2: Chapter 2 Gold Exploration in Scrap Gold Mines

Around 7:30 the next morning, Li Xin arrived at the school gate early.

He was dressed in the same outfit as yesterday: a T-shirt, shorts, sneakers, and a backpack—the standard look of a carefree, sunny student.

His bag contained a few bottles of water, some bread, a flashlight, and an entrenching tool he had bought at a hardware store for a few dozen yuan.

He looked like an ordinary student preparing for an outing. No one would suspect him.

Around eight o'clock, a dusty minivan slowly drove up and stopped in front of him.

The window rolled down, revealing a somewhat dark-skinned face. It was Uncle Wang, in his fifties, the corners of his eyes etched with the vicissitudes of time.

He said, "Little Li, have you been waiting long? Get in, watch out for traffic behind you."

Li Xin walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and sat in. A smell of low-quality tobacco rushed into his nose; it was indescribable.

"Hahaha, I just arrived a moment ago too. Uncle Wang, sorry to trouble you," Li Xin said with a smile.

"What trouble? I'm just idle anyway," Uncle Wang said while starting the car. "Oh, that's right, Little Li, where exactly is that place you mentioned?"

"In the northern mountains, there's an abandoned old gold mine. Do you know it?"

Uncle Wang paused slightly. "That abandoned mine? Why are you going there?"

"I heard there's a lot of quartz there. I need to pick up a few pieces for an experiment," Li Xin casually made up an excuse.

"Quartz?" Uncle Wang shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this.

"Little Li, that mine has been abandoned for over a decade. The tunnels inside have collapsed. Don't go crawling in there; it's very dangerous."

"Uncle Wang, I know. I'll just look around the perimeter. Don't worry."

Uncle Wang didn't ask further and pressed the accelerator, the minivan slowly driving out of the street.

After driving for about an hour, they arrived at the mountainous area. The road became increasingly difficult to navigate and bumpy. Gradually, residential houses disappeared from view, replaced by green mountains and dense forests.

Li Xin leaned back against the seat, eyes closed, but his mind was repeatedly rehearsing today's plan.

The system panel floated in his mind, with that number shining brightly—[Cumulative Gold Refined: 0kg].

Today, that number would become positive.

The car drove for nearly two hours and finally stopped at the foot of a mountain. Ahead was a gravel road; the car couldn't go any further.

"Uncle Wang, could you please wait for me here for a while? I'm going up to take a look around."

"Alright, be careful yourself. If there's any danger, remember to call out to me loudly." Uncle Wang pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and lit it. "I'll smoke a cigarette here. Come back down soon."

"Alright, Uncle Wang."

Li Xin shouldered his bag and walked up the gravel road. After walking about three or four hundred meters, he stopped and closed his eyes.

"System, initiate Gold Search."

[System: Instruction received. Scanning and analyzing this abandoned gold mine. Analyzing...]

Then, a 3D map slowly became clearer and more detailed in Li Xin's mind. The terrain, vegetation, and rocks within a 50-meter radius were all clearly visible.

Then, he saw spots of light—golden ones. They weren't sporadic spots, but a large expanse, as if a cloud emitting golden light was buried underground.

His heart rate accelerated. Those light spots were about thirty meters underground, distributed over a wide area, almost covering the entire hillside. However, the brightness of the spots was very weak, which likely meant the grade was low.

It was likely tailings left over from the mining operations back then, or some low-grade ore. He continued walking upward, scanning as he went. When he reached the vicinity of the cave entrance, the light spots became denser.

The cave entrance had been mostly sealed by gravel and soil, leaving only a gap about half a person's height. It was pitch black, and damp, cold wind blew out, making one shudder involuntarily. If it weren't for the gold, he really wouldn't dare come here alone.

He turned on his flashlight and shone it inside. The tunnel wasn't very deep, only about a dozen meters, ending in a pile of collapsed gravel. But the system indicated that the gold was right beneath that gravel.

He looked back down the mountain. Uncle Wang was leaning against the minivan smoking, not looking in his direction. Perhaps it was because people often visited here after it was abandoned, and no one had heard of anyone digging up gold. He also didn't expect that Li Xin's true purpose for coming here was to dig for gold.

He took a deep breath, bent down, and crawled into the cave entrance. The tunnel was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. The ceiling was uneven rock, with water droplets occasionally falling down, hitting his face with a cold sensation. He walked about ten meters and reached the pile of gravel.

"System, detect how much gold is under this pile of gravel."

["Detecting... Estimated gold content: approximately 1.2 kg."]

"1.2 kg? Hahaha..." His heart was instantly filled with ecstasy. "Stay calm, stay calm. Must not show it. Keep a normal mindset, normal mindset." Li Xin kept chanting to himself in his mind, trying to calm his emotions.

After his mood calmed down, he put down his backpack, took out the entrenching tool, and began to dig. The gravel was loose, so it wasn't too strenuous to dig. However, the space in the tunnel was too small, and every shovel had to be done carefully, for fear of causing the rock ceiling above to collapse.

After digging for about twenty minutes, the shovel hit something hard. He crouched down, used his hands to brush away the gravel, and saw a fist-sized stone with a faint golden sheen on its surface. Gold ore. He picked up the stone and weighed it in his hand; it was much heavier than an ordinary stone.

"System, what is the gold content of this piece of ore?"

"Approximately 15 grams."

15 grams? Not bad at all. He happily put the ore into his backpack and continued digging. After digging for another ten minutes, he found two more pieces: one larger one, about thirty grams, and one smaller one, about ten grams. He stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Digging like this was too slow.

"System, can the gold underground be extracted directly?"

"Yes. The host only needs to place the gold-bearing ore into the space, and the system will automatically complete the Extraction."

"How do I collect it?"

"The host just needs to touch the ore and silently say 'Collect'."

Li Xin put down the entrenching tool, crouched down, and placed his hand on the pile of gravel. "Collect."