Chapter 3: Old Man Hussein And the Cube
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A ton of people was what filled my vision as I get into the marketplace. There were lots of humans, androids, and robots going around the place. Hovering patrol robots could also be seen here and there, patrolling the area.

“It’s always been a sight to see all the people here look young on appearance. No one is ugly in the least, although it makes me bored somewhat.”

These phenomena were caused by the advanced medical technology that humanity had perfected over the millennia, like the advanced stem cell, nanobot, and gene modification. Despite the technology that had caused people to live longer and look young, there was still a limit for it.

It is a shame but as a normal civilian, I could only afford a low-grade extension of life which could only extend life expectancy to around 200 years. I wonder with selling the Golden Star Dust would I be able to afford the medium… high-grade one?

Well, no need to think about this further, only by selling it would I know.

Even without life extension, people could also be immortal by uploading their minds. They could also transplant their brains into another young body. But there had been an unsolvable speculation about whether they were still themselves after they have done either of the one.

Even if I had only 200 years to life, I don’t feel like immortalizing myself with uploading my consciousness into a machine!

I shook my head and then gazed to the side and found that there were a few men and women that had the appearance of a middle-aged. Even though life-extension technology was capable to reverse the look of someone to become younger, not all people wanted to keep a young appearance, there were still people that chose to look older.

“ATHENA, gather the market information that you could find here.” I whisperingly commanded while gazing around to check if there were anyone suspicious.

[“Yes, Master!”] ATHENA replied with her somewhat cheerful voice.

Following that, I continued to stroll around the market, the market itself was more of a digital market. Rather than a market where people shouting to advertise their product, the people just need to see the digital hologram in front of the respective store before accessing deeper with their small gadgets.

If it was a wealthy people that had access to an auto learner technology embedded into their device, the information could just instantly went inside of their mind.

Still, humans only had a brain capacity of 300 years or so. But I hear that with the advancement of technology, they could delete and store memory into another place, while it’s also possible to enhance their brain further. Even I, myself had an IQ of 160.

After I strolled around the market and didn’t manage to find anything interesting, ATHENA had finished gathering enough information for the current market price on things, so I decided to go into my connection place.

I then walked to a specific location not that far from the market and found a general store with a digital signboard above. It was written ‘Hussein's resource and equipment store’.

The door opened automatically as my body was about a meter away from the entrance. Inside were a lot of white-colored cabinets and shelves with all kinds of items put on there. A hologram screen was floating in front of the respective item with a description and price written on it.

Behind the desk cashier, a black-haired middle-aged man with a quite meaty short figure, who has a long dwarf beard was inspecting a white cube that had a sophisticated design on it. He was inspecting it with a rusty yellow gloves and glasses binocular.

“You still alive, old Hussein?” I blurted out without thinking while approaching him curiously.

“Ah??" The man called Hussein lifted his head and gazed at me with his binoculars, he seems to be confused as I was wearing a helmet before he realized and laughed, “Hahaha… It’s you, young Victor! It’s been half a year since the last time you lad was here, wasn’t it?”

Hussein put his binocular aside and that white cube back to the drawer and hit me lightly on the shoulder with his other hand.

“Young? I was 25 years old!” I shouted and instinctively back away a little after being hit earlier.

“25? I am more than 80 years old, calling you a lad is normal.”

Since people typically live very long, 25 was still considered a lad and not even an adult.

“Still, since five years ago, you seem to be a little bit paranoid when people interact with you—”

“Enough! No more of that talk… Let’s just get to the point, I want to propose a good deal with you, are you interested?”

“A deal? I’m all ears!” Hussein sat in his chair and held his chin while directing his ear to my mouth.

“This is a big secret of a deal and the reason I’m going to tell you is that I trust you the most from all of my connection! You won’t betray me, won’t you?” I shrank my eyes in a glare and declared with a hidden threat.

“Hah! You should have more faith in people…” Just as Hussein was about to continue, his eyes bulged and almost popped out before he opened his mouth wide in shock.

A finger-size tube case filled with a speck of golden-colored dust was placed above the desk.

“A…a Golden... Star Dust!?” That voice barely came out from Hussein’s mouth.

Hussein tried to rub his eyes again and again but then accepted what he just saw was a priceless treasure.

“Where did you get this? No… sell it to me! 50.000… 100.000 credits! I will pay you 100.000!” Hussein frantically expressed as he eyed the tube case with the greed of a merchant.

This worth that much? Even the amount of credit I had accumulated for years only just amounted to around that much! No… it’s definitely worth even more…

I kept a poker face, trying not to show a sign of an excited expression. Noticing that my face wasn’t so excited, Hussein panicked and continued, “If you aren’t satisfied, we could discuss more of this, especially if you had more.”

“I had more of it, could you really buy all of it?” Hearing that Hussein was so desperate, I decided to take out dozens of the finger-sized tubes from my dimensional storage.

This was only a small part of what I brought; I didn't dare to reveal more as it might bring a calamity instead of a fortune. Seeing a few dozens more finger-sized tubes with the golden dust-filled inside, Hussein started having a cold sweat and seemed lost for words.

"This…. Are you trying to make me bankrupt? This is too much!" His eyes couldn't focus as if he almost fainted before he jolts awake for some reason.

“Wait, I have something that might interest you.” Hussein then opened the drawer of the desk and took out the same white cube he checked before.

He then placed the cube above the desk carefully as if scared damaging it before explaining in a serious tone, “I got this just recently from a foolish scavenger that didn’t know what kind of gem he just uncovered; do you ever hear a Technology Cube?”

“Technology Cube? What’s that?”

“Technology Cube is said to contain the cumulation technology of mankind. Unfortunately, I don’t know what kind of technology inside of this because to access it, you need an insane amount of energy, but it just so happens that your Golden Star Dust is the key thing to access this.”

From what I know, Technology is strictly regulated. So, a Technology Cube like this, if sold to the right owner might fetch for an incredible sum that worth millions of credits at the very least.

I had a lot of those Golden Star Dust, in the slightest chance that it contains a technology that could be monopolized by me, I will hit the jackpot!

A grinned secretly formed inside my head, I was thrilled by the bright prospect that might be brought by this cube. Seeing that I stay silent for a moment, Hussein seemed to have a misconception that I might not agree. He started to rummage his dimensional storage and drawer as if trying to find something that might pique my interest.

“Then it’s a deal, but I want 500.000 credits as a guarantee. I might also bring more in the future.” I suddenly expressed after weighing the pros and cons.

“If you still disa… Wait, what?” Hussein made a hilarious face when he was surprised that I accepted the deal but then calm himself down before continuing, “it’s a deal then.”

After we both accepted the deal, I decided to make a digital contract with an ambiguous description that could only be understood by us. The reason I did this was to make sure that no other people knew our deal. After all, it's better to be safe than sorry.

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