If the people in the channel were allowed to continue their clamor, the remaining three emeralds would surely be left unsold.
It might even affect future sales, leading to very dire consequences.
Although Jiang Ye had to admit, what they were saying held some truth.
On this desolate planet, the current utility of gems was indeed limited. In fact, it could be said that they were temporarily useless.
But for the sake of sales, he had to fight back! He had to severely strike down the arrogance of these people!
Jiang Ye possessed a special talent: he was good at bluffing!
As long as he had a keyboard in hand, he could swindle even good people!
His skill at bluffing people online was honed during his middle school years. He played a large-scale game, but his skill was so poor that he was always brutally defeated by bosses, and couldn't even defeat minor monsters. Unable to earn money, he could only scavenge for scraps and bluff other newbie players into buying them. He would exaggerate the value of some unpopular junk, selling them at high prices for profit. While calling this "cheating and swindling" was too harsh, Jiang Ye preferred the term "business operation." Over time, he developed the ability to quickly bluff people.
After a brief period of thought, Jiang Ye typed furiously.
Message after message was outputted to the chat channel:
Pitiful! Tragic! Laughable!
What era is this? Does anyone truly believe emeralds are just for looking good?
Immediately, a group of people jumped into the channel:
Why else?
Isn't that obvious? What else are they for?
They're just ornaments.
Coal can be burned for fire, but emerald ore is simply beautiful.
Jiang Ye smiled, his topic had been successfully steered.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard, typing rapidly:
Foolish!
Firstly, what can emerald powder be used for? As a hemostatic agent!
If you get bumped or scraped in the wild, scratched by a beast, and your leg gets a gash, bleeding profusely.
If you don't tend to it, excessive blood loss could be fatal. If you sprinkle salt on it, it will sting more and still be life-threatening. If you grab a handful of dirt and sprinkle it on, the bleeding might stop, but bacterial infection will still kill you!
However, if you apply some emerald powder, it stops bleeding quickly, and after a short rest, you'll be as good as new!
Ultimately, this is something that can save a life!
You might think, "As long as I'm careful, I won't get injured, so a hemostatic agent is completely unnecessary. I have the chance to buy it now, but I won't! This way, I save a considerable expense!"
When the King of Hell collects you, he'll smile and say, "You truly are a clever little devil!"
After sending these messages, Jiang Ye paused.
He observed the activity in the chat channel.
Many people who had been active were now silent; the entire chat channel was eerily quiet.
It was clear that everyone had been stunned by Jiang Ye's words.
Emeralds as hemostatic agents? Emeralds that can save lives? Such claims were too novel, and many were still bewildered. The amount of information was too great, and they couldn't process it all at once.
Jiang Ye nodded with satisfaction. See? They've been completely swindled.
Emerald powder as a hemostatic agent was a folk remedy. The principle was actually quite simple: any powder sprinkled on a wound could accelerate hemostasis.
Did it work? It did, to some extent, but normal people wouldn't grind gems into powder to use as a band-aid.
Jiang Ye had merely exaggerated slightly, making it sound as if having emerald powder meant survival, and not having it meant certain death.
He placed both hands on the keyboard and pressed his advantage:
Secondly, what else can emeralds do? They calm the nerves and soothe the soul.
Wear one around your neck; it's cool and can comfort your restless heart.
Furthermore, they can be used as a simple currency.
If you want to buy something, bartering is difficult if you don't have the corresponding item. But emeralds are gems; everyone recognizes them. You can use them as collateral, and they'll generally be accepted. How convenient!
Finally, there's exchanging them for money.
Our current colony base is low-level, so we can only trade among people on the same planet.
When the base level increases in the future, we'll definitely be able to trade with the Galactic Empire. Then you'll see how much they're worth! You'll get rich!
I won't mention other uses. Those who understand will understand.
Jiang Ye finished speaking. Da Feng Novel Network.
Confidently, he crossed his arms, leaned back in his seat, and stared at the screen.
The chat channel was silent at first, then erupted!
Holy cow, I've learned something new! This thing is this useful?
A hemostatic agent? That's awesome. You never know when you might get injured. And there are no medical supplies available now, so finding a substitute is great.
Wow, that makes so much sense! No wonder it's a gem; it's not just pretty!
Hey, buying low now and selling high later, this is a long-term investment!
Damn it, I'm going to trade for an emerald, even if I have to starve!
Messages flooded in, refreshing at an insane rate. A large group of people were swayed by Jiang Ye's words, expressing strong purchasing desires.
The few who had questioned the emeralds before were dumbfounded.
A few tried to refute Jiang Ye.
However, their messages couldn't even stay on screen for a second before being completely drowned out by other messages!
The entire chat channel was filled with people eager to buy!
Jiang Ye's backend received over a thousand private messages in mere seconds, all with offers:
Boss Jiang, sell it to me! I'll trade a pound of cured meat!
Boss, boss, I don't have food. Can I trade a machete?
I have 1L of water and 40 eggs. Please save an emerald for me!
Can you help grind it into hemostatic powder? I can trade a double-barreled shotgun for it!
Jiang Ye displayed a cunning fox's smile and quickly browsed the messages.
He first found someone offering a pickaxe in exchange.
He quickly completed the trade, sending a piece of ore and receiving a pickaxe.
He held it in his hand and examined it. The quality was excellent; the pick head was made of fine steel, gleaming brightly, and the handle was of hard wood. It was perfect for smashing rocks and opening up mountains. It would be ideal for mining tomorrow.
He had two pieces of ore left.
Jiang Ye felt that these two pieces of ore were too large.
It would be better if they became eight pieces.
Raising the newly acquired pickaxe, he smashed it down onto the ore.
Under the heavy impact of the sharp pick head, sparks flew from the ore, and it cracked into smaller pieces.
Some fragments had emeralds at the broken surfaces. Others were just stone.
Finally, Jiang Ye obtained five pieces of emerald ore.
He traded all of them away for a large pile of goods:
One, six bags of biscuits.
Two, three baguettes.
Three, seven bottles of water, totaling 7L.
Four, two shovels.
Five, two small knives.
After the exchanges were complete, Jiang Ye sent a message in the chat channel:
Emeralds sold out. Please stop making offers, everyone, goodnight!
After sending the message, he closed the chat channel.
After a day's work, the immediate crisis of food and water had been temporarily resolved.
Jiang Ye estimated the water and food in his cabin. Considering the significant consumption from going out to mine, it would last about four to five days.
At least for the next four days, he wouldn't have to worry about dying of thirst or hunger.
The basic tools for mining were also initially in place: shovels, small knives, and a pickaxe. These should be sufficient for some simple ore veins, those buried shallowly and easily accessible with a bit of digging.
These tools could also serve as melee weapons, making it easy to deal with stray dogs or similar threats.
If there were stray dogs, that is.
After organizing and storing everything, Jiang Ye lay down and fell into an exhausted sleep.
As soon as dawn broke, Jiang Ye woke up.
He was hungry the moment he woke up and wolfed down an entire bag of biscuits.
Five bags of biscuits remained.
He took a 1L bottle of water, carried the pickaxe and shovel, and pushed open the cabin door.
The weather was still fine, with intense sunlight.
Distant mountains loomed faintly through the mist.
He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but the temperature seemed a bit hotter today than yesterday.
He wondered about the seasonal changes on this planet. It might be simple temperature fluctuations, or perhaps summer was fast approaching.
Jiang Ye closed the cabin door tightly. It wasn't out of fear of thieves; there were likely no people in the vicinity for a large area. It was mainly to prevent dust from entering. There were no grasses or trees on this mountainside, so the wind would carry a lot of dust.
Carrying his mining tools, he began to move forward.
Soon, he reached the spot he had circled and marked with an 'X' yesterday. This was the location of yesterday's emerald ore.
Jiang Ye decided to dig down from here.
He wanted to see if there was any more emerald ore underground.
Logically, ore deposits should be clustered together, not found as single pieces.
He decided to act immediately and swung his shovel, digging vigorously.
As he dug, he carefully sniffed the air.
He dug for a full two hours.
The soil was quite firm, so progress was slow; he had only dug two meters deep.
Mining is tough work!
Jiang Ye's physical condition was poor, and he was almost exhausted. He jumped to the bottom of the pit and carefully sniffed the soil on the walls.
There was no special mineral scent.
It was just ordinary soil.
He crouched down again, lowered his head, and sniffed intently downwards.
This time, there was a scent!
It was a very special and complex aroma, definitely emanating from ore, but different from the smell of yesterday's emerald ore. It smelled a bit like grapes, with a hint of lard.
Without a doubt.
There was ore below!
But he couldn't yet determine what kind of ore it was or how deep it was.
He had found the direction, so he had to grit his teeth and keep digging!