Chapter 23: Solving Problems

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  At the ATM on Beijing Road, Duan Yue deposited all his money and watched as the originally three-digit funds instantly became five digits. Duan Yue felt inexplicably reassured.

  Money is not omnipotent, but having no money is absolutely impossible!

  When passing by Chow Tai Fook, Duan Yue couldn't help but go in and take a look at those dazzling diamonds, wondering when he could buy a big diamond.

  However, those elegant and imposing sales ladies had no interest in Duan Lei, who was dressed normally. They simply treated him as a passerby. Duan Lei wandered around the jewelry store for a while before reluctantly leaving under the watchful eyes of the security guard.

  Coming out of Beijing Road, Duan Yue rushed into a nearby alley affectionately known as "Wedding Dress Alley", where large and small wedding photography studios gathered, the first choice for newlyweds in Haicheng to take their wedding photos.

  Although digital cameras and camera phones are now very popular, the number of films that need to be washed every day in wedding photography studios is still considerable, and the amount of developer waste liquid and fixer waste liquid produced is not small.

  Silver is an important component of photographic materials, and according to some research institutions, silver used in photography accounts for 24% of the world's annual silver consumption. Most of the silver elements will dissolve in the waste liquid during the washing of photos, creating a not-too-small market for extracting silver from waste liquids.

  Generally, the silver content in photographic fixer waste liquid is around 5-10 grams per liter, which is significantly higher than that of laboratory fixer waste and hospital X-ray fixer waste. Assuming a typical photo studio produces 200 liters of waste liquid per month, the theoretical amount of silver that can be extracted is 1000-2000 grams, with a value of around 5000-10,000 yuan.

  Currently, there are roughly four methods to extract silver from waste liquid with a relatively high yield: electrolysis, substitution, precipitation and ion exchange, with an extraction rate between 75% and 90%. In addition, there are also solvent extraction, activated carbon adsorption, flotation, heating method, etc., with an extraction rate of approximately 30-60%.

  The conventional method of extracting silver from waste liquid requires a large amount of other metals, electricity and various chemical reagents, with high costs. A profit margin of around 15% is already considered a good result.

  For Duan Yue, using loofah sponges to extract silver not only has a extraction rate of over 95%, but also has a huge cost advantage. The costs he needs to pay mainly include the culture medium for cultivating loofah sponges, the cost of silver-containing waste liquid and laboratory equipment. On average, the cost of extracting one gram of pure silver is only about one yuan, with a profit margin of as high as 80%.

  Duan Yue ran to more than a dozen photography studios, after some bargaining, Duan Yue finally settled on a cooperation intention with some of the studios at a price 10% higher than the market price. These studios would be responsible for sending the silver-containing waste liquid to Cai Village's laboratory. According to Duan Yue's estimate, if all fifteen groups of loofah were planted, about 10,000 liters of silver-containing waste liquid would be needed per month.

  Generally speaking, a relatively large photo studio produces about 50 liters of waste liquid per day from washing photos. Seven or eight studios can barely meet Duan Lei's needs.

  In the future, if Duan Yue has his own territory and more channels, he can go to find large printing factories to cooperate with, which can completely expand the cultivation scale of swallowing melons by countless times. However, that is already a later story, and now Duan Yue can only think about it in his mind.

  Now that the source of the silver-containing waste liquid has been resolved, Duan Lei's tense mood relaxed a lot, and he hadn't expected things to be resolved so smoothly.

  With a stable supply of raw materials, Duan Lei can obtain a stable source of income and lay a good foundation for future plans.

  On the bus from Beijing Road back to Haida, Duanyue's mind was constantly thinking about how to arrange his next work.

  Nowadays, the cultivation of loofah has entered a relatively stable state, solving the supply problem of silver-containing wastewater, and this piece will become a hen that lays golden eggs.

  The first time he experimented, Duan Yue planted three groups of loofahs and created an output value of 250,000 in half a month. If he planted fifteen groups of seeds, the theoretical output value for one month would be 2.5 million. After deducting the cost of purchasing silver-containing waste liquid, rent, nutrient solution costs, etc., he could make a profit of around 200,000 yuan.

  For ordinary people, a monthly profit of 200,000 yuan is already an astronomical figure, but for Duan Lei, these are still far from enough.

  A 2-carat natural diamond, the price is between 200,000 to 300,000. Duan Lei currently has no connection, so it's unlikely that he can buy a cheap loose diamond, and can only buy expensive diamond jewelry in a jewelry store to replenish Dingding's energy.

  At this rate, Duan Yue would have to spend at least two months' worth of time to buy a diamond to awaken Dingding, but in order for Dingding to have more privileges, he would still need to continue throwing money into this bottomless pit.

  Duan Lei has thought about expanding the planting scale of calabaza to obtain more income in a short period, but after considering various factors, he decided to take it slow and steady.

  I have no power in Haicheng, if I sell a large amount of refined silver for a long time, no matter how I conceal it, it will inevitably reveal some clues, and when the time comes, it will attract the attention of those who are interested, which would be a loss. If I keep a relatively small shipment every month, and find one or two reliable partners on the basis of Yonghe Building, I can minimize the risk.

  In addition, due to the special nature of the calabaza, it is a magical creature that cannot be exposed to light at all, so Duan Lei can only cultivate it in the laboratory, and the small space restricts the scale of planting.

  Duanyan secretly told himself that in the future, when he had money, he would definitely establish his own territory, so that he could reduce the probability of some secrets being leaked to a minimum.

  But now he still has to keep a low profile, lower than low!

  After a month of hard work, the cultivation and planting of the devouring grass have finally come to an end. From now on, Duan Lei only needs to plant the devouring calabaza according to the routine, extract the silver from the waste liquid containing silver, and he can obtain a stable source of income, quickly advancing towards his goal of awakening Ding Ding.

  Next, he began to focus on another advanced technology of the Maya civilization taken out by Dingdang from the database, which was specially used for animals - 'Opening Liquid'!

  Duan Yue understood that with his incredible ability to devour calabazas, he could accumulate a large amount of wealth in a short period of time. However, this wealth was not something that could be openly displayed.

  If people knew that plants could absorb silver from waste liquid and crystallize it into its pure form, it would undoubtedly drive some powerful forces, even governments, crazy. Duan Lei didn't want to be put under a microscope for analysis, nor did he want Tingting's existence to be exposed, and himself taken away for research.

  He had to find an industry that could be placed in the sunlight as a cover for his rapidly increasing wealth.

  Nowadays, urban people's material life is very rich and their work pace is fast, but their emotional life is becoming increasingly empty, interpersonal relationships are also becoming increasingly indifferent, and some people even live opposite each other without knowing each other. As a result, more and more city dwellers have begun to place their emotions on pets, hoping to get more comfort from them.

  Just like the antique collection craze that swept the nation, the pet market has exploded in a staggering manner over just a few short years.

  From various purebred famous dogs and cats to unusual pets like llamas, there are people willing to invest a lot of time and energy into raising them, even treating these pets as their own family members. There are also some people with alternative worldviews who have taken a liking to lizards, frogs, crocodiles, golden pythons and other such pets. In short, as long as it's a living creature, there will be someone who likes it.

  After getting the technical data of 'opening liquid', Duan Lei was thinking in his heart, if he could cultivate some pets with intelligence similar to that of five or six year old children, they would be able to easily accept various commands from their owners, clever and obedient, what a great market it would be!

  Nowadays, the matter of extracting silver from the swallowing grass has basically entered the right track. Duan Lei only needs to receive the film waste liquid sent by Ying Lou at the predetermined time in the laboratory and manage the swallowing silk melon that is being cultivated accordingly. Next, Duan Lei has enough time and energy to study and experiment on the 'opening liquid', striving to prepare the 'opening liquid' in the shortest possible time.

  With the 'opening liquid', and after accumulating a certain amount of funds, Duan Lei can open a pet store, openly and honestly raking in a large fortune, further accelerating the pace of Dingding's awakening, and soon unlocking more content in the database.

  Like this, Duan Yue was lost in thought on the bus, almost missing his stop. If he hadn't suddenly seen the iconic gate of Hai Da, he would have really forgotten that he was taking public transportation.

  Walking on the shaded path of Haida, a kind of intimacy came to his face. After staying up all night for half a month in the environment of Cai Village laboratory, Duan Lei felt that he was almost moldy. Now he is eager to see Tang Lian'er's figure, wants to hold hands with her and stroll along the lakeside of Xiangsi Lake, and whispers secrets to her.

  Today is Friday, the first year of the College of Literature and History has Mr. Fu's 'Ancient Chinese' in the stepped classroom, as a good student, Tang Lier will not skip class. Duan Lei did not call Tang Lier, but quietly came to the outside of the teaching building of the College of Literature and History, wanting to give her an unexpected surprise.

  The Agricultural College is predominantly male, with a small number of female students, which is completely different from the desperate situation of dinosaurs. The female students in the College of Liberal Arts are far superior to those in the Agricultural College in terms of both quantity and quality. For a long time, the College of Liberal Arts, the Academy of Art and the International Business School have been the colleges with the most beautiful women in Haicheng University, and there are always countless flies buzzing around them everywhere.

  Especially the girls in the College of Literature and Arts, they all have a bit of artistic and mysterious aura, which is very attractive to some men who feel good about themselves. As soon as it's Friday, the teaching building of the College of Literature and Arts becomes extremely lively!

  Arriving at the teaching building, Duan Yue unexpectedly caught sight of a figure!

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