Chapter 549: Can’t Find Diamonds, So Steal Gold Translator: Timothy Editor: GlobeGlotter
This place was so cold! Ye Mo was in the Middle Eastern part of Siberia, near the Arctic Ocean. He looked at the large Amber Crater, resembling a dried-up riverbed. The frozen earth was exceptionally hard. Construction workers bustled about, apparently building living quarters or facilities. Ye Mo estimated they were about to begin digging.
He used an Earth Travel Charm to descend but found the charm quickly exhausted. The earth’s hardness far exceeded his expectations, and his spirit sense only reached a little over 10 meters.
Diamonds weren’t so easy to obtain, after all. Three hundred meters underground, it was already too hard. Even with Earth Travel Charms, he couldn’t continue. He had carefully studied diamond formation beforehand, knowing some were found a few hundred meters down, but only in small quantities. Diamonds usually lay thousands, even tens of thousands, of meters underground. Unless he reached the Golden Core stage, he couldn’t reach those depths.
He searched for an entire day at a few hundred meters deep, using over half his charms to find only 7 kg of diamonds. Disappointed, he left the diamond pit after wasting another 100 charms. This method wasn't working; his investment far outweighed his return.
While this amount might be a huge fortune for others, it was too little for him. His only consolation was finding one half-kilogram piece.
Ye Mo found a quiet place and rested for a day. Using his spirit sense in such dense earth had left him fatigued, requiring a full day’s rest to recover. He'd found very little the first day, and would find even less the second. Moreover, he'd used many charms, which took a month to make. He couldn’t continue this way.
He lacked spirit beast blood and proper charm-making materials. With his current power, he could only make low-level charms, barely managing level 2 charms with luck, which was still useless.
Standing in the cold Siberian air, Ye Mo realized his chosen path wasn’t easy. If America didn’t exist, creating Luo Yue would be much simpler.
“America?” Ye Mo suddenly laughed. “Shouldn’t they have large gold deposits? Why not take what I need from them? That’s better than this labor.”
He imagined the US reaction to their disappearing gold deposits, and found the idea amusing. Since he couldn’t find diamonds, he would steal gold. After that, he’d take USD from US banks. ‘Since you want me to build Luo Yue for you, and I’m short on money, borrowing some should be fine!’
…
He soon learned from Xu Yuehua that the US stored gold in two known locations. One was 24 meters under solid bedrock in southern Manhattan, approximately 8,300 tons worth about $165 billion.
However, this wasn’t the bulk of US gold, at most 5%, mostly belonging to international banks and other countries. The US mainly stored its gold 50 km southwest of Kentucky, in Louisiana. A US army base there was considered America’s safest location, holding not only large gold deposits but also confidential files and national treasures.
This base-fort, constructed of granite, steel rods, and cement, covered about 1,180 square meters. The gold vault door weighed around 20 tons, with access requiring multiple passwords held by different staff. The outer walls were reinforced with steel plates, and the roof received special reinforcement. Patrol stations and roadblocks with guards prevented close approach.
Twenty-three thousand troops and 300 tanks were stationed nearby. The base had its own emergency power, water system, and other facilities. It was heavily protected, ruling out any tourism.
“Isn’t that precise!” Ye Mo was satisfied with Xu Yuehua’s intelligence.
No matter how safe this base was, it couldn’t surpass the Black Sun Empire’s gold vault. Breaking into the Manhattan vault would be easier, but he chose Kentucky. It held not only gold but also important US assets, which attracted him. Furthermore, the gold truly belonged to the US.
…..
Ye Mo approached cautiously, aware of US radar and surveillance systems. The challenge wasn't getting in, but getting the gold out.
Using his experience, Ye Mo turned invisible upon reaching American waters. He remained undetected approaching the fort.
From a distance, the fort resembled a square government building, about 12 meters tall and 30 meters long and wide. He saw armored vehicles and a soldiers’ training base nearby.
He wouldn’t enter through the main door, unwilling to test his invisibility. Since his invisibility still revealed a faint shadow under special lenses, he was cautious.
He left the highway, approached the fort, and used the Earth Travel Charm to enter the earth as quickly as possible.