NOVPUBGolden Shores International Airport.
Daniel and Sophia are locked in a passionate kiss.
Lips and teeth colliding, tenderness flows like water.
After a long time, they reluctantly part when they’re nearly out of breath.
Sophia hangs on Daniel like a koala, resting her head on his chest. "This time, we won’t see each other for a month."
The filming for "Wild Treasure Hunt" will take a month.
But who knows how long it will be, once you factor in all sorts of miscellaneous stuff.
Daniel speaks up, "If you’re going to miss me that much, then I won’t go."
Sophia leaps off Daniel instantly.
She watches him warily and shakes her head, "No way, I don’t want people saying I’m a jinx holding my man back."
"This ’Wild Treasure Hunt’ is a global show. Even if you don’t win, just getting your face seen will bring you massive popularity!"
At this point, Sophia’s eyes narrow into a smile, "I want to be the woman behind the world’s strongest man!"
"Heh."
Daniel is amused by Sophia’s words.
He reaches out and playfully taps her nose, "You sure have high hopes."
"First, ace your exams, then you can aspire to be the woman behind the strongest man."
"I, the strongest man, won’t take a woman who can’t pass her exams."
Sophia rolls her eyes, "I’ve always been a top student!"
The couple banters.
Allen and Abel, the two brothers, have just arrived at the airport, carrying Daniel’s luggage.
Seeing Daniel and Sophia like this, Allen teases, "Do we need to get a curtain for you two to practice behind?"
"Buzz off."
Daniel takes the luggage from Allen and Abel.
It’s time to board the plane.
He pinches Sophia’s face, "I’m leaving. You have a whole month to study hard."
With that, Daniel whispers in Sophia’s ear, "When I come back, I’ll make sure you can’t leave the bed."
Hearing Daniel’s words, Sophia swallows, "Who keeps whom in bed is still uncertain."
Daniel just smiles in response and doesn’t answer.
He looks at Allen and Abel, "While I’m away from Golden Shores, don’t miss out on the chance to make big money from the shipping containers."
Allen thumps his chest, "Leave it to us."
...
Mauritania National Museum.
The solemn place is now full of cameras.
Here, the global treasure hunting show "Wild Treasure Hunt" is about to begin.
To organize this show, the director of "Wild Treasure Hunt" has invited every famous treasure hunter in the world.
Despite Daniel’s reputation in Golden Shores and millions of global fans, he barely meets the participation threshold for this show.
"Interesting."
Surveying the varied crowd, Daniel stands in a corner of the museum, a smirk on his lips.
His original purpose was to look for the Atlantis teleportation tablet.
Now, it seems there’s much more fun waiting for him.
"All of you are top treasure hunters from around the world?"
A gorgeous young woman steps out to the center.
Blonde, blue-eyed, curvy. Every move she makes is filled with a ripe peach’s allure.
She looks around, her enchanting smile captivating everyone.
Even Daniel’s heart skips a beat.
"Welcome to Mauritania. Before we head to the ruins, we’ve selected three unknown treasures from Mauritania’s National Museum."
"Guess the closest value and you’ll get a little surprise from our show."
Someone in the crowd teases:
"Is this little surprise you?"
"If I get to spend a night with Gwen, even if I’m eliminated right away, I’d be willing."
Gwen, however, doesn’t get upset.
Instead, she smoothes out her dress and flaunts her figure: "If you guys think I’m more important than those digging tools, I wouldn’t mind sharing a night of passion."
A femme fatale!
Daniel looks at Gwen on the stage, thinking of this term.
For Gwen...
No, for the sake of gaining more convenient excavation tools, Daniel steps out from the corner, coming to the center of the scene, his eyes boldly landing on Gwen.
"The joking ends here."
"Now, let’s look at the first piece of the collection."
Gwen speaks. A beautiful maid walks out from the backstage.
She is also curvaceous and extraordinarily beautiful.
But compared to Gwen on stage, she pales in comparison.
In her hand is a tray, on which lays a necklace adorned with a dozen blue gems.
The necklace is delicately made, and the gemstone carving is perfect.
Most surprisingly, it’s the age of it.
Everyone present, being top treasure hunters from all around the world, can tell at a glance that this craftsmanship is not modern.
Even if the necklace was made public, it is unlikely that anyone in the world could reproduce it.
There are many such things, like those from the Maya civilization, the ancient Serenalia civilization, and even further back, those baffling stone knives from the Stone Age civilizations.
"We have professionals who have converted the value of this artwork into modern StellarCoins."
"All you treasure hunters, please start your guesses."
On the stage, Gwen holds the sapphire necklace in her hand and walks around the center of the stage.
After letting everyone have a close look at the necklace, she places it back on the maid’s tray, looking down with a smile.
The treasure hunters from all over the world start to ponder the value of the necklace after seeing it.
Daniel, however, is lost in thought.
He has recognized where the necklace comes from and knows its value.
[Item]: Blue Heart
[Age]: 1.8 billion years ago
[Detail]: From Atlantis, this is a favorite necklace of the mermaid race.
[Appraisal]: A piece of jewelry from an ancient civilization, it doesn’t possess any special abilities but holds a high collection value.
[Market Price]: 60,000,000 StellarCoins
[Buyback Price]: 53,000,000 StellarCoins
No mistake.
This necklace called the ’Blue Heart’ also originates from Atlantis.
Based on plate tectonics, there was indeed a time when this vast desert was under the sea.
Could it be that the decline of the Atlantis civilization was due to tectonic movement?
Daniel finds his own idea absurd as soon as it comes to mind.
That’s a civilization that figured out teleportation technology.
Could they really perish due to such a simple reason?
"40 million StellarCoins."
From a seat close to the stage, a middle-aged man with a monocle spoke up.
The bid is forty million StellarCoins.
"Hols, are you sure you’ve thought this through?"
An older man tugged at Hols. They are old friends, so he naturally wanted to give Hols some advice.
In the end, it’s just a necklace, a mere ornament.
This feature ensures it could never possibly hold much value.
"40 million is not enough. I think it should be 45 million."
The second person to speak was tall, dressed in a white suit, and wore sunglasses the size of a fingernail.
He dressed like a punk, but he was serious, and his bid was well-reasoned.
"Taylor, have you lost your mind?!"
Just like when Hols spoke up, someone came forward when Taylor did. Only, this person came to pick a fight.
"Or is your brain not working anymore? If you can’t afford to go to the hospital, I can sponsor half the cost for you to get a lobotomy and end your misery!"
"The carving of the blue crystal on this is perfect, and it’s incredibly old. Its value should be between five and seven million StellarCoins."
"Now that’s a reasonable price!"
"My guess is similar, between six and eight million."
One after another, those who were silent began to speak up.
Most of them didn’t pay attention to the four who had spoken earlier, completely absorbed in their price estimates.
These estimates of around five million were inflated to save face for Mauritania.
After all, they would be staying here for a whole month.
"40 million StellarCoins was already impressive, but I didn’t expect someone could raise it to 45 million StellarCoins."
"It’s a big world out there. There are indeed masters."
With plenty of time left, Daniel didn’t rush to bid.
Instead, he focused his attention on Hols and Taylor.
Daniel had a hunch...
These two would be his biggest competitors in this ’Wild Treasure Hunt’!
