The stream wasn't deep, just over a ter, originating from the distant peaks, stretching down for tens of kiloters.
Yang Xiao bent down and picked up a piece of purple transparent stone from the bottom of the water, imdiately exclaiming excitedly:
"Got it, got it, got it!"
Old Nine looked at Yang Xiao in astonishnt, suspecting that Yang Xiao had gone mad in his haste.
"Yang Xiao, what's wrong with you? Don't panic, even if we can't find the vein right now, we will definitely find it."
Then Old Nine's mouth hung open, his gaze fixated straight on the stone that Yang Xiao raised to his eyes.
In Yang Xiao's fingers was a piece of Purple Crystal Stone the size of a thumb.
It was all too familiar; this was exactly the type of Purple Origin Crystal Stone they dug up daily in the mines.
"Yang Xiao, you?"
Standing in the stream, Yang Xiao spoke with excitent:
"Old Nine, just now I randomly grabbed a handful of rocks from the side of the stream and threw them into the water, and among them was this piece of Purple Origin Crystal Stone. If the exposed rocks here contain Crystal Stones, it ans there must be a vein, right?"
Yang Xiao looked at Old Nine earnestly, needing an affirmative answer.
Old Nine took the Purple Crystal Stone, nodded firmly, and said:
"That's right, according to our geological common sense, finding minerals on the ground indicates that the vein has extended to the surface."
Old Nine glanced at the Crystal Stone in his hand and then looked around, saying:
"Let's follow the bank of the stream and see if we can find more Crystal Stones."
"Okay!"
Now Yang Xiao was brimming with confidence.
The two walked along the rocky area by the stream, looking carefully at the purple rocks underfoot. Ordinary purple rocks were opaque and lacked luster, while Crystal Stones were transparent with a very strong shine, making them easy to distinguish.
After a short while, Old Nine excitedly picked up a Crystal Stone from the ground and said:
"Yang Xiao, I found one too."
"That's great, this is enough to prove there has to be a Crystal Stone vein here."
"Yes, and the fact that the Crystal Stone vein is exposed on the surface likely ans that during the rainy season, flash floods washed these stones out."
"But how do we go about searching for this vein?"
Just then, Qin Lu ran over, calling them to co eat dinner.
Yang Xiao handed the two small Crystal Stones to Qin Lu to look at.
Qin Lu was taken aback,
"Purple Origin Crystal Stone, where did they co from?"
"Found them on the ground."
"Holy smokes, really?"
Qin Lu, originally disheartened, was suddenly excited.
"If we're not mistaken, this area must have a Crystal Stone vein, and it's probably shallow."
"So what do we do?"
"I was thinking just now, there's one simple thod. Tomorrow we'll get everyone to form a line and do a drag net-style search of the ground. However, since the vein is underground, even if it's exposed, it might be covered by mud and debris, so it might not be easy to find."
Old Nine, standing aside, thought for a mont and said,
"Maybe I have a thod."
Old Nine followed Yang Xiao back to the base camp, where everyone was gathered around a campfire having a barbecue.
Guo Lang of the Prospecting Team saw Yang Xiao returning and chuckled:
"Young Master Yang, are we heading back tomorrow? Several other mining sites are waiting in line for us, you see, you've been prospecting here for eight days without a hint of a vein, and we've done our best."
Yang Xiao glanced at Old Nine, and Old Nine smiled and said:
"Brother, I'd like to ask you a question."
Guo Lang glanced at Old Nine and said indifferently:
"What question?"
"Did you set a detection depth when you used the detection equipnt?"
"Of course. Why, do you understand it too?"
"Ah, no, I don't. I just want to ask, what's the detection depth you set?"
Guo Lang bit into a piece of at, sowhat reluctantly saying:
"We set the depth to about 80 to 120 ters underground. Is there a problem?"
"So, for the rock layers above 80 ters, they are actually not detected, right?"
Guo Lang, getting a bit impatient, said:
"Nonsense, more than eighty percent of the crystal stone mines are buried around a hundred ters deep. It's very rare to find ore veins above eighty ters, so of course we detect below that depth."
Old Nine, not taking offense, said:
"So, your equipnt can detect a vertical range of forty ters, right?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Ah, in that case, I'd like you to adjust the detection range to from the surface down to 40 ters underground for detection tomorrow, okay?"
"Ridiculous, who detects rock layers above 40 ters? You guys are just ssing around."
Guo Lang felt that Old Nine was questioning his professional competence, which made him quite annoyed—he had been prospecting for ten years and had ample experience.
Old Nine did not speak further, but instead looked towards Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao smiled faintly and said:
"Captain Guo, how about this: we've paid you a hundred million crystal coins, and it's only been eight days. Isn't there still two days left? Please trouble yourself to adjust the detection paraters as my brother suggested just now, and continue the search for two more days. If we still can't find any ore veins, we will accept the loss."
"You, you guys are just ssing around. I've been prospecting for ten years; I've never detected rock layers above forty ters. If this gets out, won't my peers laugh their heads off?
Others will seriously question my professional spirit. Do I even want to stay in this field?"
Guo Lang got very angry, and his subordinates echoed his sentint.
"That's right, if this gets out, others might think we're deliberately deceiving custors and scamming their money."
"We are a professional prospecting team, with ten years of specialization, you understand?"
"You all don't understand prospecting, why are you giving senseless orders?"
"If it weren't for Boss Qin asking us, we wouldn't have co to prospect for you this quickly. It was all for the face of our old client, Boss Qin."
...
Yang Xiao, Old Nine, and Qin Lu looked at each other.
"Captain Guo, let offer a compromise. See if it's feasible. Tomorrow, adjust the detection paraters according to our suggestions and continue detecting for two more days. Even if it's ssing around, if nothing is detected, I'll double your paynt to ten million crystal coins a day. How about that?"
"You?"
Guo Lang paused for a mont, looking at Yang Xiao.
"Young Master Yang, are you serious?"
"Of course, do I look like I'm joking? We've invested several billion; how could we give up halfway? We're totally serious."
Guo Lang hesitated for a mont, then said loudly:
"Alright, since you insist on ssing around like this, then I'll also make it clear. We'll adjust the detection paraters according to your thod, and the mont the two days are up, we're leaving imdiately. Don't co looking for us in the future; find another prospecting team.
Also, if we find an ore vein, I won't charge an additional fee for the ore vein detection."
According to the rules, detecting an ore vein would cost a hundred million crystal coins.
(One more chapter to co)
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