"Knock, knock, knock!" Xie Jinxin lightly tapped on the door. The small side door opened silently.
"Who is it?" Lin Shi, half-hidden in the darkness, stared coldly at the visitors.
"You scared me to death showing up in the middle of the night!" Xie Jinxin patted his chest. "Your goods, I've delivered them. Open up!"
Seeing that the two men made no sudden moves, Lin Shi closed the small door and opened the main gate. The truck drove directly into the warehouse.
Xie Jinxin patted the truck's body, saying, "Everything's here. Abiao!"
Abiao, the burly driver, opened the back of the truck, revealing barrels of oil packed tightly inside. "Brother, check the goods," Xie Jinxin gestured to Lin Shi.
"No need, I trust you," Lin Shi replied, not stepping into the dimly lit cargo area.
Xie Jinxin smiled, waving to Abiao, who then proceeded to unload the barrels by rolling them down a ramp. Xie Jinxin caught and arranged them below. Lin Shi stood by, watching with his arms crossed. He would never turn his back on someone he didn't fully trust. He had already transacted over ten million yuan worth of gold with Xie Jinxin. In the face of such profits, anyone could become a devil. Lin Shi wouldn't stake his safety on Xie Jinxin's character alone.
It took more than three hours for the two to unload all the barrels. Xie Jinxin bid farewell to Lin Shi, and they left with Abiao in the truck. Lin Shi watched until the vehicle was out of sight before turning away. Though it might seem like he was overly cautious, Lin Shi didn't think he had done anything wrong. Caution was always better than regret.
In the truck, Xie Jinxin, who had been keeping an eye on the rearview mirror, also only turned away once Lin Shi was no longer visible. Abiao, the driver, complained, "Old Xie, weren't you being too careful? We had a chance to make a move just now."
After years in the "business," Xie Jinxin was no saint. If there was a surefire way to double-cross, he would do it, but only if he was absolutely certain. Maintaining a good reputation required two things: completing transactions honestly and, when double-crossing, doing it cleanly.
Xie Jinxin chuckled, "It's not that I'm too careful; it's that the young man is. Didn't you notice how alert he was from start to finish?"
Abiao glanced at the empty rearview mirror, unconvinced, "Just a rookie, I could take him out easily."
Xie Jinxin, lighting a cigarette, seemed relaxed, but his eyes were serious, "I don't think so. When I was standing next to him, I felt that any move I made would get me killed instantly."
Abiao's expression became more serious, "Really? I didn't see him carrying any weapons. Even if he had a gun, he couldn't draw it faster than you, right?"
Xie Jinxin, having faced many buyers who tried to double-cross him, relied on his quick and steady draw to stay alive. For him to say that this young man could be faster was shocking to Abiao, who had known Xie Jinxin for years.
"You know my instincts have saved me many times," Xie Jinxin exhaled smoke. "Remember what happened to Old Jin? I sensed he was going to make a move on this guy, and I even warned him. But after that day, Old Jin disappeared, and this guy was fine. This tells us something, doesn't it? To handle things so cleanly in Haishi... I might have underestimated this kid. We agreed to test the waters tonight, and if there was no opportunity, we'd leave. It turns out we were right not to act. If we had, at least one of us would have paid the price."
Abiao opened his mouth to argue but closed it again. Xie Jinxin extinguished his cigarette, looking at the still skeptical Abiao, "You know I'm usually good at reading people. Trust me, don't mess with this kid. I have a feeling he won't remain unknown if he survives."
"By the way, let's stock up on diesel and gasoline. I feel uneasy, like something is about to happen."
...
After securing the warehouse and checking that none of the barrels contained hidden surveillance devices, Lin Shi finally felt at ease. He opened a few barrels for inspection, confirming that the oil was as promised. Four hundred barrels of oil were neatly stacked in a square formation.
Once he was sure no one was outside, Lin Shi placed his hand on one of the barrels and mentally commanded, "Item duplication!"
The number of duplications available on the interface of the Cornucopia dropped from 22 to 21. With a flash of golden light, 400 more barrels appeared out of thin air! Lin Shi inspected the duplicates, finding that both the barrels and the oil inside were perfectly replicated. Twenty tons of gasoline and twenty tons of diesel had doubled to forty tons each!
His eyes sparkled with excitement. Just twenty tons of each wasn't enough. He needed enough fuel to last for decades in the coming extreme cold. The shelter would rely on these fuels to power generators, and his snowmobiles would need them too. When he proposed the deal with Xie Jinxin, Lin Shi had planned to use the duplication ability to multiply the oil.
Now, with forty tons of gasoline and forty tons of diesel, Lin Shi was still unsatisfied. Gold could be duplicated multiple times, but could the duplicates themselves be duplicated? Previously, he hadn't used the gold duplicates for further duplication because they were difficult to circulate. But with oil, even if it was a duplicate of a duplicate, as long as it was the same, it was usable.
Lin Shi combined the two stacks of oil. After some thought, he brought out the generator and other supplies from his space, placing them with the barrels. He activated the duplication again.
A golden light flashed, and the 800 barrels in the warehouse increased by another 400. However, it turned out that only the original 400 barrels could be duplicated. The duplicates couldn't be duplicated again. Lin Shi was somewhat disappointed. If the duplicates could be duplicated, he would have 800 barrels, then 3,200, and so on, providing an endless supply. Moreover, different items couldn't be duplicated simultaneously. Now, he understood the limitations of the Cornucopia's duplication function:
1. Duplicates cannot be used for space upgrades.
2. Only one type of item can be duplicated at a time.
3. Items that have been duplicated once can be duplicated again, but their duplicates cannot be duplicated.
Even though the duplicates looked identical, there was something different that the Cornucopia recognized.