129: Chapter 129 Undercurrents

The next day, as dawn was just breaking, Li Xin did not wait for the System to finish cooling down and set off early.

He stored the car in his space and then walked to the stone house.

On the way, he deliberately took a detour to check the spot where the pickup truck had been parked last night.

The pickup truck was gone, but faint tire tracks remained on the ground. They had become blurred by the wind and sun, but it was still possible to roughly distinguish the driving trajectory; the vehicle had driven south in the direction of Shiraz.

He leaned over and crouched down to carefully examine the traces around the tire tracks. Apart from the tire marks left by the pickup, there were two sets of footprints on the ground, extending all the way into the depths of the river valley, and after traveling for a distance, they had turned back along the same path.

They had come again. Before he arrived.

Li Xin continued toward the river valley. He scanned his surroundings as he walked, and only after confirming that no one was nearby did he enter the stone house.

He sat down and opened the system panel.

"Cooldown finished. Extraction can begin."

"Current total gold: 3631.1057 tons."

"Underground Royal City remaining gold: 1084 tons."

"This Extraction limit: 12 hours."

He did not rush to start the Extraction and first pulled up yesterday's Scan records.

"System, perform a precise Scan of those three red circle locations from yesterday. Focus the Scan on underground structures, especially signs of artificial construction."

"Scanning. This will take some time, please wait patiently."

He waited for about three minutes.

"Scan complete."

"Location 1 (approx. 1.9 km from the stone house): Detected an artificially excavated tunnel at a depth of 43 to 47 meters. The tunnel is 1.8 to 2.2 meters wide and 2 to 2.5 meters high, extending overall from southwest to northeast, with a slope of about 15 degrees. The tunnel is blocked by a large amount of collapsed rock, and the blocked section is visually estimated to exceed 30 meters. There are many metal objects inside, which are highly likely to be remnants of ancient tools, weapons, or ornaments."

"Location 2 (approx. 4.1 km from the stone house): Detected another tunnel at a depth of 36 to 40 meters. This tunnel is relatively narrow, with a width between 1.5 and 1.8 meters, and its trend also extends toward the main area of the Underground Royal City. The collapse here is more severe, with the blocked distance of rubble exceeding 50 meters. There is a lot of pottery shard and ash accumulation at the tunnel entrance; someone once stayed or lived here, or conducted sacrificial activities."

"Location 3 (approx. 7.4 km from the stone house): Discovered a tunnel entrance at a depth of 48 to 52 meters. That location is closest to the main body of the Underground Royal City, only about 1,200 meters away. The tunnel is 2.5 meters wide, the most spacious of the three. However, a section of the tunnel is blocked by over 10 meters of collapsed rock."

Looking at these Scan results, Li Xin felt a sense of shock.

"The orientation, depth, and direction of these three tunnels are all the same as marked on the blueprint. This is shocking."

"Could it be that Durand deciphered the profound mysteries hidden in the ancient texts and calculated the general orientation of the Underground Royal City's outer tunnels?"

Li Xin leaned against the wall, thinking constantly.

"Perhaps Durand really did find some key clues at Tillya Tepe, though I don't know if it was cryptic information engraved on artifacts or special marks hidden in the ruins."

He could not figure it out, but there was no time for him to ponder these things right now. The group of treasure hunters possessed the complete map and was searching for the specific locations of the three marked spots step by step.

They possessed professional equipment and rich exploration experience. Finding the tunnel was a matter of time, and it looked like their search progress was far ahead of expectations; they were about to find it.

Li Xin glanced at the system panel. There were still 1084 tons of gold left in the Underground Royal City treasure. According to the current Extraction speed, he could extract about 240 tons at a time, so he needed at least five more batches.

"Still need to wait five more days; time is really too tight. That group of treasure hunters might find the tunnel entrance tomorrow," Li Xin muttered to himself.

"System, continue Extraction."

"Extracting... Current Extraction rate: approx. 20 tons/hour. Estimated Extraction for this batch: approx. 240 tons."

The progress bar began to jump.

Li Xin did not stay in the stone house but took a folding chair from his space and sat in a hidden spot at the river valley bend. This way, he could keep an eye on the panel while also seeing the movement outside the river valley entrance.

Progress: 9 percent.

He kept staring in the direction of the river valley.

Progress: 17 percent.

There was movement outside the river valley entrance.

He stood up, shrank behind the rock wall, and looked out.

A silver pickup truck drove over from the south—the same one he had seen last night. It was followed by a white SUV he had not seen before. Two cars stopped outside the river valley entrance, and four people got out.

Li Xin recognized two of them: Short Beard and his companion, The Tall Thin Man. The other two were fresh faces; one was older, in his forties, wearing glasses and a khaki vest, looking like the leader. The other was young, in his early twenties, carrying a large backpack.

The four people stood at the river valley entrance and spoke a few words, then split up to take action. Short Beard and his companion walked toward the eastern slope, holding detectors. The older one took the young man and walked toward the western ridge.

As they walked, the young man took a small drone out of his backpack, placed it on the ground, and began to adjust it.

Li Xin's heart sank. "They have a drone; this is going to be trouble."

He shrank back into the rock crevice again to hide well, remaining motionless.

Just then, the drone took off, and the buzzing sound echoed in the valley. He could hear the sound of the propellers, now far, now near; it should be the drone flying back and forth over the river valley.

Li Xin did not dare to move. He even suppressed his breathing to be extremely light.

After about twenty minutes, the sound of the drone faded away; it felt like it was heading north. Only then did Li Xin relax slightly and look out through the gap in the rock crevice—the older man was looking down at the image on a tablet computer, while the young man stood beside him, pointing at the screen as if saying something.

Short Beard and The Tall Thin Man were still wandering on the eastern slope, and the detector emitted a beep every few seconds.

They were narrowing the search range.

Li Xin stared at the progress bar, calculating in his heart.

"This group of people will definitely search this area for a long time today, maybe they will stay until dark. I cannot stay huddled here forever, nor can I stop the Extraction. Sigh... wait! Wait until dark to withdraw."

Progress: 38 percent.

At this time, the older man and his young companion set up a piece of equipment on the western ridge. It looked like a small drill used for geological exploration. The machine was not large, and the drilling depth should be able to reach several tens of meters.

"Damn it... they have started using a drill. That means they have already confirmed the tunnel location and are preparing to drill holes into the ground for excavation." Li Xin's heart sank slightly, and his anxiety grew increasingly urgent.

Not long after, the chugging sound of the drill came from the ridge, and the sound echoed continuously throughout the river valley. The machine would stop for a moment every few minutes, and then start running again, making Li Xin feel inexplicably irritable, but he was also very helpless.

He could only huddle in the rock crevice and continue the Extraction.

Time passed slowly, and suddenly the drill stopped, leaving the surroundings suddenly quiet.

A while later, intermittent voices came from the direction of the ridge, but because the valley echo was loud, he could barely hear a few sentences clearly.

"...37 meters... crushed rock layer... it's empty below... there is a metal reaction..."

Li Xin was extremely nervous. "These people really found it. That drilling position must have hit the collapsed section of the tunnel. Although they haven't broken through yet, they have already confirmed that there is treasure underground. The next step is just a matter of time."

He stared at the progress bar, his mind racing. According to their current speed, they would be able to lock onto the tunnel entrance in a few days. As long as they confirmed the location, with their equipment and manpower, it wouldn't take long to drill a hole dozens of meters deep.

Progress: 51 percent.

He had to empty the Underground Royal City before they found the tunnel.

Progress: 58 percent.

The sky began to darken. The figures on the ridge began to pack up their things, and the drill was dismantled and packed into boxes. The drone flew another circle, this time flying lower, and the sound of the propellers swept over the river valley.

Li Xin huddled in the rock crevice, even stopping his breathing.

Li Xin hid in the rock crevice, holding his breath and not daring to make a sound.

The drone landed slowly after circling three times in the air.

Immediately, the sound of cars starting came from the river valley entrance. The two cars turned around and drove straight away from this place.

It was not until the surroundings were completely quiet and the sky had completely darkened that he slowly walked out of the rock crevice.

Progress: 63 percent. The fourth batch still needed more than an hour.

He sat down, poured a cup of hot tea, and drank it slowly. The warmth slowly dispelled the fatigue on his body.

An hour later, the System popped up a prompt—the fourth batch of Extraction was complete.

"Fourth batch of Extraction complete. This Extraction: 238 tons of gold."

"Current total gold: 3869.1057 tons."

"Underground Royal City remaining gold: 846 tons."

"Must force cool down for 12 hours."

Li Xin turned off the panel and did not stay in the stone house. He put the reclining chair into his space, cleaned up all traces, and walked out of the river valley in the dark.

He did not drive. He walked along the dirt road for a while, stopped at a high ground, bent over, lay on the ground, and looked toward the direction of the ridge.

That group of people had not gone far. Their cars were parked on a flat ground outside the river valley entrance; the two cars were parked side by side, and two tents were pitched next to them.

It looked like they intended to stay overnight here. Li Xin's heart suddenly sank; it seemed this group of people intended to stay here for a long time and wait for tomorrow's dawn to continue the exploration.

He squatted on the high ground, looking at the faint light coming from the distant tents. The north wind blew in gusts, and the air was full of dust.

Li Xin carefully walked a long way forward, confirmed that there was no danger in the surroundings, then took out his car and drove back slowly under the cover of night.

When he returned to the hotel, it was already past two in the morning. He took a shower and lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

That group of people was getting closer and closer to the underground tunnel entrance. Tomorrow they would continue drilling and detecting everywhere, and it might not be long before they accurately found where the entrance was.

He still had a 12-hour cooldown. At 4 AM tomorrow, he must arrive at the stone house before them.

He closed his eyes, and he could almost still hear the chugging sound of the drill in his ears, like it was drilling into his head, one strike after another. Dazed and confused, he did not know when he had fallen into a deep sleep.