18: Chapter 18 Unexpected Gains

Early the next morning, Li Xin stepped out with a large mountaineering backpack.

The bag was packed with the geological exploration tools he had bought in Dubai, as well as some dry rations and water.

Of course, he carried the real "tool"—the System Space—with him.

He first called Chen Hu: "I'm going to a place today, you don't need to follow me. I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Boss, will you be okay on your own?" Chen Hu's voice sounded a bit worried.

"No problem."

After hanging up, he boarded a bus heading to the mountainous region in the north.

The bus drove for about two hours before reaching the terminal station—a place called Shiqiao Town.

From here, there was still about ten kilometers of mountain road to the abandoned gold mine.

Li Xin got off the bus and looked around.

Shiqiao Town was not large; it had only one main street, and the houses on both sides were mostly old brick and tile structures that looked like they had been there for quite some time.

He found a small convenience store, bought two bottles of water, and took the opportunity to ask for directions.

"Boss, how do I get to that abandoned gold mine?" Uncle Wang had been driving before, so he hadn't memorized the route and had to ask along the way.

The shop owner, a man in his fifties, glanced at him: "Why are you going there? That mine has been abandoned for a long time; there's nothing there."

"I'm a student, doing some field practice."

The boss shook his head: "That road is not easy to travel, and I heard there have been some landslides over there recently. It's too dangerous for you to go alone."

"I'll be careful."

Seeing his persistence, the boss pointed to a dirt road on the north side of the town: "Just keep following this road and cross that hill, and you'll be there. It'll take about two hours or more."

"Thank you, boss."

Li Xin started walking along the dirt road.

This road was indeed difficult to walk on; it was bumpy and uneven, with dense bushes on both sides.

After walking for about an hour, the road became narrower and narrower, eventually turning into a winding mountain path.

He saw the location of the abandoned gold mine and walked over quickly. He stopped to take a sip of water and activated the System Scan.

[System: Scan...]

A three-dimensional map appeared in his mind, with the terrain, vegetation, and rocks within a 90-meter radius clearly visible.

The system indicated that there were a large number of golden light spots underground in that mining area.

They weren't scattered light spots, but a large expanse, as if a golden cloud were buried underground.

Li Xin's heart rate accelerated.

He quickened his pace, walked for a few more minutes, and stopped at the entrance of the abandoned gold mine.

Just like when he came last time, the entrance was mostly blocked by gravel and mud, leaving only a gap about half a person's height.

It was overgrown with weeds, looking even more desolate.

Li Xin didn't rush into the cave; instead, he walked around the hillside first, using the system to carefully Scan the underground situation.

[System: Scan complete. The distribution of underground gold is as follows:

[Depth 10-30m: Low-grade gold ore, estimated gold content: approx. 120kg.]

[Depth 30-50m: Medium-grade gold ore, estimated gold content: approx. 350kg.]

[Depth 50-90m: High-grade gold ore, estimated gold content: approx. 80kg.]

[Total estimated gold content: approx. 550kg.]

550 kilograms!

Li Xin almost cried out.

550 kilograms of gold, at current gold prices, is worth over 200 million RMB.

More importantly, this gold was enough for him to upgrade the system to a very high level.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

The problem now was—how to get this gold out.

Last time he had only dug about ten meters deep, and it had already been very strenuous. This time he needed to dig over a hundred meters deep; relying on manual labor was simply impossible.

He needed equipment.

But using equipment here would be too conspicuous.

Li Xin thought for a moment and decided to see if the system had any other solutions first.

"System, is there a way to extract the gold underground directly without digging?"

[System: Remote Extraction is currently unavailable. Rule limitation: The host must make direct contact with the ore containing gold to perform resource Extraction.]

Direct contact... that meant he had to touch those ores.

But the ore was over ninety meters underground; how could he touch it?

Wait.

He suddenly thought of a method—drilling a hole.

If he could drill a hole deep enough to reach the vein, and then stick his hand in...

Although his hand couldn't reach, the system said "direct contact," which didn't necessarily mean touching it with his fingers. If he used a metal rod to reach down and touch the ore, and then he touched the other end of the metal rod, would that count as "direct contact"?

"System, if I touch the ore through a conductor, does that count as direct contact?"

[System: Yes. The host touching the ore through a conductor is equivalent to direct contact.]

"System, if we drill a hole, will we be discovered by the state? This is illegal, right!" Li Xin felt a bit discouraged.

[System: Don't worry about that; I will automatically shield it, and others won't see you. Just be a good gold prospector.]

Li Xin's eyes lit up.

This loophole in the rules was incredibly useful.

He just needed to drill a hole, extend a metal rod down to touch the ore, and then touch the other end of the metal rod himself to collect the ore into the space without being discovered.

No need for large excavation equipment, no need for manual mining; he just needed a small drilling rig.

How had he not thought of this method before?

Li Xin was so excited he almost jumped up. But soon, he calmed down again.

Drilling required equipment.

Moreover, a ninety-meter-deep hole was something a standard small drilling rig couldn't achieve. He needed to rent a professional geological drilling rig.

Shenzhen should have this kind of equipment. He took out his phone and called Chen Hu.

"Chen Hu, I need a geological drilling rig, the kind that can drill to a depth of ninety meters. Can you get one?"

Chen Hu was silent for a moment: "Boss, this kind of equipment is quite specialized and will take time to find. It will take about two or three days."

"Alright, go find it. Once you find it, transport it to Shiqiao Town; I'll wait for you there."

"Understood."

After hanging up, Li Xin walked around the mining area again, used the system to carefully Scan the underground situation, and recorded the specific location and depth of the ore vein.

Then he prepared to go down the mountain.

When he reached the middle of the mountain, he suddenly stopped.

The system notification sound rang out.

[System: Gold reaction detected. Location: About 30 meters to the front left, about 0.5 meters below the surface. Estimated gold content: 8.5 kg.]

Li Xin was stunned.

Gold just half a meter below the surface?

He walked to that location; it was a relatively flat piece of ground covered in weeds.

He took an engineer shovel from his backpack and started digging.

After digging less than half a meter, the shovel hit some gold sand.

He squatted down, used his hands to brush away the dirt, and saw a layer of sand with a faint golden sheen on the surface.

It was gold ore.

"System, collect."

[Collection successful. Estimated gold content: 8.5 kg]

[Extract?]

"Extract."

[Extracting... Extraction complete. Obtained gold: 8.5 kg.]

[Cumulative refined gold: 8.7 kg]

Li Xin looked at the numbers on the system panel, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

8.5 kg; unexpected harvests are always so delightful.

He continued down the mountain, scanning as he walked, and discovered a few more scattered pieces of gold ore, but they weren't large, adding up to only a kilogram or two.

By the time he reached Shiqiao Town, it was already past four in the afternoon.

He found a small inn to stay in and sent a message to Chen Hu, giving him the specific location.

Lying on the bed, he opened the system panel and checked his data.

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[Gold Search and Refining System]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Level: 4]

[Current detection range: 90 meters]

[Cumulative refined gold: 8.7 kg]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 100 kg]

Still need 91.3 kilograms.

If he could get all 550 kilograms from that abandoned gold mine, not only would he complete the fourth upgrade, but he would also have plenty left over.

He closed the system panel and shut his eyes.

Chen Hu said it would take two or three days to find the drilling rig.

He couldn't be idle for these two or three days.

He decided to wander around Shiqiao Town and use the system to Scan and see if there were any other gold mines.

After all, this area was a mining region in the seventies and eighties; perhaps there were other abandoned ore veins.

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