Frank Yates was new to this high-stakes world, and his face showed a genuine, childlike curiosity as he surveyed the chaotic scene. "I didn't expect a Stone Gambling event to be this lively. It's like a fish market, but for millionaires.""About seventy to eighty percent of the people here are jewelry merchants," Jade Lacy explained, guiding him through the throng, her red dress parting the sea of grey suits. "They have money, but they lack stock. The mines in Myanmar are tightening supply due to political instability. Stone Gambling offers a way to get high-value material for a fraction of the cost—low investment, massive return. The attraction is irresistible. Plus, unlike the auction earlier, you don't need an invitation to enter here. It's open to anyone with cash and courage."So that's how it is, Frank thought. He was just about to head toward a promising stall with a large crowd to prove his ability and win the bet when Jade stopped him."Frank, don't rus

"If you don't sell it to me, I'll go to the plaza manager right now and file a formal complaint," Frank said, a devious grin spreading across his face. He pointed a finger at Vivi. "I'll tell them you tried to scam this beautiful, high-status consultant from Lacy Jewelry Group with fake stones. Once that rumor spreads, let's see if anyone buys a single pebble from you again. You'll be selling sand in the desert."This time, Jade Lacy and Vivi Lynch both burst out laughing. This guy learned bad habits fast. He was using Vivi's authority like a club, and he was surprisingly good at it.Evan’s face crumpled. He looked at Frank with pleading eyes, his bravado gone. "Little brother, don't be like this. Doing business is hard enough these days. How can you have the heart to smash my rice bowl? Look, I'll meet you halfway. $7,000. That's my absolute floor. I won't make a penny, just let me break even on the shipping and taxes."Frank pretended to think about it for a s

To consecutively lose on two high-quality Rough Stones—one blind, one windowed—could only be explained by luck that had bottomed out into the abyss. Old Zane stood there, his face as grey as the stone dust covering his boots, a picture of absolute defeat. He looked like a man who had just watched his house burn down."This guy is truly unlucky to an extraordinary degree. But let me see these cut stones," Frank muttered to himself.He secretly channeled Spirit Power into his eyes, lowering his gaze to scan the debris on the ground and the machine. The X-Ray Vision activated, stripping away the opaque surface of the discarded rocks.Soon, Frank's gaze locked onto the Blind Rough Stone that had been cut into three pieces.Earlier, Old Zane had cut the stone in half. Seeing nothing but grey rock, he cut the larger half again, hoping to find the vein. As for the smaller third piece, he abandoned it, tossing it into the waste pile without a second thought.<

"Little brother, I offer $5,200,000!"Hearing Vivi Lynch warning Frank about the value, The Woman named Snow immediately shouted out her highest possible price. Her voice trembled slightly with urgency.She had to. Her shops were critically low on high-end stock. If she could secure this Glass-Type piece, even if she made zero profit on it, simply displaying it in her main store window would attract high-end customers and elevate her brand's prestige. It was a marketing expense, a desperate bid to stay relevant in a cutthroat market.No one else bid. $5.2 million was pushing the limit of profitability. No one wanted to do business at a loss just for vanity.Old Zane also wanted to buy back the stone that had once been his. He opened his mouth, but the words stuck in his throat. He struggled internally for a long moment, his face flushing, but shame won out.Spending a fortune to buy back his own waste? If that got out, he would be the laughingstock of the en

Under the intense beam of the smartphone flashlight, the interior of the cross-section was revealed in crystal clarity. Nestled in the center of the dark brown, lifeless rock face, a vibrant crimson spot pulsed with light.A spectator with sharp eyes in the front row shouted, "Red! It's bleeding!"His scream acted like a summons, instantly drawing back the crowd that had begun to disperse in disappointment."Judging from the color revealed in the cross-section, it seems to be... Red Jade (Hong Cui)!?" Vivi Lynch's expression was one of pure astonishment. She blinked rapidly, as if trying to clear a hallucination.To cut out Red Jade from a stone with such abysmal skin quality was statistically impossible. It defied all logic of stone gambling. It was like finding a diamond inside a potato.The so-called Red Jade was a variety of jadeite formed by secondary oxidation—essentially, the iron elements in the stone rusting over millions of years. Under stron