In the Security Room, the world whirled around him.
And before he knew it, Alex was back—standing where it had all begun.
"Huh? I blinked, and now I'm here again?" he grunted, still reeling from the abrupt change.
But then he gazed at his hands.
In his left hand: a fistful of golden and silver bars, glinting faintly in the fluorescent light.
In his right hand: a jade bracelet, cool and heavy on his palm.
His jaw fell open in disbelief. "No way… it actually worked."
Ancient Things Can Really Be Brought Back!
A slow smile spread across his face. "I'm gonna be rich. Really rich!"
The morning shift had ended, but Alex didn't have a moment to catch his breath. He had two missions of utmost importance on his plate.
First—money.
He had to find out how to convert those ingots and the bracelet to cold, hard cash. He was penniless, but now? These trinkets were like gold tickets.
Second—supplies.
Water. Lots of it.
He wanted to return with boxes of bottle mineral water. If half a bottle had earned him silver and gold, what could ten cases bring in?
A fortune? Land? A small army?
He wasn't going to wait around to see.
A path to riches lay before him, and he wasn't going to let it get away.
But it wasn't only water that he required.
The last time, he'd fled the streets from desperate refugees—and while he'd made his getaway, it had been a wake-up call.
So this time, he'd be prepared.
Axes. Machetes. Anything he was legally allowed to carry.
Yes, ancient cities did have their governments, but they weren't exactly practicing modern law and order.
And as for guns and explosives?
Too dangerous. Too complicated.
For the time being, a few good firearms would suffice.
After some consideration, Alex returned to the room he had hired after work. He changed into casuals, bought some buns from a street vendor, and approached a jewellery store.
All jewellery stores typically have two primary businesses:
One, gold selling.
Two, purchasing old gold.
While the global economy was in a downturn, foreign wars were ongoing, and world powers were at odds with each other, the cost of gold had risen to record-breaking levels over the last two years.
Now, the price of 24-carat gold had gone up to ₹6,910 per gram.
Buyback price stood at ₹6,500 per gram.
A difference of ₹410 per gram.
Money could be earned through selling.
You could still earn money by purchasing back at the appropriate time.
But for jewelers, long-term stability was always priority.
"What's the prevailing gold buyback price? I want to sell," Alex asked bluntly as he entered the shop.
"The rate's ₹6,500 per gram. How many grams do you have?" the shopkeeper answered, putting on his reading glasses. "Let me verify the article first."
The owner of the shop was a plump middle-aged man with piercing, calculating eyes. He sized up Alex as he talked.
Alex pulled out a thumb-sized piece of gold. The man's eyes widened nearly immediately.
"This has antique finish… looks like an old-type gold ingot. Very heavy too—I would guess something like 20 to 30 grams."
He roughly estimated it in the palm of his hand, estimating it deftly.
After he made sure Alex really was interested in selling it, the shopkeeper put the gold ingot into a stone crucible and scorched it with a miniature flamethrower.
In due time…
The gold eased and trickled as a molten pool. "This's good quality," the man stated, obviously pleased. "Burned it awhile and still no sign of impurities. Must be at least 99.99% pure."
Then molten gold that he had was spilled onto the scales.
"28 grams exactly. At the market price of ₹6,500 per gram, that would be ₹1,82,000"
He smiled as he gave the final quote.
A few minutes later.
Alex's phone buzzed.
He looked at the message and his eyes widened.
One lakh eighty-two thousand rupees.
Not a little—and particularly not for a newly graduated college alumnus of the security patrol mentality. It was the equivalent of several months' worth of his earnings—or even more.
Once he had received the money, Alex walked out of the jewellery shop, hailed an auto, and proceeded to a nearby hardware store. There, he purchased two machetes, two mountain axes, and three crates of bottled water.
By the time he had hauled all these back to his rented apartment, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon.
"Travelling by auto for this stuff is such a pain," he muttered, wiping the sweat off his brow. "I really need to get myself a car soon."
He glanced at his phone.
"Wonder if Rishi replied to my message."
Alex opened his contacts and tapped on Rishi's name.
Rishi, a college buddy, came from a wealthy family deeply involved in the gemstones and jewellery trade. A classic rich kid—easygoing, flashy, and surprisingly well-connected. They used to play basketball together back in college, and Rishi often mentioned how tricky the jade and precious stone business could be.
Alex figured it would be safest to let Rishi's family handle the jade bracelet he'd found.
Soon, the call connected.
"Yo, Alex! What's up? Got time for a drink?" Rishi's cheerful voice rang out from the other side.
"Not this time. I've got a jade bracelet I'm looking to sell," Alex replied, skipping the pleasantries. "Thought I'd let you take a look first—maybe get an estimate."
"Oh, nice! Send me your location. I'll drive over now," Rishi said without hesitation.
After he hung up, Alex discovered a local café and took a seat, drinking cold coffee as he waited.
Rishi was in Mumbai too, so he showed up reasonably soon.
Around 40 minutes later, Alex saw a Porsche Cayenne drive up outside through the glass wall of the café.
"Rishi! Over here!" he shouted, motioning him down.
Rishi arrived—round-faced, broad-shouldered, with bushy eyebrows and a goofy grin. He appeared to be the kind of fellow who'd borrow you a pen during class. Only those who actually knew him were privy to the fact that his family owned a jewellery business worth crores of rupees and had several villas in the city.
"Bro! As dashing as ever," Rishi smiled, drawing up a chair.
"I've been dashing since day one," Alex replied with a smirk. "Now come on, let's see how much this bracelet of mine is actually worth."
He pulled out the jade bracelet from his pocket and handed it over.
The moment Rishi held it, his expression shifted.
"Whoa… this is really good quality," he murmured, the playful tone gone.
"It's smooth. warm to the touch… .."
He looked at it more seriously now, posture upright, no longer as a mundane errand.