111: Chapter 111 The Giant Mine Under the Thunder

September 11th, Tokmok.

Li Xin woke up naturally. Although the hotel's bed was hard and the pillow smelled of laundry detergent, this sleep had been truly refreshing. He had returned from Karaburak last night, taken out some food from his space, eaten a quick meal, and fallen straight asleep. He had slept for nearly ten hours.

At this moment, he was lying on the bed, opening the map on his phone.

He began studying the Jeruy Gold Mine. According to the data, this gold mine was the largest in the Chuy Region, with reserves of over sixty tons, located about seventy kilometers northwest of Tokmok. As for the exact location, he would have to find it himself.

"AI System, we are heading to the Jeruy Gold Mine today."

[AI System: OK! With our 28-kilometer Scan radius, finding this gold mine is a small problem.]

"Alright. Then start driving in that direction. Let me know when we get close."

The car kept moving toward the Jeruy Gold Mine.

Li Xin found an abandoned pasture suitable for parking and set the navigation.

Then he drove out of the town, watching the farmland on both sides of the road turn into wild grassland, and then from wild grassland into hills.

Finally, he arrived at an old house with only a few collapsed stone rooms left, the roofs gone, leaving only walls. He parked the car in an open area near the old house.

It was very quiet here, with only the sound of the wind and the continuous low-frequency roar of the mining area in the distance.

"AI System, start the Scan!"

[Scanning, it will take a few minutes.]

He took a bottle of water out of his space, unscrewed the cap, and drank slowly.

He waited for more than two minutes.

[Ding... Scan complete. Gold found, about 11.5 kilometers to the southeast. According to the data, this is the Jeruy Gold Mine. This is an open-pit and underground joint mining gold mine with reserves of approximately 64.2 tons. It is an owned mine; you can extract 60%, which is 38.52 tons. Extraction duration is about 2 hours, system load estimated at 75% - 82%, will not overload.]

Li Xin smiled, smiling like a child.

"System, start Extraction."

[Extracting. Computing load gradually increasing... 52%, 68%, 76%.]

A pale blue light that only Li Xin could see surged out from the system and extended toward the mining area. Li Xin leaned back in his seat, staring at the progress bar.

Eleven percent. Twenty-three percent.

Time passed very slowly. The progress bar moved less than one percentage point per minute.

Thirty-one percent. Forty-two percent.

Suddenly, some changes occurred on the horizon in the distance; the wind and clouds began to change abruptly.

This time it wasn't the clouds that slowly pressed in like yesterday, but a rapidly churning black cloud mass surging over from the west, as if someone had spilled a basin of ink in the sky. The strong wind whistled, blowing the car and making it sway several times.

[AI System: Zhuzi... Severe convective weather is approaching, arriving in ten minutes, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Pay attention to protection. The probability of you being struck by lightning during this period is too high!]

Li Xin looked at the sky. Dark clouds rolled, the bottom glowing white—that was a typical characteristic of severe convective weather. He had seen this kind of weather in the countryside when he was a child; what followed was strong wind, heavy rain, and thunder and lightning.

He glanced at the progress bar. Forty-eight percent. Still more than an hour to go.

"Damn it," Li Xin felt completely uneasy.

The wind grew stronger. The withered grass of the abandoned pasture was blown around everywhere, and a wailing sound came from the ruins of the stone house in the distance. The dark clouds in the sky churned like a pot of boiling water, constantly bubbling up.

"Crackle..." A bolt of lightning struck a ridge in the distance, less than two kilometers away from Li Xin. The white light was blinding, and the thunder followed immediately, "Boom...", the car windows trembling from the shock.

The system interface flickered.

[Interfered by lightning! Extraction experienced a brief fluctuation! Load increased to 84%!]

Li Xin held his breath, staring at the panel.

A few seconds later, the interface returned to stability.

[Load 81%. Restored to normal.]

Fifty-three percent.

Before Li Xin could recover, "Crackle..." another bolt of lightning, this one even closer to him. The moment the white light exploded, Li Xin saw a golden arc of electricity strike down on the mountaintop in the direction of the mining area, slamming into the rocks. The sound of the stones shattering could be heard even from that far away.

"That is so damn scary. It wants to get me struck by lightning again. When I return to the country, I must go and pay respects to all the deities and gods, begging them to protect me more," Li Xin said to himself, patting his chest, looking terrified.

The system interface flickered again.

[Interfered by the second lightning strike! Load increased to 86%! Calibrating automatically!]

Five seconds.

[Load 83%. Stable.]

Sixty-one percent.

The torrential rain fell mercilessly, "Pitter-patter..." hitting the car windows. Even with the wipers on the fastest setting, he still couldn't see clearly. Li Xin didn't pay much attention to this right now; he just curled his body into the seat, staring fixedly at the panel.

Just as he was focused on the system extracting gold, "Tap, tap..." a burst of footsteps came, and someone was walking toward this side.

Li Xin turned his head abruptly, looking out from the car window.

A person wearing dark blue work clothes was walking over from the direction of the mining area, following the dirt road toward the abandoned pasture. The person kept his head down, as if looking for something, walking not fast, but steadily.

[Personnel detected approaching! Distance about 300 meters! Presumed to be mining area security personnel!]

Li Xin became a little nervous.

The Extraction progress was only sixty-eight percent now.

Watching that person get closer and closer. Two hundred meters. One hundred and fifty meters. One hundred and twenty meters.

Li Xin could clearly see his face—a man in his forties with a deeply tanned face, wearing an old hat. He was holding a walkie-talkie in his hand, his gaze scanning the surroundings constantly.

One hundred meters. Eighty meters.

He stopped, looking at Li Xin's car.

Li Xin knew he couldn't hide. Shrinking in the car was even more suspicious.

He adjusted his seat to an upright position and rolled down the window.

"Hello! Do you want to come in and take shelter from the rain?" He shouted in Kyrgyz, his tone relaxed, with a smile on his face.

The man was stunned for a moment and stopped. He looked Li Xin up and down, then looked at the Prado with Kazakhstan license plates.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" He asked in Kyrgyz, his tone filled with vigilance.

Li Xin pointed inside the car—at the photography equipment he had just taken out from his space.

"I am a photographer. I was just here shooting the thunderstorm. Look at this sky, it's so spectacular."

He turned around and pointed at the churning dark clouds in the sky. A bolt of lightning flashed in the distance just right, the white light blinding, and the thunder came rolling over with a rumble.

The man followed his finger and looked at the sky, his expression relaxing a little.

"You are alone?"

"Yes. From China, on a self-driving tour. I am also a blogger. Passing by here to shoot some material."

"Shooting material?" The man looked at his car again, then at the tripod. "This is a mining area. Foreigners are not allowed to stay."

"I know. I'll leave right away, just taking two more shots."

"What are you shooting? It's raining now."

"It's precisely because it's raining that it looks good." Li Xin took out his phone, flipped through the photo album, and handed it over. "Look, I shot this over at Karaburak yesterday. The grassland in the rainstorm, that kind of feeling."

The man lowered his head and took a look at the screen. The photo indeed showed the grassland in a rainstorm, the sky pressing very low, the light very dim, but it certainly had a certain vibe.

He returned the phone and shook his head.

"You are really bold. Coming out to shoot in this kind of weather."

"Rare opportunity. Usually, you can't capture this kind of scene."

The man picked up the walkie-talkie and said a few words. Li Xin could understand—he was telling his colleague, "There's a Chinese guy taking pictures, it's fine, let's go."

He tucked the walkie-talkie back onto his waist and glanced at Li Xin.

"Leave early after you finish shooting. It's not safe here, easy to have rockfalls."

"Okay. Thank you."

The man turned and left. The sound of footsteps on the gravel grew farther and farther away, finally drowned out by the wind.

Li Xin waited until he couldn't see the figure anymore before sitting back in the car.

His palms were full of sweat.

Eighty-one percent. Load seventy-eight.

Less than half an hour left.

It was still raining, but the thunder and lightning were gradually moving away. The clouds moved toward the east, and the light began to brighten.

Eighty-nine percent. Ninety-four percent. Ninety-eight percent.

[Ding—Extraction complete. Obtained 38.52 tons of gold. Purity 99.99%.]

[Accumulated refined gold: 2377.7257 tons.]

Li Xin did not hesitate. He started the car, made a U-turn, tires spinning, the car body swung, and he rushed onto the main road; this whole sequence of moves was so smooth.

Once on the highway, he slowed down.

38.52 tons secured.

He opened the map; the next target was the Taldy-Bulak Gold Mine. The data said it was a small to medium-sized mine with unknown reserves, located about thirty kilometers northeast of the Jeruy Gold Mine.

"AI System, I'm driving toward the Taldy-Bulak Gold Mine now. Let me know when I'm in range."

[Understood.]

Li Xin started the car and continued north.

After driving for about forty minutes, the sides of the road became increasingly desolate. Grassy slopes, gravel, and the occasional crooked tree. There was no sign of human life, no yurts.

[Entered the outskirts of the Taldy-Bulak mining area. Scanning now.]

Li Xin pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.

He waited for about two minutes.

[Scan complete. Gold detected, approximately 11.2 kilometers to the southwest. This is the Taldy-Bulak Gold Mine, with reserves of about 22 tons. It is an owned mine; you can extract 60%, which is 13.2 tons. Extraction time is about 1 hour, with a load of around 70%.]

"Start."

[Extraction in progress...]

This time it went much more smoothly. No thunderstorms, no one coming. The rain had stopped, and the wind had died down. Li Xin sat in the car, slowly sipping hot tea from his thermos.

When the progress reached sixty percent, the system suddenly popped up a notification.

[Gold mine detected approximately 26 kilometers to the southeast. Preliminary assessment indicates a small placer gold mine with reserves of about 33 tons. Closer proximity is required for precise scanning.]

Li Xin's eyes lit up.

33 tons. 60% is 19.8 tons.

He marked it on the map.

An hour passed quickly.

[Ding—Extraction complete. Obtained 13.2 tons of gold. Total: 2390.9257 tons.]

Li Xin closed the panel, his lips curling upward.

38.52 tons from Jeruy Gold Mine, 13.2 tons from Taldy-Bulak. Plus the 21 tons from Karaburak. Chuy Region, three mines, 72.72 tons.

He looked down at the newly marked location on his phone map. Southeast, twenty-six kilometers.

He stepped on the gas, and the car drove in that direction.

After driving shakily for an hour, he finally arrived at a river valley.

The river valley was only twenty or thirty meters wide, with gentle slopes on both sides. There was a shallow stream at the bottom of the valley. Watching the stones at the bottom of the stream and listening to the babbling water, Li Xin felt incredibly relaxed and happy.

[Entered the target area. Scanning now.]

Li Xin parked the car on a flat piece of land at the edge of the river valley.

[Scan complete. Found the Tokoi-Ru placer gold mine, which is currently being mined. Reserves are about 33 tons. It is an owned mine; you can extract 60%, which is 19.8 tons. Extraction time is about 1 hour, with a load of 70%-75%.]

"Too smooth," he muttered.

Then he got out of the car. He took a folding chair out of his space, set it up by the river, and sat down. The tea in his thermos was still hot, so he poured a cup and sipped it slowly.

The sunlight shone on the stream, making it sparkle; birds were chirping in the bushes. The most wonderful thing in life is that you've secretly mined away someone's gold mine, and they don't even know it. Li Xin was feeling extremely content.

The progress jumped to seventeen percent.

"Crack..."

A crisp sound came from upstream. It wasn't thunder; it was the sound of rocks cracking. Li Xin looked up, toward the direction of the sound.

In the distance, about a kilometer away, a rock was rolling down the hillside. It wasn't big, but the sound was very clear.

"Crack... Crack... Crash..."

More sounds followed. Gravel slid down the hillside, some falling into the stream and splashing water.

"Damn... A landslide?" Li Xin stood up and looked upstream. His expression changed.

[AI System: This is a small mudslide! It is moving from upstream toward the river valley! Expected to arrive at the current location in twenty minutes! You're on your own!]

Li Xin was going crazy. Without a word, he bolted directly toward higher ground. He had just reached a high point when he saw a yellowish-brown mud belt on the hillside, carrying gravel and branches, slowly surging downward. The speed wasn't fast, but the scale was significant.

He glanced at the progress bar. Thirty-eight percent. Still more than forty minutes left.

Before the shock had even faded, the sound of hoofbeats came from behind him.

He turned his head. An old herdsman, riding a thin horse, was slowly coming down the hillside. A sheep was tied to the horse's reins; the sheep didn't want to walk and was being dragged along crookedly.

The old herdsman saw Li Xin, reined in his horse, and dismounted. He was about sixty years old, his face tanned dark, and he was wearing an old cotton-padded jacket.

"Young man, what are you doing here?" he asked in Kyrgyz.

Li Xin replied in fluent Kyrgyz: "Hello, uncle. I'm here for photography."

"Photography?" The old herdsman looked at his car, then at the mudslide upstream. "It collapsed over there, didn't you see?"

"I saw it. I'm waiting for it to stop."

The old herdsman walked to the riverbank and peered upstream. "The rain isn't heavy, so why did it collapse? Strange."

"Perhaps the rain was too heavy upstream."

Li Xin took a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and handed it over. The old herdsman took it, put it in his mouth, and Li Xin lit it for him.

"Where are you from?" he asked after taking a puff.

"China."

"China?" The old herdsman's eyes lit up. "I've been to Horgos. The things there are good and cheap."

"Yes. Horgos isn't far from here."

The old herdsman squatted by the river, smoking and watching the mudslide. The sheep lay on the ground, motionless.

"It's still a bit dangerous for you to come here alone for photography; you need to be careful," he said.

"I'm used to it. It's convenient to be alone."

"Convenient?" The old herdsman smiled. "You young people just like it that way."

Progress was sixty-one percent.

The mudslide surged into the stream, turning the water a murky yellow. The current suddenly swelled, rushing downstream while carrying gravel and branches.

The old herdsman stood up and brushed the dust off himself. "I have to go. The road is blocked, so I have to take a detour."

"Take care on the road."

"You too. Leave early after you're done; these mountains aren't safe."

He got on his horse and, dragging the unwilling sheep, slowly rode away.

Li Xin watched his back disappear behind the slope.

Progress was sixty-nine percent.

The mudslide reached the middle of the river valley and blocked the bend in the river. Water overflowed from the side, and the mud gradually came to a stop.

Eighty-three percent.

Ninety-one percent.

[Ding—Extraction complete. Obtained 19.8 tons of gold. Purity 99.99%.]

[Cumulative gold refined: 2410.7257 tons.]

With a long sigh of relief, he drove away without hesitation.

It took nearly half an hour to leave the difficult gravel road.

Only when he finally got onto the highway did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Chuy Region, four mines, 92.52 tons.

Added to the previous ones, the total was 2410 tons.

Li Xin parked the car on the side of the road and opened the map. His gaze fell in one direction—Issyk-Kul Region.

The data mentioned that there was the largest gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, called Kumtor, with reserves of over three hundred tons.

But the data only had the name and general direction, not the specific location.

He would have to find it himself.

"AI System, drive east; once we enter the territory of the Issyk-Kul Region, help me Scan."

[Understood. But I must remind you that the system's scanning range is only 27,990 meters in radius. Once we get there, you must get within twenty-eight kilometers of the mining area for me to pinpoint it.]

"I know. Let's get there first."

He stepped on the gas, and the car drove all the way east.

The highway wound through the valley, and the mountains on both sides became higher and steeper. In the distance, the Tian Shan mountains lay across the skyline, their snowy peaks shining white in the sunlight.

Over those mountains lay Issyk-Kul Lake.

There lay Kumtor.

Over three hundred tons.

He stepped on the gas, increasing the speed to one hundred.

In the rearview mirror, the yellow earth of the Chuy Region was getting further and further away. The road ahead stretched into the mountains, with one bend after another.

It had only just begun.