103: Chapter 103 Desert Storm

Li Xin left Ust-Kamenogorsk and headed west.

He drove his car through the greyish-yellow desert. The desert was sparsely covered in wild grass, growing in clumps like the hair on a bald man's head.

Occasionally, he would encounter herds of wild camels. They stood in the distance, staring at his car without moving, acting like curious bystanders with indifferent expressions.

"AI System, how far is it to Karaganda now?"

[There are still three hundred kilometers to Karaganda. There are millions of roads, but safety is the first priority. Driving irregularly brings tears to your loved ones. Zhuzi... Zhuzi, drive carefully.]

"Got it! How is the system status now?" Li Xin rolled his eyes.

[Repair progress 69%. Stability 34%. Load limit 100%. Exceeding it will cause a crash. The consequence is that you will be obliterated, and the gold in the space will be reset to zero. Please use it with caution.]

Li Xin tightened his grip on the steering wheel, feeling a sense of trepidation. "The kind where I can never come back?"

[Yes... so don't let it overload. There are still good times waiting for you to enjoy. Can you really give up fast cars and beautiful women?]

"Hehe~ got it; tell me about the gold mine we are going to."

[AI System: The first gold mine we are going to is the Maikain copper-gold associated deposit. It is about 120 kilometers from downtown Karaganda, deep in the desert. It was explored during the Soviet Union era, with reserves of about 60 tons, but it couldn't be mined due to low grade. It is an ownerless mine and can be fully extracted.]

60 tons in full. Added to the previous 1939 tons, that's nearly 2000 tons.

Li Xin slammed on the accelerator, and the car surged forward.

At four in the afternoon, the car turned onto a dirt road where the road conditions were very poor. Gravel, sand pits, and dead branches broken by the wind were visible everywhere. The car bounced around, and his young lumbar spine was certainly suffering.

After driving for nearly two hours, several low buildings came into view in the distance.

It was a highway service area. There were a few small bungalows, a gas station, and two dilapidated large trucks parked at the entrance. The gas station's old sign was swaying precariously in the wind, and what was written on it could no longer be seen.

Li Xin parked the car next to one of the trucks and looked around.

"This will do."

He pushed the car door open, and a wave of heat hit him. The wind in the desert was dry and hot, but with the system regulating his body temperature, he didn't feel the heat. This was one of his favorite auxiliary functions.

He didn't see anyone in the service area. He walked into the row of bungalows; the door was open, and there was only a table and a few plastic chairs in the room. A faded map of Kazakhstan was pasted on the wall.

He saw an old man walk out from the inner room, wearing dirty work clothes and holding a teapot in his hand.

"What do you want to buy?" he asked in Kazakh.

"I want to buy some water."

"Water is ten yuan a bottle." The old man pointed to the case of mineral water in the corner.

Li Xin bought a bottle of water, paid, and returned to the car. He didn't leave immediately; instead, he drove to a hidden spot behind the service area and parked next to a scrapped large truck.

It was not easy to see this place from the outside, but he could see the road and the distant desert.

"System, Scan the Maikain mining area."

[Scanning... Scan complete. Maikain copper-gold associated deposit, gold reserves 60 tons. Full Extraction. Note: Monitor the load in real-time; it must not exceed 100%.]

"Start Extraction."

Pale blue light gushed out. The load slowly climbed from 0—12%, 25%, 38%, 45%.

"AI System, remember to remind me promptly if the load rises."

[AI System: Understood. The current system load is 65%, operating normally. Safety threshold: 100%.]

Li Xin leaned back in his seat and took out a can of Red Bull from the space. He cracked it open and took a sip.

The desert evening gradually descended. The sky turned orange-red, the sun slowly sank below the horizon, and the entire Gobi Desert was dyed golden-red. A few wild camels walked slowly in the distance, their shadows stretched out very long. It was truly like a beautiful oil painting that made one linger and unable to tear themselves away.

Li Xin stared at the progress bar. Eight percent. Twelve percent. Eighteen percent.

"At this speed, how long will it take?"

[Estimated two hours. The load is stable in the 65%-70% range.]

"That's fine."

The sky turned completely dark.

In the clear night sky of the desert, the stars were dense, and meteors occasionally streaked across the horizon, injecting a different kind of color into this beautiful galaxy. Li Xin opened the sunroof and quietly looked up at the starry sky, letting the desert breeze blow in, breathing in the air that carried the scent of sand.

Everything was so natural and beautiful.

Everything was just right.

Progress 32%.

A light flashed in the distance. With a "whoosh," a pickup truck sped past on the road.

Forty percent.

Suddenly, the system interface flickered.

[Computing load abnormally rising. Current load 82%. Reason unknown.]

"What's going on?"

[Detecting... The desert geomagnetic environment is fluctuating suddenly. It may be the influence of solar activity.]

"Can you stabilize it?"

[Currently yes. But the load is continuously rising.]

85%. 89%. 94%.

Progress 53%. The speed had obviously slowed down.

[Overload due to unknown reasons! Current load 98%! Approaching the safety limit of 100%! Automatically reducing speed by 40%, Extraction time extended to 5 hours!]

Li Xin's heart tightened sharply. 98%. Just 2 points away.

"It cannot rise any further," he said.

[Reducing speed and buffering. Current load 96%. Needs continuous monitoring.]

Li Xin sat up straight, put down the Red Bull, and stared fixedly at the load distribution of each ore vein—the main ore body had the highest load, accounting for nearly 60%.

He manually lowered the Extraction rate of the main ore body and distributed the computing power to the peripheral ore veins. The load dropped bit by bit.

96%. 93%. 90%.

[Current load 89%. Safe.]

Li Xin let out a long sigh of relief.

He glanced at the time. Nine o'clock at night. It wouldn't end until two in the morning.

"Fine."

He adjusted his seat back, closed his eyes to rest, and kept an eye on the Extraction situation at all times.

Ten o'clock at night. Progress 61%. Load 86%.

The wind picked up.

This time it seemed a bit different. Looking up, a fierce wind was rolling in from the west. The low rumbling sound was getting closer and closer, exploding like muffled thunder. At this moment, the sky was still full of bright stars, not a single one missing.

He looked up towards the west.

On the horizon, a black curtain was approaching. It blotted out the sky and the sun, swallowing the starry sky piece by piece.

"Damn... a sandstorm!" Li Xin exclaimed in a low voice.

[AI System: Zhuzi... Zhuzi, a sandstorm is coming. The wind speed is continuously increasing, and it is expected to arrive in ten minutes. The geomagnetic interference from the sandstorm will affect the Extraction and may cause the load to rise.]

"How much will it rise?"

[Estimated 10-15 percentage points.]

Li Xin gritted his teeth. The current load was 86%, and adding 15% would make it 101%. Exceeding 100% would cause the system to crash, he would be obliterated, and the gold would be reset to zero.

He couldn't gamble, and he couldn't afford to lose.

"Reduce the speed further," he said urgently.

[After reducing the speed, the Extraction time will be extended by another hour.]

"Reduce it quickly."

[Understood, reducing speed now!]

The Extraction rate began to drop. The load slowly dropped—86%, 82%, 78%.

[Current load 76%. Safety margin has been reserved.]

Li Xin let out a long sigh of relief. Suddenly, "Rumble... boom... whoosh..." the sandstorm was approaching before his eyes, the fierce wind roaring like a giant beast bellowing in the desert.

He hurriedly rolled up the car windows and locked the doors.

In just a moment, the sandstorm arrived.

First, there was a gust of violent wind; the car was blown, rocking from side to side. The overwhelming yellow sand pelted against the car windows with a pitter-patter sound, like someone using sandpaper to grind the glass, making his heart jump with fear.

At this moment, only a dim yellow remained in his line of sight. He couldn't see anything; there was only the roaring sound of the wind and the incessant sound of sand and dirt hitting the car.

[The sandstorm's geomagnetic interference is severe! Current load 98%! Extraction rate dropping!]

Li Xin stared fixedly at the panel. 98%, just 2 points away.

"Reduce speed! Reduce speed!" He felt his hair stand on end and exclaimed hurriedly.

He then pushed the Extraction rate of the main ore body to the minimum and distributed all the computing power to the peripheral small ore veins.

Load 99%. 98%. 97%.

[Current load 94%. Barely stable.]

The sand and wind outside the car roared incessantly, and the whole car body was shaking. Li Xin felt like it could be flipped over at any moment.

Progress 75%. Load 96%.

Suddenly, he saw light outside the car window.

Not car headlights. It was a flashlight.

There was someone outside.

Li Xin's heart suddenly jumped into his throat. He turned to the side and looked out through the gap in the car window.

Two dark figures were walking over from the direction of the service area. They were hunched over, bracing against the wind and sand, holding flashlights, shining them towards the scrapped truck.

Li Xin held his breath. He turned his phone screen face down and turned off the interior lights of the car. Only he could see the system panel; it wouldn't emit light.

The light of the flashlight swept across the car window.

The dark figures stopped for a moment. One of them said a few words; the wind was too loud to hear clearly.

The other one shook his head.

The two people continued walking forward, bypassed the scrapped truck, and walked to the side of Li Xin's car.

The flashlight beam hit the car window.

Li Xin could see their outlines. Two men, in their thirties, wearing dirty jackets, their faces wrapped in scarves, revealing only their eyes.

One of them reached out and pulled the car door. It was locked. He pressed his face against the car window to look inside.

Li Xin didn't move. He narrowed his eyes, pretending there was no one in the car.

Load 94%. Progress 81%.

The man looked for a while, turned, and said a few words to the other.

The other one shook his head and pointed in the direction of the service area.

The two people hesitated for a moment, then turned and left.

The flashlight light moved further and further away, finally disappearing into the wind and sand.

Li Xin waited until he couldn't hear the footsteps at all before letting out a sigh of relief.

His palms were full of sweat.

"AI System, do you know who those two people are?"

[Cannot determine. Judging from their behavioral patterns, they might be black-market mine thieves. Such people are often found in desert mining areas, eyeing isolated vehicles. Current load 92%, progress 85%.]

Li Xin took a folding knife out of the space and placed it on the passenger seat.

Progress 89%. Load 89%.

Twelve o'clock midnight. The sandstorm began to weaken.

Yellow sand was still flying, but visibility had recovered to several tens of meters. Li Xin could see the lights of the service area.

Progress 94%. Load 86%.

Those two dark figures did not return.

Twelve-forty in the morning.

[Ding—Extraction of the Maikain mining area is complete. Total 60 tons. Current load 79%, it has dropped to a safe range.]

Li Xin let out a soft breath and did not hesitate any longer. He started the car, slowly drove out of the service area, and got onto the road.

The sand and dust were still falling endlessly, and visibility was low, so he could only move forward slowly and with difficulty.

He opened the system panel.

[Accumulated refined gold: 1999.1057 tons.]

[main system status: Repairing (69%). Stability 33%. Load limit 100%. Needs 48 hours of cooling.]

60 tons. Added to the previous 1939 tons. Approaching nearly 2000 tons. Value is about 559.7 billion.

"AI System, where to next?"

[Next, we are going to Almaty. The Ili Valley region there has multiple small gold mines and placer gold deposits. It is said that there are ancient gold hoards there.]

Li Xin raised his eyebrows slightly, and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Then let's go to the Ili Valley first. We'll talk after finishing the gold mines there."

The car wove through the desert, the sandstorm was still raging, but it had gradually moved away from him.

"Boom... boom..." The roar of the car engine sounded, the car suddenly accelerated and rushed forward, heading east in the morning light.