102: Chapter 102 Katz also goes on strike

It was the afternoon of the third day when Li Xin arrived in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The city was located on the banks of the Irtysh River, surrounded by mountains. From afar, he could see the chimneys of the mining area puffing out white smoke, along with rows of factory buildings, with a crowd of people blocking the area outside.

The workers were on strike. Banners had been unfurled, roadblocks had been set up, and a line of military police vehicles was parked there.

Li Xin found a random hotel in the city to stay in. At five or six the next morning, he followed the route given by Chen Hu, bypassed the city from the north, took an abandoned exploration road, and went directly to the mountaintop behind the mine.

The road was terrible. Gravel, mud pits, and landslides were everywhere, and his car nearly got stuck several times. It took nearly two hours of driving to reach the summit.

There was an abandoned observation deck at the summit, built during the Soviet Union era. It was a concrete structure that had already developed cracks. The view was excellent—the entire Kazzinc mining area was in full view.

Li Xin parked the car, stored it into his space, and walked to the edge of the observation deck.

"AI System, main system status."

[Repair progress: 68%. Stability: 34%. Extraction in batches is recommended.]

"How many mines are we extracting from this time?"

[Bakyrchik 326 tons, Ridder 65 tons, Altai 55 tons, Zhairem 50 tons, Suzdal 22 tons, Boguty 15 tons, Irtysh River placer gold 40 tons. Total 573 tons. 60% can be extracted this time: 343.8 tons.]

"Extracting simultaneously?"

[All ore veins within range have been locked. Cannot be shielded individually. It is recommended to lower the Extraction rate.]

"How long will it take?"

[Normally six hours. It is recommended to extend to eight hours.]

"Fine."

Li Xin found a sheltered spot and sat down.

"System, start extracting these seven gold mines."

[Understood, starting Extraction, currently extracting... Computing power load at 92%. Approaching overload threshold.]

A pale blue light surged out, extending in all directions. The progress bar began to jump, even slower than when extracting in Astana; after all, seven ore veins were being extracted simultaneously, and the system was sluggish.

8:00 AM. Progress at 8%.

The system interface began to flicker.

[Multi-vein synchronous Extraction detected, system load too high. Further reduction in speed is recommended.]

"Reduce it."

[Extraction speed has been reduced. Current load 79%.]

9:00 AM. Progress at 15%.

A wave of noisy sounds came from below the mountain. Looking down, hundreds or thousands of people were moving about. Countless striking miners were shouting slogans, and the sound drifted up from the valley, buzzing like a swarm of bees.

Li Xin saw a sea of heads in the mining area's square. The banners were written in Kazakh; he couldn't read them clearly, but judging by the atmosphere at the scene, the emotions were very intense.

Military police vehicles blocked the intersection, their lights on, and riot shields were lined up in a row.

[AI System: System computing power load is rising sharply! System is lagging severely! Automatically reducing speed by 60%, Extraction duration significantly extended!]

Li Xin felt very helpless. "Can you still hold on?"

[Buffering. Current load 96%.]

He didn't dare to rush it anymore. Let it extract slowly; no rush, no rush. He then took out a roast duck and began to eat it with relish.

10:00 AM. Progress at 23%.

At this moment, it started to drizzle.

This time, there was no lightning or thunder like in Astana. He finally didn't need to worry about being struck by lightning. Perhaps heaven took pity on him and let him off.

It was just that the fine, dense drizzle was somewhat cold, drifting in from the wind on the mountaintop and hitting his face, feeling chilly.

Li Xin zipped up his jacket and huddled in a corner of the observation deck.

The rain grew heavier. The drizzle slowly turned into a downpour. Li Xin even felt for a moment as if the sky had been poked with a hole, letting the water of the Heavenly River pour down.

Time passed bit by bit. The rainwater washed over the hillside again and again, and muddy water flowed down along the cracks.

In a daze, Li Xin seemed to hear the sound of rolling stones, "Clatter, clatter... pitter-patter... crackle, crackle...", and countless pieces of gravel were falling down.

[Geological tremor. Minor movement in nearby rock strata. Extraction is being interfered with. Current load 97%.]

"Don't collapse..." Li Xin gritted his teeth, his expression somewhat tense.

11:00 AM. Progress at 31%.

The continuous falling of gravel continued. The rain was too heavy; the soil on the hillside had been soaked soft, and the stones couldn't stay embedded, falling down with a clatter.

Suddenly, Li Xin dodged violently to the side. In an instant, a fist-sized rock slammed into the spot where he had just been sitting, creating a pit in the concrete floor.

It scared his heart into pounding. He stood against the stone wall of the observation deck, as the wall could block falling rocks.

Sirens came from below the mountain. It was no longer the shouts of the strike, but an emergency assembly alarm.

[AI System: Mining area martial law upgraded, military police vehicles gathering at the foot of the mountain.]

Li Xin took a look down. A dozen military vehicles were parked at the mining area entrance, soldiers were getting out and forming lines, holding guns.

"Don't tell me they are coming up the mountain." Li Xin said with some worry.

[AI System: Uncertain, no deployment towards the foot of the mountain.]

12:00 PM. Progress at 40%.

The rain eased up. But the falling rocks didn't stop.

Li Xin's jacket was soaked through, clinging to his body, and he was shivering from the cold. The system kept flashing red, the load jumping back and forth between 95% and 98%, and the progress bar was almost motionless.

[AI System: Geological tremor causing Extraction disorder! Load rapidly increased to 100%! If buffering is not successful within 10 minutes, it will crash immediately!]

Li Xin's brain buzzed. "Crash? Now? Are you sure you're serious?"

He sat down, immediately closed his eyes, and forced himself to calm down.

The system parameters appeared in his mind—a load distribution map of the seven ore veins. Bakyrchik had the highest load, accounting for nearly half. The Irtysh River placer gold had the lowest load.

He manually lowered the Extraction rate of Bakyrchik and raised that of the placer gold. The computing power was redistributed, and the load dropped bit by bit.

99.9%. 99.8%. 99.6%. 98%.

[Buffering... Current load 90%. Extraction rate stable.]

1:30 PM. Progress at 47%.

Two patrol cars arrived at the foot of the mountain. They weren't military vehicles, but police cars from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, blue and white, with flashing lights. They didn't drive towards the mining area but turned onto the fork leading to the mountaintop.

Li Xin's heart suddenly jumped into his throat.

The patrol car stopped at the foot of the mine. Two police officers got out of the car; at this moment, they were less than two hundred meters from Li Xin's position.

He held his breath, curling up behind the stone wall of the observation deck.

The police looked around casually, didn't find anything, and turned back to the car. The patrol car stayed there for more than ten minutes and then drove away. Fortunately, he had stored the car in his space earlier when no one was around, otherwise, it would be another thorough search now.

2:00 PM. Progress at 58%.

The rain had completely stopped.

Li Xin was soaked through and shivering from the cold.

The progress was jumping. 61%. 65%. 69%.

7:00 PM. Progress at 78%.

The strike below the mountain was still continuing. A new batch of banners had been put up, and the slogans were being shouted even louder. The military police formation pressed forward, and the miners retreated, but they didn't disperse.

Li Xin had no mind to watch these things. He stared at the system interface; every time the progress bar jumped by one percentage point, his heart rate accelerated once.

83%. 87%. 92%.

7:30 PM. Progress at 95%.

[Load 97%. Extraction stable.]

97%. 98%. 99%.

[Ding—East Kazakhstan Region ore veins Extraction complete. Bakyrchik 195.6 tons, Ridder 39 tons, Altai 33 tons, Zhairem 30 tons, Suzdal 13.2 tons, Boguty 9 tons, Irtysh River placer gold 24 tons. Total 343.8 tons.]

[Accumulated refined gold: 1939.1057 tons.]

Li Xin sat down on the ground with a thud.

His hands were still shaking. Not because of the cold, but because he had been tense for too long, and now that he had suddenly relaxed, his whole person felt like it had been hollowed out.

He leaned against the wall of the water basin, closed his eyes, and took a few breaths.

Then he stood up, took out the car, and started the engine.

He bypassed the rockfall section and went down the mountain from the other side. The road was full of gravel and mud, and the car skidded several times; he gritted his teeth, gripped the steering wheel, and forced his way through.

Looking in the rearview mirror, the observation deck at the summit became smaller and smaller, finally disappearing into the morning mist.

Only after getting onto the highway did he slow down.

He opened the system panel.

[Gold Search and Refining System 2.0] (Repairing) [Host: Li Xin] [Current Level: 14] [Detection Range: 27990 meters] [Accumulated refined gold: 1939.1057 tons.] [Gold required for next level: ...] (Note: main system status: Repairing (68%). Stability 31%. Cooling down for 72 hours required.) [AI System: Online.]

1939 tons. Worth approximately 542.9 billion RMB.

"AI System, check the information on gold mines in the central desert."

[Understood... According to the data, over in the central desert. There are gold mines under the Gobi Desert, which were explored during the Soviet Union era. The reserves are not small, and they have never been mined. They should be ownerless mines, worth checking out!]

Li Xin was silent for a while. "Ownerless mines, can be fully extracted. Then we will set off for there tomorrow."

No longer hesitating, he stepped on the gas pedal, the car roared, and it sped towards Astana.

In the rearview mirror, the mountains of Ust-Kamenogorsk grew further and further away. The slogans of the strike and the rumbling of falling rocks were all left behind.

1939 tons, still not enough.

Central desert, next stop.