Chapter 57: Bought a Bicycle

Antique City

After the events of the previous night, John decided to take proactive measures to protect his sisters.

One of his ideas was to create a Mind Circle.

This would allow him to locate his sisters immediately if they were ever in danger.

However, creating a Mind Circle required high-quality jade, and ordinary jade simply wouldn't meet the necessary standards.

So, John decided to head to Antique City to see if he could find what he needed.

After browsing for a while, he hadn't found anything of value, but then he bumped into an old acquaintance.

Master Stratton Remar.

Stratton Remar had a passion for collecting antiques. Whenever he had free time, he would visit Antique City to see what treasures he could find.

When he saw John, he smiled and said, "What a coincidence, Mr. Lopez!"

John nodded and replied, "Master Stratton, how's your health recovering?"

He had a good impression of the old man.

"Much better, thanks to your help, Mr. Lopez. Otherwise, my old bones might have been put to rest for good."

"That's good to hear. In the future, you should pay more attention to your diet—eat less fatty, sweet, and greasy foods."

"I'll gladly follow your advice, Mr. Lopez."

They chatted as they strolled through Antique City.

After a while, John shook his head in disappointment.

Nothing worth buying.

At first, Stratton thought John was simply there to pick up a few inexpensive items. Seeing his disappointment, he couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Lopez, are you searching for something specific?"

"Well, I was hoping to find some jade or stones with high hardness, but after looking for so long, I haven't found anything."

Stratton smiled and shook his head. "It's harder to find genuine jade in a place like this than to find a needle in a haystack. But…"

He paused, as if remembering something.

"I recall that Maxwell recently received a special stone. I'm not sure if it will meet your needs, but it's worth asking."

John immediately slapped his forehead.

Of course! The Remar family owned an auction house, and they undoubtedly received many rare and valuable items. He should have asked Maxwell directly instead of wasting time in Antique City.

A knowing smile spread across Stratton's face. "Mr. Lopez, why don't you join me for lunch at my house this afternoon? I'll ask Maxwell to look into that stone for you."

"That sounds great," John agreed.

They continued strolling for a little while longer, but just as they were about to leave, John noticed something intriguing.

Huh? Was there something interesting?

He headed straight for a nearby stall.

This stall was larger than most and specialized in selling unusual items.

John's attention was drawn to a bicycle at the back of the stall. The frame had clearly been corroded by time, and it looked incredibly old.

John pointed to the bicycle and asked the stall owner, "Excuse me, aren't you selling antiques? Why do you have a second-hand bicycle here?"

"Don't even get me started," the stall owner said, his face twisting with frustration. "Yesterday, some lunatic insisted on exchanging this broken bike with me. He kept saying it was a treasure. I nearly lost my patience with him."

The stall owner continued, visibly irritated.

The previous day, he had been setting up his stall when a mad old man approached him. The man insisted on selling the bicycle, claiming someone would buy it soon.

Naturally, the stall owner had refused. He was an antique collector, not a junk dealer. Only a fool would buy such a pile of scrap metal.

In the end, the old man, undeterred, grabbed a handful of items from the stall, dropped the bicycle, and ran off.

The incident had left the stall owner in such a bad mood that he couldn't even enjoy his evening.

John smiled and said, "I'll take it for two hundred yuan."

"You want this?" The stall owner was stunned, clearly unable to believe someone would want to buy such a dilapidated bicycle.

"Can I ask why?" he inquired, driven by his professional curiosity.

John's expression darkened for a moment. "Er... never mind. I was just acting on impulse. I don't need it after all."

"Wait!" The stall owner quickly called out. "You said you'd buy it, and we agreed on the price. You can't back out now."

"I don't want it."

"No, no, you can't do business like this! How about one hundred and fifty?"

The two of them haggled for a while.

In the end, John managed to buy the bicycle for one hundred yuan.

Stratton raised an eyebrow and asked, "Mr. Lopez, why on earth would you buy this pile of scrap iron?"

From the frame to the chain, the bike was covered in rust and was completely unusable. It was essentially just a heap of metal.

If it were sold to a scrap yard, it would probably be worth only two or three dollars. One hundred yuan for it was far too much.

John smiled mysteriously and said, "I have my reasons."

He then left Antique City, carrying the bicycle on his shoulder, and made his way to a second-hand bicycle shop. He called the shop owner and said, "Could you help me remove the rust from my bicycle?"

When the shop owner saw the bike, he was taken aback.

"Your bike is in such bad shape. Honestly, I don't think it's worth removing the rust. Why not come to my shop and check out some other bikes? Even though they're second-hand, they're practically brand new."

"No, I just like this one. Please, help me remove the rust!" John insisted.

The shop owner was speechless.

He had never encountered such a customer before. He examined the bike and said, "Kid, you're not here to waste my time, are you?"

The entire bike was in pieces—frame, chain, screws—everything was broken. There was no reason to remove the rust. It was as if John was trolling him.

The shop owner's expression shifted, realizing something wasn't quite right. To show he wasn't joking, John pulled out a black card and flashed it.

"The VIP card of the Chamber of City!"

The shop owner's face turned pale.

Suddenly, it dawned on him.

He immediately apologized and said, "Sir, I'm truly sorry for the misunderstanding. I'll take care of the rust on your bike right away."

The fact that John had a Chamber of City VIP card meant he was far from an ordinary person. Why would he insist on removing rust from such a worthless bike unless it had some special significance to him?

Maybe it had been passed down from his late grandfather?

Rich people certainly had their own peculiar tastes.

The shop owner, now realizing he had made a serious mistake, was about to start working on the bike. But then, his wife pulled him aside and whispered, "I think he might have stolen that card."