Volume One: The Road to Treasure Picking Begins Here

Chapter 0001: The Purple Little Bug

Flagstaff, also known as Flagpole City, is a small city in the western United States.

Geographically, it is located in northern Arizona, on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, bordering the gambling city of Las Vegas to the west, and to the east you can see the famous Grand Canyon.

America, Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas—these four names are familiar to many Chinese people, but Flagstaff, wrapped in the middle of these four regions, is probably not known to many.

Half a year ago, David Thompson was also one of those “not many,” until he came to Flagstaff to study abroad.

Flagstaff isn’t famous in China, nor is it well-known in the US, but it does have a few good universities, such as Northern Arizona University and American College of Flagstaff.

The school where David Thompson studied abroad is called Flagstaff National College, which differs from American College of Flagstaff by just one word, but that one word makes a world of difference!

American College of Flagstaff is a branch of American College, a pretty good private university offering undergraduate, associate, and preparatory education.

Flagstaff National College? That’s a diploma mill. David Thompson was completely tricked into coming here for graduate studies.

As a result, after he had paid his tuition and research fees for just half a year, the school was shut down. The school board and admissions staff got wind of it in advance and ran off, leaving a bunch of international students dumbfounded as the police drove them off campus.

David Thompson was considered lucky. Because the school dorms were too chaotic, he chose not to live there for peace and quiet, instead renting an apartment room, so at least he still had a place to stay. Those classmates who paid for dorms and lived on campus are now wandering the streets.

But his situation isn’t much better than his classmates’. It’s the end of January, his rent is due, and if he doesn’t pay up soon, he might end up homeless.

The worst part is, he’s out of money!

Of course, he could ask his parents or friends back home for a loan, but that’s only if he’s still studying abroad.

Now that the school’s been shut down, there’s no way he can continue his graduate studies—how could he have the face to ask his aging parents for money? As for asking classmates or friends? He’s too proud to do that.

Sitting at the entrance of the building, frowning in worry, the pinewood door behind David Thompson was pushed open, and a blonde, blue-eyed girl poked her head out. “Hey, Li, are you out here?”

This girl was his landlord, named Hannah Fox. The house was an inheritance from her parents, who died in a car accident, and belonged to her and her brother Henry Fox.

However, Henry claimed to be “busy with big business” and hardly ever stayed here throughout the year, so the spare bedrooms were rented out by Hannah for extra income.

Hearing her call, David Thompson stood up and said, “Oh, yes, Hannah, is there something you need?”

The girl shrugged and smiled, a dimple appearing on her beautiful face. “I was just cleaning the fridge and saw a few cans of beer—must be from Henry. I remember you like malt beer, so why not drink them?”

She was holding a six-pack of beer in a common wooden carrier, with a prominent Budweiser logo on it.

Seeing the beer, David Thompson also smiled. There was only a small fridge in the apartment, and he opened it every day—there was never any beer in there.

Besides, with Henry’s temperament, if there really was beer, he’d never leave it behind. That guy lives for alcohol.

He guessed that the beer was bought by Hannah to comfort him. Ever since she found out his school was shut down, Hannah had comforted him several times, which really touched him.

But Hannah didn’t have many ways to comfort him—it was either giving him a motivational book or giving him beer.

This American girl once asked him about Chinese culture and learned the saying “drown your sorrows in drink.”

She thought that, according to Chinese custom, getting drunk and sleeping it off could ease one’s worries, so she gave him beer several times.

David Thompson accepted Hannah’s kindness, considering it a favor owed to her.

In American social customs, some gifts can’t be refused, or it might be seen as rejecting friendship. He really valued his friendship with Hannah.

He took the wooden carrier, and Hannah smiled and left, saying as she went, “There are lots of problems in life, but it’s still beautiful.”

Muttering this American saying a few times, David Thompson opened the package to take out a can of beer.

But as soon as he opened the wooden box, a crystal, looking like amber, suddenly fell out and hit the ground with a “crack.”

The crystal was about the size of his thumb tip, and it hit the cement floor hard, leaving several cracks on its surface.