The ordinary tourist visa allows only two trips to Hong Kong within three months. After consulting, Shen Hao applied for a Hong Kong-Macau business visa (the S visa), which allows multiple trips to Hong Kong. Of course, to get it quickly, he used a middleman and paid extra.
He paid the money, and the visa, which would normally take 20 days, was processed in 15 days instead. It was worth the extra money, as it saved time.
Now, what Shen Hao lacked was capital.
Looking at the knife wound on his shoulder, Shen Hao gritted his teeth in anger. Damn it, getting stabbed for no reason. He had never forgotten this grudge.
However, having learned from past mistakes, Shen Hao knew he couldn't go back empty-handed. He needed weapons for self-defense.
His first thought was to get a gun; that was the best way. But getting a gun in the mainland was impossible. Shen Hao really wanted to go to the United States, where he could use his space ring to stock up on items through zero-dollar purchases. But to go to the U.S., the ticket alone would cost several thousand, and he wasn't sure he could even get a visa.
"Forget it, one step at a time. For now, the plan is to make money."
Since he had to go to Hong Kong, Shen Hao decided to raise more capital.
So, he sold his house in the village. Originally, the 120-square-meter house had a simple renovation and was tiled outside. It was worth over 100,000, but in order to sell quickly, Shen Hao sold the house and land for 40,000.
Of course, there were rules in rural areas that land could only be transferred within the village, so he had to sell it at a loss, but it sold fast, and that's all he could do. Once he made more money, he'd buy it back.
At the same time, he also borrowed 20,000 from a childhood friend who worked in micro-loans. The interest was low—only 400 yuan a month.
He also borrowed 10,000 from Wang Xiaotao.
To avoid complications, Shen Hao insisted on cash because he would need to exchange it for Hong Kong dollars once he arrived in Hong Kong.
In the blink of an eye, 15 days passed, and Shen Hao received his Hong Kong-Macau Travel Permit. He flew to Shenzhen, then took the subway to Hong Kong.
No time was wasted; Shen Hao had a simple goal: buy 50-gram gold investment bars from a bank. He spent over 70,000 yuan, purchasing three 50-gram bars.
Buying gold bars from a bank was more cost-effective than buying jewelry from a gold shop because the buyback price wouldn't be much worse.
Afterwards, Shen Hao immediately took the subway back to Shenzhen and headed straight to Shenzhen's famous Shui Bei Jewelry Market.
The price difference between gold in the mainland and Hong Kong was 70 yuan per gram. Shen Hao estimated that he could make 10,000 yuan per trip.
But it didn't turn out that way. In the mainland, gold was being bought back for 465 yuan per gram, but at a jewelry store, gold jewelry had an additional 60 yuan per gram for processing fees. This meant a piece of jewelry, like a ring, would cost 540 yuan per gram.
At 410 yuan per gram for purchase and 465 yuan for resale, the price difference was 55 yuan per gram. Shen Hao made 8,250 yuan on this trip, and after accounting for transportation costs, he still made 8,000 yuan.
Even so, the profit wasn't bad, and making two or three trips a day was definitely doable.
Of course, ordinary people couldn't make money from such price differences without space rings. Even getting through customs would be impossible. There were also taxes to consider, plus other costs, making it unprofitable.
This kind of business could only be done by someone like Shen Hao, who had a space ring. Of course, flipping electronics or luxury goods would also yield profits, but Shen Hao's social circle was at the bottom level, so he had no way to handle these things without drawing attention. It just wasn't worth the risk.
Despite that, Shen Hao was still very excited by the results.
After a busy day, he finally relaxed, booked a hotel room, and took a rest.
For the next month, Shen Hao made several trips between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
As Shen Hao's capital grew like a snowball, his final trip earned him over 400,000 yuan.
Luckily, Shenzhen's gold market was vast, and Shen Hao's small volume didn't draw attention.
In just a month, Shen Hao made nearly 800,000 yuan using the gold price difference.
To avoid being investigated in the future, Shen Hao always brought back goods from Hong Kong, including 200 grams of gold. He paid taxes and had the customs receipts to show he was a legitimate purchaser.
After all, his visa was for purchasing, and he paid taxes accordingly.
Even if there were an investigation, it wouldn't be an issue.
Moreover, the jewelry store Shen Hao worked with always used cash transactions.
In this era of big data, it's very easy to investigate someone. If you check someone's bank account, all their information is exposed. That's why cash is safer.
People like Shen Hao, at the bottom level, had no privacy in front of the authorities.
Others can easily trace your background.
Gold makes people feel much more secure.
And with the Big Bear and Second Bear war, gold has been continuously appreciating.
Also, with the economic downturn, gold prices are sure to rise—this is a trend.
Gold can be easily recycled by any jewelry store.
Before, Shen Hao was worried that gold shops would trace the source of the gold. He realized he was being paranoid, probably because he watched too many novels.
Jewelry stores are constantly exchanging old jewelry for new pieces, and who would be dumb enough to check the origins?
Furthermore, unless you're selling hundreds of thousands or millions worth of gold at once, small shops can't handle that much.
Most store owners won't care as long as there's money to be made.
As for profiting from the gold price difference, that was just Shen Hao's first bucket of gold. Developing the alternate world is the real path to success.
With money in hand, Shen Hao first repaid the 10,000 yuan he owed to his childhood friend Wang Xiaotao and added an extra 5,000 yuan as interest.
Now that he had money, he wasn't worried about such small amounts.
At the same time, he also repaid 10,000 yuan to a ride-hailing company, paid for repairs to his Rolls-Royce, and paid back 20,000 yuan in loans and interest. In total, he had repaid 200,000 yuan.
Adding up his previous expenses, he still had 600,000 yuan left. At this moment, Shen Hao felt lighter, free from debt, and believed that a new chapter of his life had begun.
The pressure on him was completely gone, and he felt light as he walked.
Not only that, the knife wound on his shoulder had completely healed. Although it still hurt a little, it no longer affected him.
Next, Shen Hao planned to explore the alternate world.
Before going to the alternate world, Shen Hao first needed to get a gun for self-defense.
As everyone knows, guns are fast from seven steps away, and they're even faster and more accurate from closer range—no martial ethics required.
Although the thug was skilled, Shen Hao could see his movements clearly, and it was obvious that the thug wouldn't be able to dodge the bullet.
The only thing Shen Hao was dissatisfied with in this space was some limitations.
Every time he appeared, it was at the location where he had disappeared from last.
Moreover, it wasn't clear if the two worlds were synchronized. Once he left the alternate world, it would enter a frozen state. Similarly, if he left the urban world and entered the alternate world, the urban world would freeze as well.
Of course, as Einstein said, if you reach a certain speed, the world will freeze.
This meant that the next time he went to the alternate world, Shen Hao would still be in that same forest, and the bandits would still be waiting for him.
If it were like the space of Uchiha Obito in Naruto, where you could go anywhere at will, that would be awesome—he could go to America every day for zero-dollar shopping.
People are never satisfied. Since he wanted to develop the alternate world, Shen Hao thought that having a gun was a must.
But the problem was that Shen Hao had no channels to buy a gun—this was really troublesome.
After thinking about it, Shen Hao originally planned to go to the United States.
As everyone knows, in the "happy America," shootings happen every day.
Americans don't ban guns, so there's a good chance of getting one.
The quickest way to go to America was to sign up for a group tour.
In Shenzhen, there were many tour groups. Shen Hao inquired, and the cost of a group tour to the U.S. was 33,000 yuan, with a landing in Las Vegas.
It was a ten-day trip.
However, Shen Hao's passport was a white passport (i.e., he had never been to any country), and the interview for the visa might not pass.
Suddenly, Shen Hao remembered seeing a short video on a social media platform about Thailand. It seemed that firearms were rampant in the country.
He had never paid attention before, but recently, many videos had surfaced, warning citizens not to travel to Thailand due to the gun violence.
So, Shen Hao immediately took out his phone and searched for news about Thailand and gun violence.
Soon, he found news about guns flooding in Thailand.
Thailand, with a population of 70 million, has over 10 million civilian firearms.
This means that one in seven people in the country owns a gun.
With so many guns, it seemed like it would be easy to get one there. This was much more convenient.
Moreover, Thailand had visa-free access for Chinese citizens—how convenient!
In Shen Hao's mind, the most famous things about Thailand were transvestites and "Sawasdee-ka" (a Thai greeting). He didn't expect the country to be flooded with guns.
He then remembered that Thailand often had political coups, so the gun issue seemed to make sense.
This situation gave Shen Hao a huge advantage.
Without hesitation, Shen Hao immediately bought a ticket to Thailand.
A few hours later, the plane landed at the airport in Thailand.
After exiting the airport, Shen Hao saw a man in his thirties, with dark skin, holding a sign that said "Mr. Shen Hao."
Upon seeing this, Shen Hao waved and walked over to the man.
The man's face lit up when he saw Shen Hao.
"Hello, Mr. Shen. My name is Sawang Suki."
"This time, I will serve you throughout the whole process.
Wherever you want to go, just let me know." The man spoke in broken Chinese, but Shen Hao could understand just fine.
Before coming here, Shen Hao had arranged for a translator and guide through his travel agency connections.