"Yeah, I know a bunch of younger guys from the internet cafe. We raid together in World of Warcraft, and they're all pretty cool," Hao Lei said. "What's up?"
"I need you to buy so potassium permanganate for . The tablet kind, I need 3,000 of them," Fang Zhen said. "You can order it online, use a local delivery service, or go get it yourself. Just make sure no single person buys more than 300 grams. Use different IDs, don't go to the sa pharmacy, and it's best to spread the purchases across different channels."
He wanted to go through Hao Lei to create a sort of firewall.
If the purchases were spread out, the potassium permanganate would be difficult to trace.
Hao Lei was young but tight-lipped, and reliable when it ca to getting things done.
'He honed those skills over in Moscow. He shouldn't screw this up.'
"Got it." Hao Lei's response was crisp.
Fang Zhen smiled.
He pulled out his phone and transferred 5,000 to Hao Lei.
"I've sent you the money. Go get it done. Use the extra to treat your friends to a al, and keep the rest for yourself," Fang Zhen said.
He was paying for this out of his own pocket, so it wouldn't go through the company's books.
"You got it!" Hao Lei replied, his voice full of excitent.
Fang Zhen moved the equipnt into the trunk of the Land Rover in the garage.
Hao Lei left first to take care of it.
Fang Zhen then went upstairs and ca down a few minutes later with a black leather bag in his hand.
Inside the leather bag were about 1,000 Gold Ropes.
After getting in the car, he called Wang Donglai.
The call connected, and he got straight to the point. "Donglai, do you know of a place where I can do so talworking? It needs to have power and water."
"I've gotten interested in talworking recently. I want to lt so tal, just for fun. I'm hoping for sowhere secluded where I won't be disturbed. Know of any place like that?"
"Man, you have the widest range of hobbies," Wang Donglai said. "But I actually do know a place. It's a friend's shop, totally empty right now. It fits your requirents perfectly."
"When do you need it?"
"Right now," Fang Zhen said.
"Alright, I'll send you the address in a bit. Just use your GPS to get there. I'll et you there and wait for you," Wang Donglai said.
Fang Zhen hung up the phone.
In Xiahai, Wang Donglai knew people from every walk of life. His network was vast.
Wang Donglai was like Doraemon; whatever you needed, he could find the resources and connections for it. Even if he didn't have sothing himself, he could find it through a friend.
Plus, Wang Donglai never considered it a hassle. He was a true friend—if you had a problem, he'd genuinely help you out.
Of course, this was also because Fang Zhen offered sothing of value that Wang Donglai needed. In the past, Wang Donglai had been indecisive about certain things and needed soone to be his backbone.
Besides, Fang Zhen had never treated his friend unfairly. Whenever there was a profit to be made, if he was eating at, he'd make sure his brother got to drink the soup. That's why friends who understood reciprocity were happy to associate with him.
It was normal for friends to help each other.
He needed to relt the Gold now. The factory in the suburbs would have been a good spot, but its power and water had been shut off.
Having a shop in the city would indeed be much more convenient.
Before long, Wang Donglai sent over the location.
Fang Zhen opened his navigation app, started the car, and headed for the destination.
「Over thirty minutes later.」
Fang Zhen arrived.
The location was near the industrial district, but a little farther north, still on the outskirts of the city.
The roads in this area were lined with two- and three-story storefronts. The surrounding apartnt buildings were all six or seven stories, and so appeared to be walk-ups.
He figured this must be an older district, the kind of place that used to have a lot of factories and company-owned housing for employees.
A short while later, Wang Donglai pulled up in his Cadillac.
Fang Zhen greeted him, and the two got out of their cars and walked towards a standalone two-story building.
Wang Donglai led him to a rather unique building.
The building was completely detached, set apart from the neighboring structures. Its overall style was concrete-gray, making it look sowhat out of place.
As Wang Donglai opened the door, he explained the situation to Fang Zhen.
The storefront belonged to a friend of Wang Donglai.
The guy hit the jackpot with demolition compensation. He owns seventeen or eighteen properties—houses and storefronts—and just collects rent.
His life was so comfortable that he was always looking for sothing to do. After mulling it over, he had a wild idea: he decided to open a foundry experience studio.
The idea was probably inspired by those pottery-making studios. Plus, the guy had studied tallurgy and had a passion for tal. He wanted to create a more "hardcore" version, sothing like the show 'Forged in Fire,' hoping to start a new trend. It was purely a passion project.
The guy opened the shop without consulting anyone. He had solid connections, though—he managed to get the fire safety approvals and the business license all sorted out.
What he didn't expect was that pottery studios are photogenic, attracting young won and white-collar workers and becoming trendy "check-in" spots on social dia. They're also popular with couples and for family activities.
But a tal foundry? Families stayed away because of the danger. And what kind of hardcore couple would decide to go slting and forging on a date?
The studio was in a remote location, and in a whole year, it only attracted a handful of custors. They were all rough-and-tumble guys looking for a novelty experience, and none of them ever ca back.
And so, the shop spectacularly failed on its own rits.
The owner was still young and unmarried. With his dream of a foundry business in shambles, he just dropped everything and went off to travel the world.
He didn't bother renting the place out; he just gave the keys to Wang Donglai.
Now he's apparently semi-settled over in Tokyo. He might not even co back once in the next three to five years.
He entrusted the actual use of the shop to Wang Donglai.
Fang Zhen clicked his tongue in amazent as he listened.
'Still, I guess I'm benefiting from that guy's whim,' Fang Zhen thought.
'I hear there's plenty to do in Tokyo. Hope he's having a good ti.'
Once inside, Fang Zhen took a look around. The place was certainly unique.
The owner had a vision. He had decorated it in an industrial style—or rather, he'd just copied a factory layout. The floor was bare concrete, the rooms inside were like workshops, and he was clearly a fan of that forging competition show, as many design elents were based on it.
"This place has water and power. The owner's not short on cash, so the utility accounts are paid way up. He won't be back anyti soon either. If you want to slt tal, this place is perfect for it. Use the utilities and tools as you wish. You don't have to worry about fires, either. The place is nothing but concrete and steel; it wouldn't burn even if you tried," Wang Donglai said.
"Perfect." Fang Zhen nodded.
He didn't stand on ceremony with Wang Donglai.
Wang Donglai's family had arranged a mandatory blind date for him that evening. The guy didn't want to get married, but he had to go through the motions to keep them happy, so he headed back to get ready, leaving the keys with Fang Zhen.
After Wang Donglai left, Fang Zhen moved the slting equipnt from his trunk to the second floor. He then went back downstairs, locked the main door from the inside, and returned to the second-floor workshop to get started.
He had watched countless videos of people slting their own Gold. He knew the steps like the back of his hand and was very confident.
'This is simple enough. I can definitely get it right on the first try.'
Feeling relaxed, Fang Zhen began his preparations.
He laid out the crucible, borax, and molds he would be using, and prepared a steel bucket with purified water for cooling. Then he put on a thick apron and safety goggles.
The workshop even had air conditioning. He found a universal remote app on his phone, and to his surprise, it worked. He turned on the AC and set the temperature low, ready for a mix of cool air and hot flas.
With his preparations nearly complete, he placed the Gold Ropes into the crucible.
The crucible was flask-shaped and could hold a fair amount. As Fang Zhen placed the Gold Ropes inside one by one, he found it could fit a surprising number of them.
Once the crucible was mostly full, Fang Zhen adjusted the electric furnace and started the heating process.
This electric furnace of his had pretty good specs. The heating speed was adjustable, and it could heat up by forty-five degrees per minute.
Fang Zhen was quite patient as he waited for the furnace to co to temperature.
At that mont, he felt a sense of pleasure that was different from the usual thrill of excitent.
It was the calm, pleasant experience of having everything under his control.
Even though he was waiting, he didn't feel the least bit impatient. It was like being a child again, squatting in the doorway of his ho, watching a heavy rainstorm. He felt completely serene, his mind perfectly at peace.
Fang Zhen savored the feeling. He found it incredibly relaxing and even lost track of ti.
Thirty minutes later, the electric furnace had heated to over a thousand degrees.
The Gold inside had now lted into a molten state.
During the process, Fang Zhen continuously sprinkled in so flux.
As he added borax to the molten Gold, the impurities began to react, and the lting point was lowered.
Using a heat-resistant stirring rod, Fang Zhen constantly stirred the molten Gold to ensure the flux was distributed evenly.
Once mixed, the impurities in the molten Gold began to react with the flux.
The purity of the Gold began to rise.
Fang Zhen watched in anticipation.
Once it was slted and purified, he could find an opportunity to circulate his gold bars on the market. That would an a huge influx of liquid capital.
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