DEFYING FATE

Chapter 97: Final 3 seconds

The floor of this crystal shop was covered with crystalstones dust.

Dong Xuebing walked to a stack of uncut natural crystalstones and squat there. He picked up a stone, about 2 to 2.5 kg. He examines itclosely. There was a small window cut at a corner. The crystal inside wascolorless and clear. The quality of this crystal seems to be of a higher grade.But Dong Xuebing knew the shopowners will cut the best part of the stone toshow the customers. It might show high-quality crystal from this small cut, butthe crystal might not be the same for the other parts of the stone. "Boss, howmuch is this piece?"

The shop owner was sweeping the dust, and he looked up. "Oh,that's 10,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing pointed to another purple crystal stone. Thatstone does not have any cuts. "How about that piece?"

"35,000 EMB."

"That yellow crystal stone?"

"That is bigger. 40,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing asked the prices of the bigger stones. Thisway, the chances of having bigger crystals were higher. After confirming theprices, Dong Xuebing reached inside his pocket and played a ringtone beforetaking out his iPhone 4 to pretend to answer a call. He pretended to bespeaking to someone and then hang up. "Boss, I would like to buy some crystals.But I need to rush off. If you can cut the stones faster, I will buy a fewpieces at once. If not, I will go off."

The shop owner would not give up any business. "Hurry up andpick the stones. I can cut the stones fast."

"Fine. These two purple crystals, that yellow crystal, thatcolorless crystal, and that pink crystal."

"Wait, let me calculate." The shop owner picked up hiscalculator and punched in the numbers. "The total is 162,000 RMB. I will roundit off to 160,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing took out the stacks of money from his back and pressedthe countdown timer on his phone. 360 seconds.

The shop owner could tell Dong Xuebing was a novice. But henever expects Dong Xuebing to spend 160,000 RMB to gamble crystal stones. Theyoung men nowadays were so rich. He picked up the stacks of RMB and place itinto the money counting machine beside him. 10,000... 50,000... 100,000... Hecounted twice, and the amount was right."

There were 312 seconds left.

Dong Xuebing anxiously said. "Start cutting the stones.Don't need to grind it bit by bit. Cut it diagonally from an angle will do."

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The shop owner was stunned. "Oh, you will damage some of thecrystals inside. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please hurry."

There were 303 seconds left.

The shop owner had promised Dong Xuebing that he will cut thestones fast. His movements were swift as he rolled up his sleeves and kneeldown beside that colorless crystal stone. He held the cutter in his hand andpicked an angle before pressing the cutter against the stone!

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The stonecutter cut through theouter layer of the stone!

There were 280 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing clenched his fist tightly. Please hurry up!

Eeeeeee! The screeching sounds of the cutter were loud!Suddenly the noise stopped!

The colorless crystal stone was cut open. The cut surfacewas smooth, but there were specks of black spots. The shop owner rubbed it withhis fingers and could not remove it. "There are not dirt. It's the impuritiesin the crystal. What a pity." Having impurities in the crystals will lower thevalue of the stone. This stone which cost 10,000 RMB was not worthless.

Dong Xuebing cursed under his breath and immediately said:"Forget about that and cut the next stone!"

"Sure." The shop owner turned and start to cut the yellowcrystal stone.

There were 241 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing was rubbing his palms together and praying.Please, let me get a good crystal stone without impurities!

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The second stone was cut open, and therewere no impurities. But the yellow color was not very dark. There was only aslight tint of yellow in the crystal. It was almost like colorless crystals.This stone which cost 30,000 RMB was worth less than 10,000 RMB now!

Damn!

Dong Xuebing gritted his teeth and said: "Next one!"

There were 195 seconds left.

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The third pink crystal stone wascut open!

This time, the shop owner might have chosen a wrong angle tocut. He did not cut it diagonally. He just cut out a small portion of thestone, but from that small window, they could see lots of tiny bubbles in thecrystal. This piece was another worthless piece!

Dong Xuebing slapped his thighs angrily. "Next!"

He only has 141 seconds left, and there were 2 purplecrystal stones left.

132 seconds....

112 seconds....

98 seconds....

Dong Xuebing had seen many people losing money from crystalstone gambling. He thought they were unlucky. But he never expects his luck tobe much worse than them. That 35,000 RMB smaller purple crystal stone was cutopened and the color... Lousy could not even be used to describe the crystal.There were a big crack and two black lines of impurities. It was totallyworthless!

There was only the bigger purple crystal stone left!

There were only 88 seconds left!

The shop owner looked at Dong Xuebing, and the frustratedDong Xuebing said: "Cut! Continue!" He was really unlucky today.

The fat shop owner was not surprised. He knew his stoneswell. This batch of crystal stones was bought from his friend in the southernprovince. It was from his friend's factory. There were all low-grade stoneswhich were unsold. It would be a surprise if there were any high-grade crystalsin there. Oh, there might still be a possibility of a high-grade crystal stonemixed among the stones. After all, the crystals in the stones could not begraded with any equipment. No one could tell for sure if the uncut stonescontain high-grade crystals.

76 seconds...

52 seconds...

47 seconds...

The last purple stone was cut. It contains colorlesscrystals. The crystals in the center were almost transparent. There were stillspecks of dirt in the crystal, and some parts were greyish. This was anotherworthless crystal!

Dong Xuebing was furious. 160,000 RMB! 160,000 RMB waswasted. He was speechless!

That's it? It's all over?

That's right! There was still time! 39 seconds wereremaining!

Dong Xuebing did not waste time choosing the stones. Hepointed to a bigger stone beside the shop owner and said: "Please cut thatone!"

The shop owner looked at the stone. "This cost 50,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing immediately said: "Cut it first. I will pay youin a while!"

The shop owner did not move. "I am only running a smallbusiness...."

"I do not have so much cash with me now." Dong Xuebing tookout his identification card and place it on the table. "I will leave myidentification card with you and will go to the bank later to withdraw money.Is that fine?"

The shop owner saw the way Dong Xuebing bought the stonesand knew that he should not run away. He nodded.

There were 24 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing had only 60,000 RMB left in his bank. If thiscrystal is a low-grade crystal and his BACK cannot be used continuously, hewill lose everything!

Eeeeeee!

There were 13 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing looked at the time remaining on his phone."Please hurry up!"

The shop owner used more strength to cut the stone. 1 cm... 2cm... 3 cm...

8 seconds remain!

6 seconds remain!

5 seconds remain!

There was no more time!

Just when Dong Xuebing was about to say BACK at the final 3seconds, Crack! The outer layer of the stone was cut open and dropped onto thefloor!

It's cut!

Dong Xuebing quickly move forward to look at the crystal!

"This... This is acicular crystal?" The shop owner wasstunned.

"Ah?" Dong Xuebing was also surprised. "You mean the type ofcrystals that have acicular inside?!"

"Yes! This is worth a lot!" The color, size, and purity ofthis crystal were all top grade. The shop owner also did not expect to findsuch high-grade crystal among this batch of stones!

Dong Xuebing was stunned for a second and shouted in hisheart: BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK!

He said BACK six times!