76: Chapter 76 Sumatra (Salido)

The ancient Salido gold mine is located in West Sumatra, and it takes a whole day to drive there from Medan.

Li Xin decided to stay overnight along the way.

He booked a small guesthouse online in the town of Batang Toru. The town wasn't large, with only one main street and two rows of low houses. A few motorcycles were parked on the street, and some locals were drinking tea by the roadside. The tea stall was open-air, with a few plastic tables and chairs under a large parasol. The owner was a plump woman wearing an apron, holding a large teapot as she poured tea for her customers.

The guesthouse was a two-story wooden building with a small sign hanging at the entrance that read 'PENGINAPAN,' which means 'inn' or 'guesthouse' in Indonesian. The wooden building's exterior walls were painted pale yellow, though the paint had peeled off in some places, revealing the blackened wood underneath.

Li Xin parked the car and walked inside.

The receptionist was an Indonesian girl in her twenties with a ponytail. When she smiled, she revealed two rows of white teeth. She was looking down, playing on her phone, but she looked up when she heard footsteps and asked with a grin:

“Hi, handsome, looking for a room?”

“Yes. How much for a night?” Li Xin replied with a smile.

“One hundred and fifty thousand rupiah, handsome.”

Less than seventy yuan. Li Xin pulled out his wallet from his pocket, drew a fifty-thousand and a hundred-thousand banknote, and handed them over. The girl took the money, retrieved a key from the drawer, and handed it to him.

“Second floor, Room 3. Turn right at the top of the stairs.”

“Thank you.”

Li Xin went upstairs and found Room 3. The room wasn't big, containing just a bed, a fan, and a bathroom. The bedsheets were washed to a faded white but were reasonably clean. The pillow was a bit hard and smelled of laundry detergent. A faded landscape painting of a beach and coconut trees hung on the wall.

He put down his backpack, washed his face, and went downstairs to get some food.

There was only one small restaurant in town, selling Indonesian fried rice and grilled fish. The restaurant was on a street corner, with a few plastic tables and chairs set up outside. A few lightbulbs hung overhead, casting a dim, yellow glow. Several locals were eating and chatting, speaking softly but rapidly.

Li Xin ordered a plate of fried rice and sat on a plastic chair by the entrance, looking at his phone as he ate.

The fried rice was served on a banana leaf, topped with a fried egg and a few cucumber slices. The grains of rice were distinct, and the dark soy sauce gave it a deep color and a smoky aroma. He took a spoonful, and the spiciness made him gasp for air.

On the map, the Batang Toru River valley was just outside the town, less than ten kilometers away from the Martabe mining area.

His system's Scan range was nearly 23 kilometers.

Standing in the town, he could Scan the entire mining area.

But he had already Scanned it. The 119 tons were already in hand.

After finishing his fried rice, he returned to the guesthouse.

Lying on the bed, he opened the system panel.

[Cumulative Refined Gold: 16.1057 tons.]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 500 tons.]

Still short by 483.9 tons.

Martabe had already been Scanned clean. Next stop, Salido.

Early the next morning, Li Xin checked out and continued driving south.

The roads here were as difficult to travel as always. Some sections didn't even have asphalt, just gravel mixed with mud. The car jolted so much his buttocks went numb. The dense rainforest along the roadside blocked out the sun entirely. The humid air, mixed with the smell of rotting leaves, assailed his nostrils, making it a bit hard to handle for someone like Li Xin, who had lived in Shenzhen for a long time.

After five or six hours, a road sign reading 'Salido Ketek' came into view. The sign was made of wood, and the words painted in red were already blurry and faded in places.

Following the sign's directions, he soon arrived at a small village.

The village wasn't large, with only a few dozen households living in stilt wooden houses. The wooden houses were built on stilts over a meter off the ground to keep out moisture, snakes, and insects. The roofs were thatched with palm leaves, blackened by time, and collapsed in some places. A few children were playing by the roadside, smiling and waving as the car passed.

Li Xin parked the car at the entrance of the village and got out.

A man in his fifties walked over, his skin dark, wearing an old T-shirt and slippers. His dark blue T-shirt had several holes in it, and the collar was loose. He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, its smoke drifting in the sunlight.

“What are you looking for?” he asked in Indonesian, his voice raspy and tinged with alertness.

“I'm looking for the ancient Salido gold mine,” Li Xin replied with a harmless smile. “A friend told me there are old mine shafts here and that they're quite interesting, so he suggested I come take a look.”

The man nodded and pointed to a small path behind the village: “Go that way, it's about a kilometer. But the path to the old mine shafts is hard to walk, and there are snakes around, so be careful.”

“Thank you, I will.”

After smiling and expressing his gratitude, Li Xin slung on his backpack and walked up the mountain along the path.

Li Xin truly experienced the agonizing sensation of close contact with wild grass leaves. The weeds on both sides of the path were waist-high, and their serrated leaves scraped against his calves, leaving them both painful and itchy.

After gritting his teeth and walking for twenty minutes, an open clearing appeared ahead.

Rusted iron parts and rotting wood were scattered haphazardly on the ground, and gravel could be seen strewn everywhere.

Looking into the distance, an old, collapsed cave entrance loomed on the hillside.

Weeds grew all around the entrance, almost covering half of it. Li Xin stepped closer to inspect and found that the entrance was only large enough for a person to bend over and enter. A damp, cold wind kept blowing out from inside, carrying a musty smell, clearly indicating it had been abandoned for many years.

Standing by the entrance, Li Xin shone his flashlight inside.

The chisel marks from manual hammer blows were clearly visible on the cave walls, and abandoned tools left behind by miners of that era lay on the ground. This was likely a mine abandoned during the Dutch colonial period.

Li Xin muttered in his mind,

“System, Scan.”

[Scanning... Scan complete.]

[Gold mine discovered, 30-150 meters underground, gold reserves: 11.2 tons.]

[This is the ancient Salido gold mine ruins.]

[Note: This mine is abandoned and ownerless, eligible for 100% Extraction.]

11.2 tons. Not much, but he wouldn't turn it down.

Li Xin pressed his hand to the ground.

“System, Extraction.”

[Extraction complete. Obtained gold: 11.2 tons.]

[Cumulative Refined Gold: 27.3057 tons.]

He stood up and brushed the dust off his hands.

He Scanned the surroundings once more.

[Ding... Gold discovered. Approximately 380 meters ahead, 120 meters underground. Suspected miner's hidden cache.]

A miner's hidden cache?

Li Xin walked over happily and pressed his hand to the ground again.

“System, precise Scan.”

[Scanning... Scan complete. Discovered approximately 0.3 tons of gold hidden inside an abandoned mine shaft branch.]

0.3 tons. It must have been secretly hidden by some miner during the chaos back then, and they didn't have time to retrieve it later, or perhaps they died, leaving this gold underground forever.

“System, Extraction.”

[Extraction complete. Obtained gold: 0.3 tons.]

[Cumulative Refined Gold: 27.6057 tons.]

He stood up and brushed the dust off his hands.

The ancient Salido mine, 11.5 tons of gold. Although it wasn't a huge amount, it was effortless, and he got 100% full Extraction.

He turned and walked back.

After taking a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at the cave entrance.

The pitch-black entrance was still blowing out cold wind. A hundred years ago, Dutch colonizers mined here, and local miners sweated profusely inside the cave. Someone had secretly hidden a bit of gold, planning to retrieve it later. Later, the mine closed, the people passed away, and the gold remained underground.

No one would have thought that a hundred years later, a young man from China would stand outside the entrance, press his hand to the ground, and simply take all that gold away.

The corners of Li Xin's mouth curled up slightly as he continued walking down.

When he reached the village entrance, the man in his fifties was still there. He sat under a large tree, lighting another cigarette, the smoke curling upward. Seeing Li Xin come down, he smiled and teased, “Young man, it's overgrown with weeds up there. Did you find anything?”

“I guess,” Li Xin said with a slightly awkward smile. “Haha, nothing at all. I was totally tricked by my friend.”

The man smiled, nodded, and didn't ask further.

Li Xin got into the car, feeling a bit helpless.

Just then, his phone vibrated.

A message from Chen Hu: “Boss, there are still placer gold spots in the interior of Sumatra. The upper reaches of the Batanghari River, where locals pan for gold manually. Do you need a guide?”

Li Xin thought about it and replied, “Yes.”

placer gold spots were more hidden and safer.

Furthermore, placer gold mines were ownerless, allowing for 100% Extraction.

He opened the map and located the Batanghari River. The river originated in the Barisan Mountains, flowed through West Sumatra, and finally emptied into the Strait of Malacca. The upper reaches were deep in the ancient forests, with no roads, accessible only on foot.

However, his system's Scan range was nearly 23 kilometers.

He didn't need to go inside. Standing on the periphery was enough.

Li Xin sent a message to Chen Hu: “Help me find a local guide. No need to enter the mine, just take me to a safe spot by the river.”

Chen Hu replied instantly: “Understood.”

Li Xin tossed his phone onto the passenger seat and stepped on the gas.

The car drove out of the village, merging onto the road back to Medan.

The scenery outside the window changed from mountain forests to farmlands, and from farmlands to cities.

He opened the system panel.

[Cumulative Refined Gold: 27.6057 tons.]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 500 tons.]

Still short by 472.4 tons. It was a long and arduous journey ahead.

He had to continue in Sumatra.

The placer gold spots of the Batanghari River, ownerless mines, 100% Extraction—he could get at least a few more tons.

Then there were the Musi River, the Batang Toru River...

The entire gold belt of Sumatra Island, stretching from north to south, spanned over a thousand kilometers.

He needed to visit these places in person.

To sweep away all the placer gold that had deposited in the riverbeds over hundreds of years.

Thinking of this, the corners of Li Xin's mouth curled up, and he sighed, “I guess I'm just destined for a life of hard labor.”

Stepping on the gas, the car accelerated forward.

The sky gradually darkened, and the distant mountains were dyed golden-red by the setting sun. The clouds in the sky were burned crimson, looking as if they were on fire. At this moment, he really felt like reciting a poem.

Li Xin thought for a moment, “Forget it, I'd better just continue being a good miner.”

Snapping back to reality, he saw farmers in the roadside paddy fields driving their water buffaloes home, the clanging of the cowbells echoing far into the distance.

He opened the car window, letting the evening breeze blow in.

The breeze was cool, carrying the fragrance of rice crops.

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