<h4>Chapter 1093: Ploy</h4>
Trantor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Learning that those silver coins were antique and that they used to be a currency in
East Asia, the treasure hunters looked on hungrily. Those sorts of finds were valuable.
However, Li Du had already done a background check. The US trading silver coins
were not that valuable. That was because there used to be tons of them, especially after
the year 1873.
Following the year 1873, in order topete for the Far East trade and overtake the
Mexican position in the Chinese silver dor market, Congress had increased the silver
content of the coins. Thanks to that, the Americans earned the favor of the Qing dynasty
businessmen.
At that time, a massive amount of trading coins was exchanged in the world. Principally,
antiques had to be scarce to be valuable. When there were too many of them, the value
would decrease.
Each trading silver coin dated after 1873 was worth about five to six hundred US dors
today. Fortunately, out of the coins Li Du had found, four were dated from 1866.
Silver coins dated in the year 1866 or earlier were not thatmon. However, they still
were not considered scarce. As a result, they did not have a very high value. At the very
most, they could fetch fifteen hundred dors.
The coins that the treasure hunters saw were the silver coins dated from 1866. The
treasure hunter that was familiar with those coins estimated that they were worth fifteen
hundred dors.
Hearing that number, the crowd was surprised. They all had thought that Li Du would be
able to find something worth tens or hundreds of thousands. They had not expected
those coins to be only worth around fifteen hundred.
To the regr treasure hunters, a profit of fifteen hundred per coin was not considered
low. However, they had higher expectations for Li Du. They felt that there would always
be a huge profit whenever Li Du was involved.
Li Du did not care about how others saw him. Holding the coins in his palm, he grinned
at Princeps.
Princeps said coldly, “Are you very proud? You only found something worth slightly
more than ten thousand dors.”
Li Du responded, “It’s still better than finding a bunch of trash like you, right?”
Princeps said, “F*ck, the cost of my warehouse is high. There must still be something
valuable inside!”
Li Du returned a smile. “Who told you that? Who gave you such a promise? Saying this
requires a lot of courage or a lot stupidity. Which of those do you have?”
Enraged, Princeps flipped his middle finger at Li Du. That is true, though. The bastard is
right. Who had ever promised that the warehouse was very valuable?
Turning pale and green, he knew deep down that he had lost this time around.
Li Du continued to toy with the coins in his palm. The coins made clinking sounds as
they hit each other.
Looking at Princeps, Li Du said, “Why don’t we make a deal. I will exchange these coins
for that gun. How about that?”
His target was the Taser gun that had not been seen in the market.
Hearing Li Du’s offer, Princeps felt cautious. He neither agreed nor rejected the offer.
Instead, he picked up the gun.
There must be a reason for Li Du wanting the Taser, he thought. That gun must have
something he did not know about.
In Princeps’ perception, Li Du had be someone who could turn anything he
touched into gold.
However, after a thorough examination and even removing parts of the gun, Princeps
did not find anything new.
The Taser was not made of gold, nor embedded with diamonds. It was just a normal
Taser gun that could fetch at most five thousand dors in the market.
Hence, Princeps was doubtful. Why did Li Du want the gun?
Li Du had guessed Princeps’ thoughts from the way he was looking at him. Heughed
loudly. “No, it is not worth a lot. It’s just that it is still pretty good and can be used for
self-defense. I need a weapon for self-defense.”
Checking the gun again for signs of it being special, Princeps sneakily found a nail.
Using the nail, he made a few deep scratches on the inside of the gun.
As he was sneakily damaging the gun, Princeps tried to look as innocent as he could
and said, “Are you really willing to exchange your silver coins for my gun?”
Although Princeps thought that nobody had seen his sneaky move, Li Du noticed it.
Initially, Li Du wanted to withdraw his offer, but then, a new idea dawned on him.
Li Du said, “Yes, I do not care about the money involved. I just want a self-defense
weapon.”
Princeps stretched out his hand, offering the gun, and said, “Pay and I will give this to
you at the same time.”
Li Du said, “I want to check the Taser first. If there is any problem with the gun, the deal
is off. I do not want to spend fifteen thousand to buy garbage.”
The corner of Princeps’ eye twitched. He said forcefully, “Then just don’t deal. So wishy-
washy. I hate this kind of sissy!”
Seeing that Princeps was about to withhold the gun, Li Duughingly stopped him. He
handed over the silver coins and grinned, “Hope that there is no problem with this gun.
Otherwise, buddy, you are going to be in trouble!”
Princeps continued smiling, but he seemed to be hiding something behind that smile.
“Of course it has no issues. Look, it is brand new,” he said.
After receiving the silver coins, Princeps quickly passed the gun to Li Du and turned to
leave.
Seeing that Princeps left so soon, Li Du felt that something was amiss.
Throwing the gun over to Brother Wolf, he said, “Check it.”
Brother Wolf was an expert on guns. He was familiar with Taser guns too. After a quick
check, he shook his head and said, “The circuit of the gun has been damaged.”
Li Du’s face darkened. There had been no problem with that Taser gun previously. He
had let the little bug check it. The circuit of that Taser gun had been fine.
Unlike mechanical guns, Taser guns relied on an electric current to work. The
electrodes and circuit were connected. Typically, the circuit would trigger the electrode
darts.
Hence, once there was a problem with the circuit, the gun was useless.
Now it was Li Du’s turn to look solemn. Princeps turned around and walked backward.
Holding his arms out, he said, “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t know anything.”
Pointing at him, Li Du said, “Princeps, you are not a man of your word. You are really
damaging the reputation of the Tucson men.”
The faces of the Tucson members and Princeps changed for the worse. Someone
muttered, “Boss, it’s not good to do this.”
Princeps said impatiently, “What about it? I have never used it. How would I know if this
Taser is damaged or not?”
Li Duughed coolly. “You have the gall to say that. Shameful, you don’t know what
honesty is! There is a mark on the gun. It is obviously a sign of recent damage !”
The Phoenix treasure hunters started to mock them. “That’s so embarrassing!””Shame
on Tucson!””You guys are not just evil gangsters, but also cheaters!”
The Tucson treasure hunters trembled in anger but had nothing to say.
Brother Wolf took the gun apart and found a scratch on the inside of the gun. He could
tell that it was made just now.
Princeps sensed his underlings’ emotions. He could smile no longer and only looked at
Li Du solemnly. Then he waved his hand and said, in a bad mood, “Pack up, let’s go!”
Watching Princeps as he walked off, Li Du said to Brother Wolf, “Go check where he is
heading.”
Brother Wolf nodded, and Li Du looked at the Taser gun with regret. “Such a pity that
it’s damaged.”
“It can be fixed,” Brother Wolf said. “I can fix the circuit, no problem.”
Li Du was instantly pacified. That is simply perfect.
Initially, Li Du had wanted to follow the Tucson gang with Brother Wolf. However, Hans
approached him and said happily, “Come over quickly, we found something fun in our
warehouse.”