I Start with a Mysterious Island

Zhang Yuxi was stunned when ten large bamboo baskets filled with pearls appeared out of thin air in her office.

Her big, round eyes widened, and her small mouth, coated in pink lipstick, once again fell open uncontrollably.

"Boss Zhang, this is the whole batch of pearls I have. You can have someone come and count them," Lin Li said, turning to the dumbfounded Zhang Yuxi after retrieving the pearls from the Mysterious Small Island.

"Uh... okay, Mr. Lin. Please wait a moment. I’ll go get someone to count these pearls..."

Stunned by Lin Li’s display, Zhang Yuxi finally snapped out of it. She nodded, then got up and left the office to find someone.

’Four million is about to be mine!’ Alone in the office, Lin Li couldn’t stop an excited smile from spreading across his face as he thought about the four million he was about to receive.

’Once I get the four million, how should I spend it?’

’Maybe I should use the money to buy a house first...?’

’Ugh... forget it, forget it. Can’t I have a little more ambition? I’m a Cultivator with a bright future now. How can I keep thinking about becoming a landlord? I’ll put buying a house aside for now...’

’If I’m not buying a house, I need to plan carefully how to spend this money.’

...

Zhang Yuxi didn’t keep the daydreaming Lin Li waiting for long.

About four or five minutes later, a woman nearing fifty, who had put on some weight, walked into the office behind Zhang Yuxi.

’Huh? Didn’t Miss Zhang go to get people to count the pearls? Why did she only bring one person? How long is it going to take with just her counting?’

Lin Li looked at Zhang Yuxi in confusion. As expected of a boss, she saw the doubtful look in his eyes, instantly understood what he was thinking, and explained with a smile.

"Mr. Lin, this is Ms. Liu, our store’s accountant. She is also a First Rank Initial Stage Cultivator. The Superpower she awakened allows her to count these pearls very quickly."

He never expected this chubby older lady to be a Cultivator, and one who had awakened a Superpower at that...

Lin Li nodded at Zhang Yuxi and stood aside, ready to see how this woman would use her awakened Superpower to accurately count all the pearls in the large bamboo baskets.

This middle-aged woman’s name was Liu Lan. She was 49 years old and had been Zhang Yuxi’s mother’s right-hand woman.

A few years ago, Zhang Yuxi’s mother retired early due to health reasons, after which Zhang Yuxi, a recent college graduate, took over the Jiabao Pearl jewelry store.

At first, Zhang Yuxi didn’t know the first thing about running the store.

It was only with the help of the loyal and hardworking Liu Lan that Zhang Yuxi was able to become the strong, independent woman she was today.

Therefore, Zhang Yuxi deeply respected Liu Lan; in her heart, Ms. Liu’s position was second only to her own mother’s.

"Ms. Liu, I’ll have to trouble you," Zhang Yuxi said to Liu Lan. The older woman smiled and nodded, then walked over to one of the large bamboo baskets filled with pearls.

Mobilizing her Spiritual Energy, a faint golden Spiritual Light appeared on Liu Lan’s raised right hand. Then, she activated her awakened Superpower.

’Gray?’

Standing to the side, Lin Li saw the faint golden Spiritual Light on Liu Lan’s right hand turn gray.

Then, he saw Liu Lan extend her gray-glowing right hand and hold it over the large bamboo basket full of pearls, palm facing down.

As Liu Lan controlled her Superpower, the gray light from her hand flared, instantly enveloping the entire basket of pearls.

Five seconds later, Liu Lan retracted her right hand, turned to Zhang Yuxi, and said, "There are two thousand and twenty pearls in this basket."

"Mm," Zhang Yuxi nodded.

Nearby, Lin Li looked at Liu Lan’s right hand in amazement, thinking, ’This Superpower is amazing. She counted an entire basket of pearls so easily in less than five seconds.’

Repeating the process, Liu Lan used her Superpower to count the pearls in every large bamboo basket in the office, finishing in less than two minutes.

"A total of twenty thousand, three hundred," Liu Lan said to Zhang Yuxi.

The number she reported matched the one Lin Li had given earlier.

"Mr. Lin, what do you think? My Ms. Liu’s Superpower is pretty incredible, isn’t it?" Zhang Yuxi asked, turning to Lin Li with a smile.

Lin Li nodded and said with a smile, "The Superpower this lady has awakened is indeed impressive."

"At 200 yuan per pearl, 20,300 pearls comes to 4.06 million... Mr. Lin, could you please give me your bank account number? I’ll have Ms. Liu transfer the money to you," Zhang Yuxi said.

"Alright." Lin Li recited his bank account number. After noting it down in her phone’s notepad, Liu Lan left Zhang Yuxi’s office and headed to the finance room to make the transfer.

After Liu Lan left, Zhang Yuxi smiled at Lin Li and said, "Mr. Lin, if you get any more pearls of this quality in the future, you can come to me anytime. No matter how many you have, I’ll take them all."

"No matter how many I have, you’ll take them all?!!!" Lin Li looked at Zhang Yuxi in astonishment.

"That’s right. No matter how many you have, we at Jiabao Pearl will take them all," Zhang Yuxi said with a smile.

After all, when Lin Li had acquired these twenty-thousand-plus pearls from Wang Gui, it had only taken Wang Gui an hour to gather them.

If he gave Wang Gui more time, it would be easy to multiply that number several times over.