Chapter 451 - 230: What? You Say It’s Treasure?

Chapter 451: Chapter 230: What? You Say It’s Treasure?

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come all this way from America to Bear Country, let alone straight to this location.

Only with thorough preparation would they be so direct. For gold hunters, time is money—they don’t do anything for nothing.

"Should we go take a look?" Xiao Chen asked with a playful smirk. He was also curious about what secrets the two might be hiding.

Su Chen didn’t answer. His actions spoke for him. He simply stood up and gave Ivan a look, signaling for him to lead the way.

Ivan immediately led Su Chen and Xiao Chen toward a small wooden cabin in the corner. Chen Fei, along with Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang, wanted to tag along and watch the show, but a single glare from Xiao Chen sent them back.

If those two really did have a secret, the fewer people who knew, the better.

"Boss! Captain!" The patrol guard at the cabin door snapped to attention the moment he saw Su Chen and the others arrive.

"Mm. Go take a break. Get something to eat and warm up," Su Chen said, patting the guard’s shoulder with an expression that said, ’You’ve worked hard.’

"Yes, Boss!" the guard replied, his voice filled with emotion. He then hurried over to the group gathered around the bonfire.

Once the guard was out of earshot, Ivan efficiently opened the wooden door. Inside, two figures were sitting on a wooden bed, eating.

The moment the door opened, the two men froze, their hands stopping mid-bite. They shot to their feet in an instant.

Seeing how compliant they were, Su Chen didn’t need to guess. ’This kind of obedience is beaten into you,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, a gold hunter’s pride would never let them yield so easily.’

After all, these were men who valued gold more than their own lives.

"Let’s start with introductions," Su Chen said, his tone cool.

A shiver ran down both men’s spines, and an inexplicable chill filled their hearts. They could tell something was off just by the way the three newcomers stood. The captain who had roughed them up earlier was now standing meekly behind the man who had just spoken.

They guessed this was someone sent by the ranch’s owner, or perhaps the big boss behind the owner—a person who held their fates in his hands.

When the two remained silent, Su Chen’s brow began to furrow.

The two men, still trying to process the situation, saw Su Chen’s frown and hastily introduced themselves. "My name is Perry Mel, and this is my blood brother, Pili Hiri. We’re from the San Francisco Bay Area in America. We’re professional gold hunters!"

"Brothers... from the San Francisco Bay Area?" Su Chen studied their faces. There was indeed a slight resemblance.

Su Chen didn’t press further. Instead, he pulled out his phone and made a call right in front of them.

Standing to the side, Xiao Chen was a bit confused by this move. He was just about to ask what Su Chen was doing when he heard the call connect.

"Raymond, I need you to run a background check on two brothers, Perry Mel and Pili Hiri. They’re supposedly gold hunters, somewhat known in their field. Shouldn’t be too hard to find."

"Yes... everything. That includes their families and their current addresses."

"Good. Ten minutes. I’ll be waiting for your call." With that, Su Chen hung up.

By now, Mel and his brother were staring at Su Chen in utter terror. They hadn’t expected him to go after their families directly. They had no idea who was on the other end of that call, but seeing Su Chen’s calm, unhurried demeanor, they knew he wasn’t bluffing.

"No, you can’t do this!" Mel started to lunge forward, but the sharp-eyed Xiao Chen sent him flying back with a single kick.

It wasn’t a kick an ordinary person could withstand. Besides, after days of torment, Mel had no strength left to resist. He slammed into Hiri behind him, and the two of them crashed hard onto the wooden bed. Their unfinished meal scattered across the floor.

"You have nine minutes," Su Chen said. "If you don’t tell me why you’re here, I can’t guarantee I won’t do something... excessive."

"Oh, and don’t get your hopes up, thinking I can’t find anything on you. I might as well tell you—the man I just called is the head of IPS. I’m sure you’re aware of what an organization like that is capable of."

’I’m being so wicked right now,’ Su Chen thought to himself. ’But damn, this feeling of complete domination is exhilarating.’

When they heard "IPS," the two brothers began to tremble even more violently. As gold hunters, they’d been to many places and knew plenty of people in the business. They’d heard the stories, the whispers during late-night chats about the power IPS wielded.

They knew exactly how powerful that organization was back in America. Finding their families would be child’s play.

"I... I’ll talk," Mel said, his voice weak as if all the strength had been drained from his body. "Just... just please, leave our families out of this."

Behind him, Hiri opened his mouth as if to protest, but then simply lowered his head in resignation.

A flicker of a smile crossed Su Chen’s eyes. He shot a look at Xiao Chen that seemed to say, ’See? How’s that for impressive?’

"Alright, talk," Su Chen said, pulling over a long bench and sitting down. "Why did you come all this way?"

"We... we came looking for treasure!"

"Treasure?!" Su Chen’s voice shot up several decibels.

Even Xiao Chen, standing to the side, looked stunned for a moment. ’Weren’t they after a gold mine? Now it’s treasure?’ he thought. But his expression instantly hardened, and he cut a glance at Ivan out of the corner of his eye.

’Wealth stirs the hearts of men,’ he thought. No matter how much Su Chen trusted Ivan, he had to be vigilant. If something went wrong because of this, he would probably be chewed out by his old man until he was half-dead.