Grand Fortune Jewelry"s edifice, Qi Changxing drank his coffee with a soulless expression. Even he didn"t pay attention to the G.o.ddess he had been trying to court for a long time who was now sitting across from him. The unexpected encounter with Tang Xiu had made him shudder in fear, though it was fortunate that Tang Xiu didn"t embarra.s.s him nor make things difficult. He knew that even if he didn"t lose his life, he would at least have a layer of his skin peeled off.

Undoubtedly, the issue came up because he didn"t remember that the Grand Fortune Jewelry was Tang Xiu"s business. He only suddenly recalled it the moment he saw Hao Lei. Recalling such a thing made him decide that he would never go to Grand Fortune Jewelry to buy anything ever again. He even made up his mind to never approach two kilometers around Grand Fortune Jewelry or the Everlasting Feast Hall, so as not to encounter this fiend, this evil star, ever again.

"Hey, Changxin, you look out of sorts, you know."

Yang Hui stirred the sugared coffee with a spoon while she wore a strange expression on her pretty face. Her tone sounded casual, yet had some intention to it.

Qi Changxing raised his head and bitterly replied, "I wouldn"t be scared like this even if I were to encounter the richest man in Hong Kong, Li Juren. It can be said that there"s only one person who can scare me. Only one…"

"Who"s exactly this "one"?" Yang Hui squinted and quickly asked.

Qi Changxing was silent for a few seconds. He secretly glanced around and found that no one was paying attention to them. He then lowered his voice and answered, "Little Hui, you must not tell this to another soul, else I"ll be d.a.m.ned to die!"

"I promise no one will know what you"re gonna tell me," said Yang Hui immediately with all seriousness. "n.o.body else will learn it from my mouth."

"His name is Tang Xiu, the Big Boss behind Grand Fortune Jewelry and the Everlasting Feast Hall," Qi Changxing whispered. "Also, you should have heard about what happened to Jiang Yu, Chen Fei, and Du Yang, right?"

Yang Hui"s eyes instantly turned into saucers as she exclaimed in alarm, "Their industries were struck with accidents last year. The rumors I heard was that they had offended a very powerful person and ended up with bad luck. That"s right, there was still your Qi Family too… Huh, don"t tell me… it all was because of what he did?"

"Of course, it"s him, alright?" Qi Changxin forced a bitter smile and said, "I"m afraid that he"s the only one who can do that in all of China. My Qi Family is quite fine as we only lost two billion. But the other three… d.a.m.n it, I might as well tell you! Four of us offended Tang Xiu that time and lost 20 billion, at the very least."

Gasp!

Yang Hui knew what 20 billion yuan meant. Even if her Yang Family was also a major family in Hong Kong with a lot of a.s.sets and industries in other places, the total a.s.sets they owned was just half of that, 10 billion.

As day blended into night, Tang Xiu had dinner with Hao Lei while Mo Awu arrived in Hong Kong with the other ten of his bodyguards and called him. Tang Xiu was then escorted by Hao Lei in her car to Hong Kong Airport.

"Can I go with you too, Boss?" asked Hao Lei, eyes full of expectation.

"You can"t." Tang Xiu shook his head and smiled, "Just stay well in Hong Kong and do your best to process that five tons of jade and sell them. I expect that I"ll need a lot of them in September, so I hope that this plan won"t delay what I"ve planned by then."

"Alright, no problem." Hao Lei heavily nodded.

It would take six and a half hours to fly from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv. If they took off at 20:00, they would arrive in Tel Aviv around 03:30 in the middle of the night. Tang Xiu used his small green book so that he could take the flight all by himself with no other pa.s.sengers, leaving only 12 people in the pa.s.senger plane.

Tel Aviv was Israel"s second largest city and was a modern international metropolis inhabited by 400,000 people, adjacent to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. It boasted 51.76 square kilometers of an urban area. The location of the labor camp 1319 was not in downtown Tel Aviv but was in Bat Yam, one of the surrounding urban cl.u.s.ters.

Bat Yam was only inhabited by a few hundred thousand people and had a strong economy. Even though it was slightly worse compared to some third-tier cities in China, it was still comparable to many county towns under munic.i.p.alities.

The labor camp 1319 was located more than a dozen kilometers southeast of Bat Yam. It covered a large area and looked like a strong castle from the outside.

Early in the morning, Tang Xiu and his men checked in their lodging at the highest-rated hotel in Bat Yam city. Mo Awu, who had been here before, was very familiar with this small town.

On the fifth floor of the hotel.

Tang Xiu was standing before the window, looking toward the southeast, and asked, "Tell me what you think, Awu."

"The current top official of the labor camp 1319 is not the one we met that time, Boss," said Mo Awu. "I"ve contacted my former business partner on the way here. He"s a powerful underworld gang leader in Tel Aviv, Gus Gilles. He told me that the new top dog in the labor camp 1319, Augustino, is a particularly greedy man. This guy has been involved in some shady dealings to make some money recently, so it will be harder than in the past if we want to buy a large number of inmates from the labor camp."

"He"s using the inmates in the prison to ama.s.s money? How did he do it?" asked Tang Xiu, surprised.

"The gladiatorial fights to the death," answered Mo Awu.

Tang Xiu frowned. He suddenly remembered the trailer he had seen at the movies. The inmates from many prisons were gathered together for the underground "fight to the death" tournaments, in which many rich people secretly came to the match arena through shady channels to have some unrestrained gambling.

If the situation was like in the movies, Tang Xiu realized that it would be tough to buy the world"s top hitman, Spectre, with just 100 million USD.

"Tell me your idea, then," said Tang Xiu calmly and then lit up a cigarette.

"I think you should first meet our former partner, this Gus Gilles," said Mo Awu. "He"s one of the best in doing a deal like buying inmates. But this guy is also a greedy man, so it"s going to cost more if we don"t want to expose our ident.i.ty."

Tang Xiu pondered for a short while before he nodded and said, "It does inconvenience for us to act openly on this issue. You"re right. Let"s use the local scoundrels to do things for us. It will only cost us a bit more at most, yet will save us the trouble of getting exposed and implicated later. Where"s this Gus Gilles now?"

"He"s in Tel Aviv."

"Can you make him come over?" asked Tang Xiu. "Make arrangements to meet him."

"No problem." Mo Awu said with a smile, "Gus Gilles doesn"t know about our true ident.i.ty, but he does understand our strength. He won"t dare offend us."

Tang Xiu nodded and motioned for Mo Awu to contact Gus Gilles before he mulled over the issue silently. He brought 1 billion USD this time, but he had no idea how many inmates he could buy. He also had to consider some other issues as well. He"d have to implement another plan if 1 billion USD couldn"t do the job. But the plan was dangerous; even the slightest mistake could lead to suppression from the army of Tel Aviv"s authority.

There was also another issue. He must see these inmates before he purchased them. He decided to enter the prison as a prisoner first if possible while he waited for the designated inmates to be purchased. Then, he would negotiate with the prison"s top dog, Augustino.

As the afternoon came, four black SUVs roared as they came to the hotel that Tang Xiu was residing in. Several big, strong men protected a middle-aged man in a white suit and sungla.s.ses who got off from the third black SUV. The middle-aged Caucasian man had a shaved head with a tattoo on his left cheek and neck.

After Mo Awu appeared with the other two bodyguards at the hotel"s entrance, Gus Gilles grinned and strode toward him.

"I"m so glad I can meet you again here in Bat Yam, buddy! You"re still as robust as in the past, even after so many years."

Mo Awu smiled back and hugged him, then smilingly said, "You also look a lot younger, Gus. You"ve been in control of a mafia that dominates Tel Aviv"s underworld; does that make your life more comfortable or something?"

"Bah, ignore that nonsensical s.h.i.+t people have been spitting out, Wu." Gus Gilles shook his head and smiled. "I"d wake up laughing if I really could rule the entire underworld of Tel Aviv. It"s a pity that today"s youngsters are getting more powerful—even I got done in quite badly by a bunch of those brat b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"Tell me something, is there anything I can help you with?" asked Mo Awu with a curious yet quaint smile.

Gus Gilles squinted his eyes and observed the two men behind Mo Awu. Then he immediately said with a smile, "Take it easy, buddy. It"s just that I"m quite curious. What kind of bigshot can make you his subordinate? By the way, I"ve got another question too. Where"s your dear little brother, Wen? Why don"t I see him with you?"

"That younger brother of mine is carrying out another mission, so he didn"t come with me," said Mo Awu with a smile. "As for our Boss. You better act respectfully when you meet him, man. It"s not only because he has a lot of more powerful men than me, but he"s also a powerful terror himself."

"No kidding, man." Gus Gilles was astounded. "Can you tell me again where you hail from, Wu?"

The smile on Mo Awu"s face receded a lot. He approached Gu Gilles and whispered in his ear, "If you have the force comparable to the Stygian Club"s, it"s fine for me to tell you, else it might as well harm you instead."