Capítulo 8: Chapter 8: Get ready to Buy Gold
Logan organized his thoughts and said, "Here's the situation: I'm a doomsday survival enthusiast, and I want to build an independent safe house in Shashi, but I'm tied up here in Haishi. I need someone to help me with it."
A doomsday survival enthusiast? A safe house?
Even someone as composed as David Lin couldn't help but twitch at Logan's words.
As a real estate agent, David had rented and sold all sorts of properties. He knew that some wealthy people had quirky ideas.
Because of online rumors about a potential World War III or natural disasters, some rich and paranoid people had built extreme environment survival systems in the basements of their villas.
But those were mostly older businessmen in their forties or fifties.
This was the first time David had encountered a young man asking him to help build a safe house.
If it weren't for the fact that Logan had just closed a deal through him, David might have thought he was a scammer and walked away.
Logan also knew that talk was cheap. He signaled for David to take out his phone and scanned his payment code, transferring $100,000 to him.
"That's two months' salary in advance."
Now, David believed Logan was serious—who would joke around with that much money?
But being cautious, he still requested that they sign a contract.
Logan had the same idea. The safe house was crucial to his future survival, and he couldn't rely on just a few words to ensure David would work wholeheartedly for him.
After discussing the contract details, they signed an agreement.
The contract stipulated that Logan was hiring David Lin as his private manager with an annual salary of $500,000.
David would be responsible for handling the construction of the new house in Shashi, supervising the project, and managing some miscellaneous tasks.
Logan would guarantee David's salary and other benefits.
With the tight timeline Logan set, David promptly resigned from his job and took up the new position.
With this job, David realized that working a few years for Logan would allow him to buy a house in the outskirts of Harbor City, which was much better than his prospects as a real estate agent.
He resolved to work hard and prove his worth to Logan.
But what David didn't know was that the job would only last three months.
Logan had no intention of employing him for long—once the safe house was built, David's job would be done.
Logan immediately instructed:
"David, head to Shashi and find a plot of land that meets my requirements."
Logan's criteria were simple: high ground, flat terrain, no high-rise buildings nearby, remote location, and large enough for immediate construction.
This was David's area of expertise and shouldn't be difficult for him to accomplish.
"Understood, boss."
David quickly got into his role and booked the earliest flight.
The southern city of South City was a famous tourist destination and the closest city to the equator, with no winters all year round.
After the frozen apocalypse began, the habitable space for humans shrank drastically. Northern temperatures dropped so low that it became uninhabitable.
(Author's Note: The sun has only weakened, not disappeared.)
Even though northern buildings were more resistant to cold than those in the south, the natural gas pipelines in the north quickly froze and burst.
With heating lost and outdoor temperatures averaging -70°C, the food supply chain was cut off, forcing northern residents to migrate south.
And that was just during the summer.
Only a few regions with state granaries could barely sustain life, and they established survivor shelters.
Although the equator didn't escape the extreme cold, its temperatures were still 30-40°C higher than the north, averaging between -30°C and -50°C.
Moreover, South city was a coastal city, and the government occasionally broke through the ice to fish out frozen sea creatures, so food wasn't as scarce as in the north.
With the preparations he was making in this life, Logan wasn't relying on government resources.
With the ability to carry a massive amount of supplies in his space, safety became Logan's top priority.
In the apocalypse, the most dangerous threat wasn't the harsh weather but humans themselves.
In the deadly cold, starving people would stop at nothing—murder and looting became common.
No city's order remained stable.
South City housed the largest government shelter in Xia Country, where most of the nation's leaders, scientists, and military personnel gathered.
Naturally, its order was much better maintained than in other places.
Logan had also heard that in his past life, South City had developed crops that could grow in extreme cold.
This time, Logan was determined to do everything perfectly, starting by building his shelter in Shashi.
After instructing David Lin on the requirements for the shelter, Logan returned home.
The next morning, after his daily workout, Logan packed up everything in his house that he could take and stored it in his space. The things he couldn't use, he threw away downstairs.
Before leaving, Logan took one last look at the now-empty house and walked away without any attachment.
It was just a house. For someone like him, home was wherever he was.
Unbeknownst to Logan, shortly after he left, Zach came looking for him.
But not finding Logan, Zach spent the next few days being scolded mercilessly by his parents.
Logan arrived at the bank on time to complete the property transfer paperwork.
Once the money was in his account, he transferred $450,000 to Emily Chen.
Then he headed straight to the bank.
Xia Country Bank's main branch, the largest in Haishi, was located in the city center.
Because he needed a large amount of gold and feared the bank might not have enough, Logan had called the client manager to reserve the gold as soon as he confirmed the house transfer would go through today.
By the time Logan arrived at the bank, it was already afternoon.
On the way, he had bought a suitcase to carry the gold.
Logan's current savings totaled $25.4 million.
This included his original savings, the money from selling three gold bars, and what was left after renting the warehouse, paying David Lin, and covering other expenses, leaving him with $15.4 million.
Selling the house added $9 million.
He also took out $1 million in loans through various online lending apps.
If not for the rule that an individual couldn't borrow more than $1 million across different legitimate platforms, Logan would have borrowed more.
Now, with $25.4 million, Logan could buy 60 kilograms of gold.
Following the pattern of the cornucopia, where the points needed for upgrades doubled with each level:
60 kilograms of gold could upgrade the space four times and then upgrade the item duplication twice.
Upgrading the space five times alone or upgrading item duplication three times wouldn't be enough.
Currently, the space volume was 666, or 216 cubic meters. After four upgrades, it would be large enough.
Logan was also curious to see how the item duplication ability would change after an upgrade.
The bank was busy, and Logan drew some attention as he walked in with his suitcase. A bank employee quickly approached him.
"Hello, what can we help you with today?"
"I'm here to purchase gold. I made an appointment yesterday."
"May I ask which manager you spoke with?"
"Her surname is Chu."
Logan was soon escorted to an office door.
…
Sophia Chu was a client manager at the main branch of Xia Country Bank in Harbor City.
Yesterday, one of her clients, with over $10 million in their account, called and said they wanted to purchase 60 kilograms of gold from the bank.
Sophia was stunned.
What did 60 kilograms of gold represent?
Even though the international gold price had dropped slightly in the past few days, it was still $413 per gram, plus a minimum processing fee of $5 per gram. Sixty kilograms of gold would cost $25.08 million.
Most wealthy individuals invested in gold stocks or futures; very few purchased such a large amount of physical gold.
And with the instability in recent years, the high price of gold made buying such a large quantity of physical gold risky.
Curious, Sophia looked up the client's information.
The profile showed that his name was Logan, and he was only 19 years old.
Sophia remembered this young man well.
Three years ago, Harbor City's largest new energy company, Spark Energy Co., had compensated one of its electrical engineers with $10 million after he died in a work accident.
Spark Energy was praised for its generosity at the time.
Shortly after, the deceased engineer's son received the compensation, and Sophia had been the one to handle the transaction.
She remembered the boy's name was Logan.
Sophia had checked the bank's physical gold inventory and confirmed there was enough in stock, so she informed Logan that he could come by anytime to complete the purchase.
She had been waiting all morning, her eyes frequently glancing at the door.
But the client didn't show up.
Just as Sophia was about to take a longer lunch break, there was a knock on the door.
"Manager, the client who wants to buy gold has arrived."
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