From Robinson Crusoe

The precious metal recycling company in the city is not small, but 21 tons of silver is not a small number. Even if Manager Sun and the company's boss were willing to take on this big deal, they would not be able to mobilize such a large cash flow in a short time.

Because Chen Zhou was able to produce a very considerable amount of silver at once, the final price negotiated was higher than the general silver buyback price on the market, set at 7.5 yuan per gram.

At this price, recycling companies bear some risk, since most recycling companies can only offer a price of around 6.9 to 7.2 yuan per gram. For 21 tons of silver, an extra cent per gram can result in a fluctuation of several million yuan.

But Chen Zhou was clearly no ordinary customer. Even though Manager Sun had many connections behind him, he didn't dare to underestimate the "powerful person" behind Chen Zhou. Whether it was for long-term cooperation or to curry favor with the person behind Chen Zhou, it was only right to ask for a higher price.

Moreover, from a long-term perspective, the possibility of this deal resulting in a loss is virtually nonexistent.

Precious metals are not Bitcoin; they have ample applications in modern industry, and gold and silver can also be made into jewelry for sale.

21 tons of silver were sold to major domestic jewelry brands through their channels, instantly turning into silver jewelry worth 15 yuan per gram. In that case, Chen Zhou, the recycling company, and the jewelry brands would all benefit, which would be the best outcome.

In order to acquire the goods from Chen Zhou, the big boss behind Manager Sun, along with several friends, pooled together a large sum of money and painstakingly turned Chen Zhou's silver into cash little by little.

The silver, worth a total of 157 million, could not be acquired in a short time. Starting from the end of September, Chen Zhou received payments ranging from several million to tens of millions every few days.

As for whether the market was affected by his 21 tons of silver, Chen Zhou had no idea.

All he knew was that the balance in his bank account gradually turned into a dazzling string of numbers, and that he could multiply that number several times over if he wanted to.

……

However, having so much money became meaningless to Chen Zhou.

Chen Zhou preferred to keep gold and other valuables in his possession rather than converting real estate into cash.

Currency can experience inflation, but gold will always retain its value, not to mention his collection of fine wines. Any one of them could cause a sensation in the 21st century, as long as he can prove that those wines were indeed produced in 17th-century European wineries.

……

Since resigning from the cement factory, Chen Zhou has hardly spent any time at home.

He was busy all day, dealing with real estate, buying safes and professional machines for storing and preserving collectibles, and occasionally traveling between major cities in China to have meals with Manager Sun and other people in the precious metal recycling industry.

During this period, he bought luxury brand clothing that he had never worn before, purchased three properties in the town, two villas in another province, and even several luxury cars.

As for men's big toys such as cell phones and computers, he bought a lot of them.

These things were carelessly tossed around in his villa, like worthless trash.

Having successfully achieved the wealthy life he had always dreamed of, and dealing with a group of "friends" with assets worth hundreds of millions, Chen Zhou was unable to find the joy he should have in his new life.

When Chen Zhou saw those rich kids who never had to worry about food or drink playing extreme sports online, such as climbing Mount Everest or rock climbing, he always felt that they didn't know how to enjoy life. Why not just live a luxurious life instead of courting death?

Now he is surprised to find that he himself has the idea of ​​doing extreme sports.

This was partly because the life of "being able to buy anything" and "being able to go anywhere" was too boring, and he couldn't feel the joy of striving. On the other hand, it was also because his physical fitness truly gave him the ability to challenge his limits.

Chen Zhou didn't know what exactly happened to his body after completing the challenge. He only knew that, judging from the average human level, his physical abilities had probably exceeded the human limit.

The 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds, which Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt achieved with all his might, can be easily broken in private, and he could even improve it to 8.43 seconds.

It's important to understand that to enter the 9.58-second range, improving by even 0.01 seconds is incredibly difficult.

However, his body proportions and sprinting skills are far inferior to Bolt's.

It's simple that he can run under eight seconds—

The purest numerical value.

……

He dared not go to the hospital for a checkup, fearing that his inhuman physical condition would be discovered, causing a sensation in the world of medicine, leading to his house arrest and becoming a unique guinea pig.

Chen Zhou could only purchase a large amount of professional equipment and test his physical indicators himself in his villa in another province.

After a series of tests, he finally came to a surprising conclusion—

His physical functions are probably twice, or even 2.5 times, those of a normal person.

This conclusion is not only reflected in muscle strength, but also in vision, hearing, smell, endurance, skin toughness, explosive power, lung capacity, and even resistance to toxicity and digestive ability.

Moreover, Chen Zhou speculated that his physical functions may not have been fully developed, since he had never undergone any specific training in any area.

Like a person with exceptional talent who has never participated in any targeted sports training, even though their strong physique allows them to crush professional athletes.

But his potential is far greater than that.

If he is willing to put in the same level of effort as professional athletes, he can reach peaks that the entire species cannot climb.

However, Chen Zhou now feels that whether he can still be considered a "human" species is a controversial issue.

Developing physical functions and conducting more in-depth tests, including finding sports that interest him, has been included in Chen Zhou's schedule.

……

He remained busy like this until October 2025, when he finally rushed back to his hometown of Balin Town from another province during the National Day holiday.

Since Chen Zhou had never told his parents what he had been doing recently, nor had he mentioned anything related to the challenges, neither of his parents knew what kind of job he had found. They only knew that he was constantly on business trips and was extremely busy.

However, although the new job was busy, the income was much higher, soaring from more than four thousand at the cement factory to sixteen thousand per month.

For Mr. and Mrs. Chen, who had spent most of their lives in the small town, this was a considerable income.

In the 21st century, people are all focused on making money. Chen Zhou's increased income not only reduced the pressure on his parents but also made them proud.

At least when chatting with relatives and friends, Chen Zhou is no longer overshadowed by other people's children; instead, he has become a role model for many relatives in educating their own children.

Of course, these things were quite important to Chen's parents, but to Chen Zhou they were dispensable.

Chen Zhou, whose mental age has surpassed that of his parents, now finds it difficult to face his biological parents as he used to. He still deeply loves his family, but sometimes seeing his parents evokes a strange sense of conflict.

This sense of contradiction stems not only from the 28 years of experience he has gained through challenges, but also from the many unspeakable secrets he has accumulated.

Chen Zhou didn't know whether he should fear everything the challenge brought him, or accept all the illogical things with equanimity.

He only hoped that his changes wouldn't affect his family, bringing them misfortune and unexpected troubles. ...

The National Day holiday is coming to an end, and Chen Zhou is about to leave his home in the small town for his villa further north to continue his research on the body.

In his parents' eyes, he is already quite old. He is now successful in his career, good-looking, well-educated, and tall. Although his family is not wealthy, they can still contribute some savings.

At this stage of life, getting married and having children is a natural progression.

While at home, Chen's parents kept nagging him to find someone to introduce him to a potential partner, or urging him to find a girlfriend quickly, or making it clear that they wanted to have a grandchild, which annoyed Chen.

Originally, Chen's parents weren't in such a hurry to urge him. But since October 1st, the first day of the holiday, when Chen Zhou took his parents out to dinner, and after the dinner, they passed by a lottery shop and bought two lottery tickets. After Chen's father won 10 yuan, they had money in their pockets, which boosted their confidence, and they started to speak louder.

The elderly couple didn't consider their own retirement after receiving this windfall. They only wanted to use the money for a down payment on a house, then buy Chen Zhou a decent car, and then help their son pay off his mortgage. Once Chen Zhou got married and had children, they would help take care of the kids.

Although the relationship with the two elders is not as harmonious as before, he even suspects that his body has been switched.

From any perspective, Chen's father and mother are Chen Zhou's closest relatives.

The lottery ticket that Chen's father won was bought by Chen Zhouhua at a high price. He specially gave it to his parents in this way, hoping that the money would allow them to work less and suffer less, so that they could enjoy their old age at home.

Even though they had money, his parents, who had worked hard all their lives, never thought about enjoying themselves; they only wanted their son to have a better life.

The Chinese civilization's ancestors always held this belief that they should sacrifice themselves for the prosperity of their descendants, which left Chen Zhou somewhat embarrassed.

He has never considered marriage; at least for now, there are many other important things waiting for him to do.

……

The itinerary was already arranged, and the plane tickets were booked, ready to depart immediately.

Just before he was about to leave, Feng Yingxuan, who hadn't contacted Chen Zhou for a long time, called him.

Chen Zhou thought Feng Yingxuan had information about yellow jade pebbles and was about to make an offer to buy them.

Now he has a nine-figure balance in his bank account, and he is confident that he can buy even the rarest jade material with money.

Unexpectedly, Feng Yingxuan wanted to tell him something else entirely—

One of her uncles, who specializes in European currency and collectibles, was recently holding an exhibition in Beijing with a collector from the UK. She had informed her uncle in advance and asked Chen Zhou to bring his gold coins for appraisal.

Feng Yingxuan's uncle is a very famous figure in the field of European currency research in China, and his appraisal is of great value.

The British collector was wealthy and a longtime friend of Feng Yingxuan's uncle. If Chen Zhou's gold coins were authenticated as genuine and he was willing to sell them, the collector could buy them directly.

……

Although Chen Zhou was no longer short of money, he was still very curious about whether the currency he brought back from the 17th century was a modern high-quality replica or an antique after being appraised by a professional appraisal institution.

It just so happens that the journey to his villa requires a transfer in Beijing.

On the one hand, he wanted to answer the questions in his heart, and on the other hand, he did not want to disappoint his friend Feng Yingxuan's good intentions, so Chen Zhou took a handful of gold coins and two exquisite pieces of Inca Empire gold jewelry and went directly to Beijing.

……

The capital is a thousand times more prosperous than Bahrain town.

High-rise buildings stand tall, cars and pedestrians throng the streets, and faces from all over the country can be seen everywhere.

Among a group of business elites in suits, Chen Zhou, dressed simply after disembarking from the plane, stood out.

He simply wasn't used to wearing those suits that cost tens of thousands of yuan; he preferred sportswear that cost a couple hundred yuan.

I took a taxi from the airport and headed straight to Panjiayuan Second District.

This was the address Feng Yingxuan provided to him, which surprised Chen Zhou but also seemed quite reasonable.

One is an expert in the antique world, and the other is a big player in the collecting world. It is quite reasonable for them to gather in northern Beijing and visit the nationally renowned antique market.

Today, Panjiayuan is no longer just a long street lined with antique stalls.

With government support and public enthusiasm, it has developed into a vast industrial park, featuring everything from antique furniture to modern collectibles, including jade, calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, bronzes, purple clay teapots, seals, and stone materials…

All sorts of antique and modern artifacts and utensils can be found in this vast park; anything the seller thinks someone might be interested in can be found.

In addition to the stalls, Panjiayuan also has formal shops, including restaurants and cold drink shops, to serve tourists.

Chen Zhou was heading to a teahouse located next to the northwest gate.

On his first visit to this top-tier antique market in the country, Chen Zhou entered from Huawai South Road and passed through the stone carving and antique furniture section. Although he didn't go deep into Panjiayuan, he still broadened his horizons.

Buyers speaking with accents from all over the country, sellers speaking fluent Beijing dialect, and even blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners and dark-skinned Africans all gather in this huge market.

The noisy voices disturbed Chen Zhou's keen hearing—

He has now begun to adapt to the extraordinary senses; as long as he doesn't concentrate fully on receiving information, his brain can still handle it.

Moving forward amidst a cacophony of sounds, Chen Zhou could find the right way simply by listening to the conversations of passersby, without even needing to look at signs.

Before long, he made his way through the crowd to the entrance of the teahouse in the food court.

Before even entering the room, Chen Zhou could see his target through the window—

A middle-aged man wearing a black Zhongshan suit.

To his surprise, besides a man with a hooked nose and distinctly British features, sitting with the middle-aged man was a tall, white-haired old man.

The old man was thin, with strong facial features, a high nose, and light gray pupils. He didn't look like a British aristocratic collector; rather, he seemed like a Slav, and most likely from Russia.

Chen Zhou has excellent eyesight. Despite the obstruction of the window glass and passersby, he was still able to see the Russian characters engraved on the gold ring on the old man's left little finger.

Having taught himself Russian on the island and translated a large amount of Russian materials, he could even deduce the entire sentence based on the exposed half of the Russian text.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't a sentence at all, but rather a component of a name.

"Andreyevich." (End of Chapter)