What Are Gold Coins for

"What the hell is this place?" Lu Zhe complained, as a dark figure scurried away in the distance.

Shen Bing gave a silencing signal, drew her gun, and cautiously surveyed their surroundings.

Some glowing creatures, perhaps algae or mollusks, clung to the walls, reflecting a light source and making the coins scattered around glimmer, slightly illuminating the otherwise dark place.

After a while, seeing no other movement, Shen Bing turned her concern to Lu Zhe.

She clearly remembered that when they landed, Lu Zhe had chosen to hit the ground first.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"To be honest, it's nothing serious, just means I'll be spending the second half of my life in bed."

Even Shen Bing was so worried that tears were about to well up in her eyes. "Lu Zhe, you can't be hurt! Don't move, I... I'll definitely get you out of here! Hang in there!"

But was Lu Zhe really hurt?

The fall was quite painful, but with his body now over ten times as durable, his skin as tough as armor, and his bones as hard as steel rebar, it wasn't that serious.

He had only intended to play it up a bit to gain Shen Bing's sympathy, but seeing how frantic she became, he didn't have the heart to tease her further.

"Haha, just kidding! It hurts, but it's nothing major."

"I know that was a hard fall, but don't push yourself."

"I'm really fine?"

As he spoke, he stood up, but his head struck the granite rock with a loud "thunk", chipping off a piece.

"Ow, damn..."

Shen Bing quickly helped him crouch back down. "Be careful!"

Lu Zhe brushed the dust off his head. "I'm okay, I'm okay!"

"You scared me half to death, you know?"

"Heheh! Shen Bing, if I really was paralyzed and had to spend the rest of my life in bed, would you just put a gun to my temple? I wouldn't want to..."

"Shut up!" Shen Bing pursed her lips, her stern expression making Lu Zhe tense.

"Let me tell you, Lu Zhe, I would never do that! If it ever came to a life or death situation, I would be sure to die before you. And even if you only had the slightest chance of surviving, I would never give up. If you had to spend the rest of your life in bed, I would take care of you for the rest of my life!"

Her words were serious and resolute, and Lu Zhe's eyes shone with emotion. "Well, it wasn't for nothing being married to you and dealing with this!"

"Stop messing around!" Then her tone softened a bit. "You're really okay?"

Lu Zhe nodded seriously. "Really okay."

Shen Bing nodded, then suddenly embraced Lu Zhe tightly, unwilling to let go for a long while.

Lu Zhe felt her faint fragrance enter his nostrils as he placed his hand on her silky long hair and held her close.

In that moment, the piles of gold around them faded into the background.

After a full five minutes, Lu Zhe gently patted Shen Bing's back. "Can't breathe."

Only then did Shen Bing release him.

It was then that they truly took stock of their surroundings.

They seemed to be in the middle section of a cave, with a large pile of grimy coins to one side. Lu Zhe walked over, picked one up, and rubbed off the "rust" on its surface with his finger, immediately revealing a brilliant shine.

It wasn't rust, but some kind of lichen that had accumulated over a long period of time.

At that moment, a message appeared in his mind: "Ding! Congratulations, host has discovered a new mineral: gold!

Reward: +1 Latent Point!"

"Gold... so this really is a treasure trove?"

Shen Bing also picked up a coin. "If we turn it over to the state, we could get 500 yuan and an honorary banner, right?"

Lu Zhe nodded. "Yeah, 500 yuan for the wolf pelt, plus 500 more for this gold... Not even enough for a cab ride home, eh Shen Bing? Why don't you apply to get the banner waived and ask for 1000 yuan per item instead?"

Shen Bing laughed. "Stop joking around! Hey, you studied finance, right? Calculate how much all this gold is worth."

Lu Zhe looked around, a bit dazed.

He realized the coins weren't just in this passage, but extended further ahead.

And it wasn't just coins - there were also gold ingots, bars, silver ingots, of all different shapes and sizes, countless amounts.

"How do I even calculate this? By the ton? No, if it's all gold and silver, it must be nearly a hundred tons. I'd say we could probably build another Taj Mahal with no problem!"

"Yeah, judging by the era, it must be really ancient. The workmanship on the coins is quite crude."

Lu Zhe nodded. "Look, the coins at the bottom have been flattened. It would take at least a few hundred years of pressure for that to happen."

"So, the question is, who hid all this here?"

"No idea."

Lu Zhe shook his head. "There's no name or message either. It's like it was deliberately left for us. Not taking it almost feels like an insult to them."

Shen Bing smiled wryly. "Well, should we express our gratitude then?"

"How so?"

"You know, get excited, scream and shout, toss the coins around wildly, and loudly declare our hopes and dreams for the future - isn't that how it's done in movies and TV shows?"

"Let's be sensible about this."

Lu Zhe shook his head. "What use are these things if we can't take them with us? And if we do take them back, the relevant authorities will just keep an eye on us. They'd be less useful than some green onions and garlic... Ah!"

Lu Zhe seemed to have an idea.

"What is it?"

"Hey Shen Bing, you know how a lot of wealthy people buy their own private islands? Wouldn't it be possible to buy one of those unclaimed islands with money?"

"This... I'm not sure."

"We didn't have the means to consider that before, but with all this wealth now, it should be doable, right?"

Shen Bing pondered for a moment. "I know some small islands are sold under national authority, but I really don't know about these unclaimed territories."

Lu Zhe nodded. "If that's not possible, we could seal off this place and then find a way to transport everything back after we get out of here."

"You... don't want to turn it over to the state anymore?"

"This stuff has no real research value. Handing it over might even cause gold prices to drop. If gold prices fall, the US dollar would rise in value. If the US dollar rises, the Chinese yuan would depreciate. And if the yuan depreciates, the purchasing power and living standards of Chinese citizens would decline. Wouldn't that be hurting our own countrymen?"

"But even if you bought an island with all this wealth, there would still be surplus left over, right? What about that?"

"We'll find a way to invest it and grow its value. If there's ever a disaster, we can use the funds from abroad to buy supplies and send truckloads of aid to the affected areas. That way, we preserve the original value, live comfortably ourselves, and also provide tangible assistance to our countrymen. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Yeah, not a bad idea. But how would we explain having such a massive fortune with an unclear source?"

"Well, you're a policewoman and I studied finance - between the two of us, laundering the money shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

"Oh stop it, be serious!"

"Actually, the best approach might be to take and use as little as possible and keep a low profile while getting rich... Hey, why are we even discussing this? We haven't gotten out of here yet!"

"You're right! Without realizing it, we've fallen into the same old tropes again."

"Let's focus on finding a way out first. We can study what to do with all this gold and silver later!"