Chapter 324: Finding mining spots
"You're insane?"
Neil reacted swiftly, slapping Leo's right hand that held the red ore.
"...Huh?"
Leo's right hand was knocked aside, but the red ore didn't fly away. Instead, it split into two halves—one crawled into his mouth, while the other burrowed into his palm.
"Grab his right hand!"
Old Arthur forcefully gripped Leo's wrist, while Lin Ye used his mining pickaxe to precisely dig out the half of the ore that had embedded itself in Leo's palm.
In just that brief moment, that half of the ore had already grown roots over ten centimeters long, reaching as far as halfway up his forearm.
"Ah! Let me go! What are you doing!?"
Leo flailed his forearm wildly like a madman, trying to shake off Old Arthur, but Old Arthur's strength was immense—he couldn't break free at all.
"Watch out!" At that moment, Lin Ye noticed that the red ores below had grown numerous tiny limbs resembling insect legs. Using those insect legs, the red ores leaped onto the mine walls and began moving rapidly across them.
One of the red ores had already approached Old Arthur, preparing to jump onto his back.
Lin Ye swung his pickaxe and knocked away that red ore, but more red ores climbed the mine walls, then leaped from the walls into mid-air.
"Let's go, we can't worry about him anymore."
Lin Ye knocked away two more red ores, but this did nothing to reduce their numbers—they would just roll on the ground a few times before crawling back.
Old Arthur released Leo, backing away while batting off the red ores that pounced at him.
Neil also helped with defense, and the three quickly distanced themselves from the area.
Leo's body split open from the middle, and some organs embedded with ores crawled out from within, burrowing deep into that cavity.
The three ran over a hundred meters through the mine shaft, only stopping when they saw the red ores weren't pursuing them.
"...What the hell was that?"
Neil gasped for breath, speaking loudly.
"Clearly, red ores."
Lin Ye leaned on his pickaxe to recover his strength. Hunger surged through him again, and he faintly smelled the scent of raw meat from his two companions.
Old Arthur knelt on the ground, covering his mouth. He had nearly bitten Neil moments earlier—when he came to his senses, he found his mouth already wide open.
Neil wasn't faring well either. He bit his own arm hard to regain some semblance of rationality.
"...Let's go, we need to pick up the pace."
Lin Ye had no intention of snacking on his companions.
The three proceeded deeper into the mine shaft at full speed. Now they could no longer afford to worry about other matters—they could only run recklessly through the pitch-black mine tunnel.
Their headlamps swayed, light beams illuminating the ground. Lin Ye memorized the terrain revealed by the light. He ran at the front, while Old Arthur and Neil didn't need to watch the path—they just needed to follow his footsteps.
Many fleshy monsters populated the path. Their reaction speeds were average, and Lin Ye would dig out the ores from within them as they passed by.
If Lin Ye couldn't handle them, Old Arthur and Neil would follow up with a pickaxe strike. Killing them was ideal, but even if they couldn't, they could still pass through safely.
"I... can't... go on... anymore..."
Amidst ragged panting, Neil barely managed to utter these words. Earlier he could still observe the terrain like Lin Ye, but now he could only barely keep up behind Old Arthur.
"Hold on a bit longer, just fifty meters left."
Lin Ye had been calculating their distance from the starting point. The information the girl provided was likely problematic, but within a certain range, they genuinely couldn't dig up any white ores.
Only fifty meters remained until they reached the area eight hundred meters from the starting point. Lin Ye wanted to see what they could dig up at that distance.
Near the eight-hundred-meter mark, dripping sounds came from a branch mine shaft. Lin Ye didn't stop—they no longer had the test papers the girl had given them, so they couldn't determine if the water source was safe.
Since the girl had previously blown his head off, he wasn't sure if those test papers were reliable.
"Stop! I hear dripping water!"
Old Arthur halted, looking toward that branch mine shaft.
"Water sources tend to be dangerous, and we can't determine if the water is drinkable."
Lin Ye also stopped, but he didn't want to waste time here.
"But we can't hold on much longer. Later we still need to mine, and after mining we have to carry those ores back. Without some rest, we won't last that long."
Old Arthur helped support the unsteady Neil. Their mental energy was far inferior to Lin Ye's, and they were now on the verge of collapse.
"Fine, then let's be quick."
Lin Ye decisively ran into that branch mine shaft. The shaft wasn't deep—at its end was a five-meter-wide water pit.
The water pit was deep;
their headlamps couldn't illuminate the bottom.
Lin Ye threw several stones into the water pit, confirming the ripples were normal before asking:
"Who wants to test it?"
"...I'll do it. If I can't drink water, I won't last much longer anyway."
Neil cautiously approached the water pit, scooped up some clear water, and took a sip.
"How is it?"
Old Arthur licked his parched lips and asked.
"Seems fine."
Neil turned his head to answer.
His head rotated a hundred eighty degrees, then turned back from the other side.
"Feels amazing, you should come drink some too."
Neil plunged his head into the water, but his body remained crouched in place.
"Let's go, he's beyond saving."
Lin Ye sighed, watching Neil's head swimming in the water connected by that pale white spine. He pulled Old Arthur away from the branch mine shaft.
"Damn it! This cursed place!"
Old Arthur angrily punched the mine wall. He never expected that merely drinking water would lead to this.
"Enough, save your strength for mining more ore. I don't want to die here."
Lin Ye found a spot and began mining. At the eight-hundred-meter mark, gray ores were more common, mixed with some gray-white ores. After digging for over ten minutes, Lin Ye finally excavated one white ore.
'If I can maintain this frequency, I could gather the required ores in just over two hours... Perhaps I should check the nine-hundred-meter area.'
Lin Ye continued mining, spending twenty minutes to dig out his second white ore.
"The pace here is too slow. Let's go a bit deeper."
Lin Ye called to Old Arthur who was mining nearby.
"This spot is already decent. Go even deeper?"
Old Arthur's mining skills were average, but relying on brute strength, he managed to dig up one white ore in under half an hour.
Ten white ores would only require five hours—he was quite satisfied with this pace.
"This place isn't safe. We'd better find a spot where we can quickly mine ten white ores."
Thinking about the miners and the girl outside, Lin Ye didn't believe they could leave this place with these ores. So the goal of this simulation was to find a good mining location.
"Alright."
Old Arthur didn't argue further, picking up his pickaxe and following behind Lin Ye.
Lin Ye advanced another hundred meters deeper into the mine shaft, reaching nine hundred meters from the starting point. In this area, white ores were noticeably more abundant—they could dig one up within minutes.