"Such a small box - wait a minute." Seeing the two palm-sized boxes, Piersen's face first showed a funny expression, then suddenly became serious as if he thought of something.
"Are you sure there are really firearms in here?"
"I'm positive, because both boxes have been opened and checked."
"Wait for me." Seeing Leonard Ethan's nod of seriousness, Pierce immediately walked out from behind the counter, locked the door, and pulled the curtains down.
He then excitedly turned on the fluorescent light on the counter and picked a pair of silk gloves from the drawer below and put them on.
"Let me see." Pierce carefully opened the box, and then his eyes widened in surprise. "Is this... the hummingbird?"
"Yes, it's the world's smallest mass-produced automatic pistol." Looking at his friend's astonished expression, Leonard Ethan smiled, "I thought you didn't know what this thing was."
"Indeed, my family rarely deals with such things, but as a semi-military enthusiast, how could I not know about this special pistol?" Piersen said as he took out a magnifying glass and some tools to carefully inspect the box and gun.
"- This is a 2.7mm caliber version, and it's one of the high-end ones with a nickel-plated surface." After checking it back and forth several times, Piersen put down the magnifying glass in his hand.
"But there were only a little over a thousand of these made, and from the very beginning, it was a luxury item for the wealthy. How could it be found in those row houses in the east of London -"
"But the fact is, the gun is right in front of you now." Leonard Ethan shrugged with a smile. "So, just give me an estimate. As long as your price is not excessive, I'll sell it to you."
"I'm glad you're willing to consider me as your first trading partner, dear Lawrence." Seeing Leonard Ethan being so open, Pierce also spoke up.
"You're really helping me out as I've been trying to expand my business to the wealthy in Kensington-Chelsea District. And this gun could be just the thing to open those doors for me."
"But the problem is, I can't extract that much cash right now." Piersen shrugged helplessly, and his expression suddenly fell.
"Three months ago, a standard version of this gun came out in the market here in London and sold for 29,000 pounds. Yours with the nickel plating could be 10% to 20% more expensive. Plus, the original bullets for the hummingbird cost 70 pounds each -"
"How about this, 20,000 pounds, and all this stuff is yours." Leonard Ethan thought for a moment and gave a round number, then closed the boxes and pushed them towards Piersen.
Leonard Ethan knew that the market price of these things was one thing, but whether they could be sold for that price was another matter.
Moreover, in his view, the friendship between friends should be reciprocal, not one-sided. So having accepted so many favors from Pierce before, it was now his turn to return some of them.
More importantly, based on his interactions over the past four years, Leonard Ethan knew that the Piersens were moral and trustworthy people.
This was also the main reason why their antique store, despite its slow development, had been able to operate in London for five generations and over a hundred years.
"But I only have a little over 5,000 pounds available in my shop right now -" Upon hearing Leonard Ethan's offer, Piersen became even more excited. "So wait for me here, I'll go to my father -"
"No need, my friend." Since Leonard Ethan had decided to give a good deal, he naturally wanted to finish the job properly. "Give me as much cash as you can, and write a promissory note for the rest. You can pay me later when you have more resources."
Fifteen minutes later, Leonard Ethan left Pierce's shop with 5,520 pounds, a promissory note, and a metal detector.
Originally, he thought of strengthening his equipment when he had the financial means and buying the second-hand metal detector in the shop that was 90% new. But at this time, Pierce stuffed the detector directly into his hand and refused to even accept a penny from him.
The reason for buying this metal detector was to prepare for the next step of treasure hunting. The differences between the two worlds resulted in some famous historical ruins never being discovered throughout history.
Although, considering the differences in the world, those ruins may not exist in the first place. At least more than half of them should be in the same place as the previous world, but haven't been discovered by anyone.
To give a simple example, there's not much difference between "Homer's Epic" in this world and the one in the previous world, but Troy has never been discovered.
It is also due to this difference, combined with the existence of the Golden Finger, that Leonard chose this path now.
However, even if the dreams are grand, many things still have to start from the simplest. After all, the archaeological work of this era is now very standardized and is no longer as chaotic and crazy as it was in the 19th century.
With his current identity, if he were to directly go to Turkey to find Troy, he wouldn't be able to enjoy both fame and fortune like the original discoverer. In fact, losing even his underwear might be the best outcome, and there is a high probability that he would disappear completely.
Shaking his head to get rid of those random thoughts in his mind, Leonard drove his little van straight to Alfie Antique Market on Church Street.
In English, there are two words to describe antiques. "Vintage" refers specifically to modern antiques, often with a history of less than a hundred years.
And "Antique" refers specifically to items with a history of over 100 years, which is what the Chinese generally understand as antiques.
Alfie Antique Market is a long-established antique market specializing in the sale of "Antique" level antiques.
Although it appears somewhat old and run-down, with abandoned shops everywhere, it is actually the largest antique market in the Greater London Area under these dilapidated buildings.
There are about a hundred shops in the market, selling antique jewelry, furniture, oil paintings, clothing, and other categories of used items. Among them, there are many treasures worth a fortune.
Many fashionistas, celebrities, wealthy people, and even nobles would buy the things they like from here.
Leonard came here not to find hidden gems, for with the expert-level skills of local merchants, those good things should have been picked out and marked with a high price long ago.
He came here to try to figure out how to use his Golden Finger.
It must be said that the Golden Finger is indeed a good thing, and the previous usage effect has already proven everything.
Unfortunately, other than a brief description on the card, the Golden Finger itself doesn't even come with an instruction manual, so he can only grope his way across the river, exploring bit by bit.
Based on past experience, the power of the Golden Finger is mainly achieved through various cards. But now the problem is that Leonard doesn't know how to add new cards.
Fortunately, he had read a lot of novels on this subject in his previous life, so he could just go to the antique market and try all the methods mentioned in those novels to see if he could make any breakthroughs.
Unlike ordinary antique markets, there are very few outdoor stalls in Alfie Antique Market, and all merchants have their own shops.
So, after strolling around and having some food, Leonard entered a shop dealing in miscellaneous antiques.