‘You're finally here, you bastard.’

The tomb started to shake as if the artifact was angry.

[The angry artifact has created an aura wall around the plantation.]

[You have been trapped.]

[Your body will burn and you will die if you try to break through the wall.]

That was how the bastard had appeared.

However, Xu Fu's artifact that had been hiding in the tea plantation had an unexpected appearance.

Ju-Heon couldn't help but be shocked.

‘A worm?’

That was the case.

The thing that was screaming in protest toward him right now was none other than a worm. He had wondered why it had taken so long to get here, but had it dug through the ground and crawled all the way here?

The small worm that came out of the dirt was squirming as it strongly protested.

[#$

#&$

&!]

I'm going to make you pay for the damages, you bastard!

[#

$#

#$&*!]

Hey human bastard, are you listening to me?!

‘I need to at least be able to see you to even think about listening.’

It would be difficult to realize it was an artifact at first glance. It was because it looked like a regular worm. Ju-Heon would have probably not noticed and accidentally stepped on it if it was not giving off an artifact's aura or mumbling in protest.

The artifact continued to scream in anger.

[#

$&#

#

! #

$#&

.#($

(! #

$

#&(# #

&#

#&*(&#(…]

Listen to me! Those human slaves are my precious properties! I earned them through a contract. Do you know any of that you useless tall…!

“Ah so damn loud.”

Puuk!

Ju-Heon squished the worm with his foot as if he was annoyed.

[#

#&

!]

There was no way an artifact would die because he squished it like that, but the artifact screamed as it was being ruthlessly squished by Ju-Heon’s shoe.

Yoo Jaeha, who had been trying to detect aura around him to locate the artifact, turned his head.

“Huh? Captain-nim, what are you doing?”

“I'm teaching a lesson. I'm teaching him not to run his mouth because it’s so damn loud.”

“Huh? Did the artifact appear?”

Ju-Heon lifted his foot and showed what was underneath it rather than responding. There was a dying worm underneath his shoe.

[##$

&#

@……]

Human bastard, I will make you pay for this…

However, the group who discovered the worm were shocked and asked if this was Xu Fu's artifact. They had expected artifacts to be in the shape of items.

“I heard the old man say there were artifacts that took the shape of living organisms, is this one of them?”

Of course, this was Ju-Heon’s first time seeing Xu Fu's artifact as well.

Why?

‘Xu Fu's artifact is a parasitic artifact.’

However, it was a unique parasite that stuck to an artifact instead of a person.

It preferred to stick to another artifact and have a symbiotic relationship.

It must be latched onto Shennong's artifact this time to help it gather as many tea leaves as possible.

Shennong's artifact wanted to gather tea leaves to spread to the humans and needed manpower to gather them which Xu Fu's artifact was helping it do.

The reason they were only gathering children was because the artifacts knew something.

They knew messing with little children was a better way to harm humans.

Artifacts were those kind of cruel bastards.

‘It’s my first time seeing it in person, but I’ve heard about how to lure this bastard.’

That was why Ju-Heon ordered Yoo Jaeha to bring his bag.

“Bring all the money we brought.”

Yoo Jaeha's eyes turned wide at Ju-Heon’s comment.

“Huh? The money we stole… Or do you mean the money we legally brought as well?”

Ju-Heon nodded his head and Yoo Jaeha went to the Jeep to get the bag. Now that he thought about it, Ju-Heon had said they definitely needed cash or expensive items before coming into this tomb.

But was that related to coercing Xu Fu's artifact?

Irene must have been curious about that as she continued to look at the squirming worm but asked Ju-Heon a question.

“Mr. Ju-Heon, what do you plan on doing with the money…”

‘What else would I do?’

Ju-Heon squished the worm again and started to smile.

“I'm buying you. So, artifact, tell me. How much will it take?”

How much will it take?

Irene and the guard looked at him in shock.

The thing in front of them was not human. It was an artifact.

But he was telling an artifact to name a price as he was going to buy it?

‘Is this person crazy?’

The guard had that thought but Ju-Heon was serious.

Why?

This was the proper way to handle Xu Fu’s artifact. This bastard was originally a possession-type artifact that extorted its user. It requires payment from humans to make a contract and use it.

Money, jewels, slaves, anything was fine.

Anything that could be considered property was fine.

It was a hippo that just ate up money over and over.

That was Xu Fu’s artifact’s risk.

Furthermore, it asked for more things every time you used it. It gave its user quite the headache.

The fact that Keira was using this bastard meant that she had paid it as well. Of course, Ju-Heon had no idea how much that bitch Keira used to get him to work, but he didn't think she would have used that much money.

‘Chairman Kwon said he ended up using a total of 10 billion won.’

He didn't think Keira would have spent more than that.

That was obvious.

Keira was a government employee and not a wealthy person. There was bound to be a limit to how much money she could spend on artifacts.

The amount that the US used to purchase artifacts averaged around a billion to tens of billion won. That was why he didn't think the money she was using to deal with the risk would go above that.

She would have probably given up on using the artifact if it cost more than that. Furthermore, he didn’t think it would require a lot of money to gather young children.

Anyway, the method to steal this bastard was simple because it was such an artifact.

‘It will betray her if I offer more money than Keira.’

That was why this bastard was a fickle bastard who required constant watching. Of course, Keira would not have left it alone like this if she knew that was the case.

‘She let her guard down because it is a possession-type artifact.’

That was why Ju-Heon smirked as he squished the artifact some more.

“Okay. Speak. How much will it cost?”

The artifact ground its teeth.

[I have an important mission. Did you really think I would be swayed by money, human?!]

It was protesting in that alien language earlier but it seemed to have connected with the tomb as he could clearly hear it now.

Ju-Heon started to speak.

“I have the medicine you are looking for. It will be more beneficial for you to come over while I’m being nice.”

[You really think I would believe that?!]

Ju-Heon scoffed after hearing that.

‘So that's how you want to play this.’

Yoo Jaeha grunted as he dragged the bags of money from the Jeep.

“Captain-nim! I brought them!”

“Good.”

Ju-Heon took a bag and casually opened the bag and threw the money in the air. The dollars that were in the 007-style bag spread out like pollen.

There was approximately 2 billion dollars in there.

The artifact that smelled the scent of money flinched. However, the artifact scoffed as if that was not enough.

[That’s not enough money! You fool!]

Ju-Heon smiled in response.

“I'm sure it’s not enough.”

Yoo Jaeha opened the other bags and excitedly threw the money at the worm after getting Ju-Heon’s signal. The money being thrown was worth 30 billion won, much higher than the 10 billion won Chairman Kwon said he ended up using!

Ju-Heon wickedly smiled.

‘This should be enough.’

However, something unexpected happened.

[Still not enough, human!]

“!”

Ju-Heon’s eyes opened wide as if this was completely unexpected.

‘What? 30 billion won is not enough?’

Ju-Heon became anxious after seeing that this amount that was much higher than the amount in the past was not enough. He then started to scoff.

‘Keira, that bitch must have had a ton of money taken from here.’

But Ju-Heon wasn’t going to let it end here. He was quite thorough and had brought more things just in case something like this happened.

Ju-Heon flicked his finger and told Yoo Jaeha to hand them over. Yoo Jaeha handed Ju-Heon a bag that he threw toward the worm.

Inside the bag were accessories with diamonds on it, gold rings, gold necklaces, broaches, watches, and all sorts of expensive items.

All of these items would total to billions of won!

Furthermore, it didn't end there. He took a document out of his pocket.

“Here, this is the deed to the Holten family’s land! This land is two hectares wide.”

“!”

The guard freaked out and looked toward Irene after seeing that document. She was asking why that document was in this bastard’s hand.

Irene just smiled instead of responding.

She seemed to have let Ju-Heon borrow one of the Holten family’s smaller lands at his request. Actually, the more accurate statement would be that she stealthily swiped a document from her father’s room.

The guard foamed at the mouth after hearing that.

“My goodness, stealing?! Young miss! Your brother will faint if he finds out!”

“It should be fine since it is to save our parents.”

“That’s true, but!”

Ju-Heon was smiling at that moment.

‘This should be much higher than what that bitch gave it.’

His thoughts must be correct as the worm started to shake.

[T, that much seems like it is enough to go with you, but…!]

“But?”

[You see…]

Ju-Heon started to frown.

“What’s the problem? I have the money and like I said, I also have the medicine you are looking for.

[That… It’s about 100 million short!]

“……”

Ju-Heon started to grind his teeth.

‘Damn it.

About 100 million short?

Keira, that stupid idiot. This bastard stole quite the money from here.’

He didn’t know if the future changed or something, but how had she been swindled so bad by this artifact?!

However, this was not the time to talk shit about Keira.

It would be easy to get 100 million if he exited the tomb. But they were currently stuck here.

‘100 million, 100 million.’

He wanted to just destroy it and make Yoo Jaeha restore it, but he didn't know if Jaeha could restore a living organism-type artifact.

‘If this wasn’t a possession-type artifact that already had a contract, I would just…’

Ju-Heon looked around at the others.

“Do any of you have anything worth about 100 million?”

They all had awkward expressions.

There was no way they were going to bring expensive things with them into a tomb. He gathered everything they had on them but it didn't seem to be enough.

‘About 60 million won more…’

Yoo Jaeha then asked a question.

“Why don't you ask Irene to try to make some gold?”

“That’s impossible. She can’t make gold yet.”

“Tsk, then what about using some artifacts? Maybe a pearl will come out of an artifact like this if you use it properly.”

Yoo Jaeha took out Venus’s clam they stole from Vivian, but Ju-Heon clicked his tongue.

“Hey idiot. This artifact is used to make foam, not pearls…”

However, Ju-Heon who said that questioned his eyes for a moment. Something suddenly fell out of Yoo Jaeha’s hand.

'!'

It was none other than a pearl.

It was definitely a pearl. The worm shouted as soon as the pearl fell from Yoo Jaeha's hand.

[Just 50 million won left!]

Yoo Jaeha looked at the pearl in shock.

‘Wait, this small pearl is worth 10 million won?’

“Lucky! I guess there was a pearl among the artifacts! How lucky!”

However, Ju-Heon smirked while looking at the laughing Yoo Jaeha.

“No. You made that.”

“Excuse me…? What did you say? I made it? How…”

“Good job! Number 1. Hurry up and channel more Dominance into that artifact.”

“Ex, excuse me? No, like I said, how can I make a pearl…!”

“I'll explain later so hurry!”

“?!”

Something shocking happened as soon as the confused Yoo Jaeha channeled some Dominance into Venus’s clam. Venus’s clam opened and closed before it started to pour out a large number of pearls.

Ju-Heon instantly swept them up and threw them to the worm, Xu Fu's artifact.

“Alright, become mine now, artifact!”

[I will follow you!]

The worm’s body flashed before the weird text on its body disappeared. The worm then quickly flew over to Ju-Heon. It was its way of showing that it had changed owners and was willing to follow Ju-Heon.

However, Ju-Heon took a small bottle out of his pocket and ruthlessly imprisoned the worm inside it.

[#(

#$(#

(!]

The artifact that had instantly become trapped in the bottle screamed but Ju-Heon who had gotten Xu Fu's artifact smiled as he shouted.

"Alright, now that the aura wall is gone, pick the tea leaves! You just need to get one seedling of each type!”

The three others quickly started to move as soon as he said that.

At this moment, the African children started to cry or look confused as if Xu Fu's artifact changing owners had released them from their mind control.

However, he didn’t have the time to pay attention to that.

Boom!

The ceiling crumbled and rocks started to fall.

“Captain-nim!”

“Mr. Ju-Heon!”

Ju-Heon saw that and immediately activated an artifact.

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