As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 222 Strange Crystal Coins
At this point, Long Jianhuan pushed the crystal coins in front of Xu Yan.

"Back in Rolling Stone Fortress, I felt that your way of thinking was different from ordinary people. Perhaps it was because you came from the depths of the wilderness and struggled for survival every day that you were used to taking unconventional approaches and being able to see things that ordinary people could not."

She said, "The Kuangtie Club and the Suixing Club have a very complicated relationship. I believe you must have even more sensitive or even slightly malicious discussions behind the scenes."

"Based on the new clues I just provided, please take a closer look at this crystal coin and see if it hides any unknown secrets."

"Also, regarding Sheikh Krat or Chu Zhifeng, do you have any other clues? Even if they aren't clues, just irrelevant or even absurd rumors don't matter. I just need you to provide some inspiration from an outsider's perspective."

Xu Yan's expression turned serious.

She solemnly put on silk gloves before carefully accepting the crystal coins.

Then he took out a pair of small glasses and put them over his eyes.

He then took out a small brush from the equipment box and carefully brushed away the dust from the surface of the coin.

With Long Jianhuan's permission, he even used a dropper to sprinkle a few drops of reagent onto the surface of the coin, then held his breath and observed the bubbles that the reagent created on the surface of the coin.

"This coin is extremely pure, with no internal gaps. It was directly polished from the raw ore, making it very valuable and rare."

The so-called crystal coins originated from raw crystal ore.

Crystals are a very special type of mineral that can resonate with the magnetic field of life and even carry memory data.

In the distant past, it was also known as the "Soul Crystal".

The rings that are said to hold the memory of an "old man" are often made of crystal.

There are also bottles that imprison demons, oil lamps that seal the genie, and swords and armor that are attached to the dead, often inlaid with a large number of crystals.

By the time of the Heroic Era, due to the long-term overexploitation and mining by previous generations of ancient civilizations, the number of crystal veins hidden deep in the earth had become extremely scarce.

Occasionally discovered mineral veins are often buried very deep, making them difficult to mine. The crystals contain a large number of impurities, resulting in exorbitant refining costs.

Fortunately, during the long process of mining crystals, humans discovered that breaking crystals into powder, adding various compounds, and refining them into a semi-solid gel, and then spraying the gel onto cards and engraving the corresponding soul circuits, also known as rune arrays, can also play the role of containing, protecting, restraining, and strengthening the remnants of the past.

The specific principles cannot be explained in a few words.

Basically, during the process of grinding crystals into powder, the overall surface area of ​​the crystal particles is greatly increased, which also greatly increases the "friction" or "adhesion" to the remnants of the past.

The crystal particles firmly adhered to the remnants of the past, making the originally elusive remnants of the past "visible," "communicable," and "interactive" in a certain sense.

Utilizing this principle, the card makers of the Heroic Spirit Era were able to achieve large-scale industrial production of sealing cards, minimizing the cost of sealing the remnants of the past, allowing sealing cards to enter every household, and ushering in a golden age of rapid advancement for the Heroic Spirit civilization.

Even today, the first step after most raw crystal ore is mined is still to grind it into crystal powder.

Subsequently, various adhesives and stabilizers are added to reshape them into a standardized, weighable form that is also convenient for further processing.

The coin-sized "crystal coins" circulating in the market are often products made of bonded crystal powder. Because their size and standards are fixed, and they often bear the manufacturer's stamp, they are roughly equivalent to a general currency and leave no trace of transactions, making them highly liquid.

Whether card makers purchase it to make rune ink for the maintenance, repair, and manufacture of sealed cards, or merchants and bandits in the wilderness use it for shady transactions, it is very convenient, and everyone buys it.

But this coin is different.

This coin is not an artificial object made of crystal powder.

Instead, it was directly stripped from the raw ore and then sculpted into the shape of a coin.

If it is ground into crystal powder and then made into talisman ink, because all the crystal particles inside come from the same piece of raw ore and have almost identical properties, it can greatly improve the quality and stability of the talisman ink, and is even an indispensable raw material for making certain special talisman inks.

Its value is naturally a hundred times that of ordinary crystal coins.

It's even a rare commodity that money can't buy.

Xu Yan thought for a moment and continued, "I have never seen this quality of crystal coin, whether in the Rolling Stone Club, the Crazy Iron Club, or when I was wandering in the wilderness with my father and repairing cards for people."

"Based on my experience, even in large veins with abundant reserves, only a very small number of crystal clusters buried deep underground may develop into such a pure form under the combined effects of high temperature, high pressure and long years."

"That being said, I still can't see what this single crystal coin can prove."

"After all, Sheikh Krat has been running the Shattered Star Club for decades."

"Dawn City was originally a resource city built on a crystal mine. It is also close to the wilderness area, where there are many good things of unknown origin, and even rare treasures from the polluted area."

"As the owner of the Shattered Star Club, what's so strange about him owning a few top-grade crystal coins refined from raw ore?"

Long Jianhuan nodded slightly.

"What if it weren't just a few, but dozens or even hundreds?"

She explained, "I know the killer. He is a very good at disguising himself and lying in wait. He has only been in Dawn City for a short time. Logically speaking, it is unlikely that he would have any life-or-death conflict with Sheikh Krat."

"Even if he really had some reason to kill Sheikh Krat, given his style, he would have planned it carefully, acted cautiously, and solved the problem quietly, leaving no trace that would arouse suspicion."

"However, judging from the many traces left at the crime scene, he acted in such a hasty manner that it did not seem like a well-planned murder, but rather an accidental and impulsive act."

"The question is, what exactly could have piqued the killer's interest so much that he was willing to risk exposing his identity and being targeted by the Security Bureau to kill the owner of the Shattered Star Club?"

"If the two of them didn't have a deep-seated hatred, the only reason I can think of is money, or even a scarce resource that money can't buy."

"Hundreds of top-grade crystal coins!"

Xu Yan asked in surprise, "Is Sheikh Krat really that rich?"

(End of this chapter)