Ye An

Chapter 179 Mineral Veins

Everything was ready, everyone carried animal skin bags, picked up weapons and tools, and set off for the river section where the ore was found.

Jincheng's modified car is inconvenient to travel on the isolated island, so Mu Mian specially distributed several sleds to Gerald and others, and taught them how to operate them.

Jincheng people are very good at mining and smelting, but they are not good at driving sleds. After studying for a long time, they still can't get the essentials.

There was really no choice but to take a step back and connect the two sleds with ropes. The kapok and the women were in front, and the Jincheng people were behind, relying on the tied ropes, and the women dragged them forward.

I haven't tried it before, and both parties are a little uncomfortable.Especially the Jincheng people who were being dragged away were somewhat awkward.Fortunately, it was not too far away from the destination, and everyone moved forward with the wind, and soon arrived at the place where the ore was discovered.

The snowdrifts by the river began to melt, and the snow water gurgled along the slope, converging on the ground to form a creek, passing through the rocks covered with crushed ice, and pouring all of it into the river.

A large number of shells and snail shells piled up on the banks of the river, forming a long strip of gray and white and blue and black.Some of them are washed away by river water, and some are collected and transported by crabs living in shallow water.

These crabs are very similar to hermit crabs, but they don't live by the sea and are used to fresh water.

They have only one big claw, with a lobster-like tail dragging behind their bodies. They have no hard shell and can only hide in the shells of shellfish and snails. They gather by the river and carefully hide themselves to avoid predators.

When Ye An and his party arrived, there were large eddies on the river bank, one after another, and the water surface seemed to be boiling.

At the bottom of the vortex, a large group of river sand and mud surged, and behind the vortex was a large group of mutated puffer fish.They use the vortex to sweep away the shells, clear the passage, and prey on the mutant crabs hiding below.

These pufferfish have hard teeth, not very sharp, but like pliers, they can easily crush snail shells and shells.They usually feed on mutant snails and river shells, and have little interest in the rest of the population.Suddenly staring at this group of mutated crabs, I don't know why.For the preyed crabs, it can be described as a catastrophe, unlucky.

The eddies on the river bank did not count, and the river became more and more turbid.

Kapok and a few women walked over and recognized what kind of mutated fish it was preying on. They didn't need any tools, just grabbed it with their hands, and grabbed the puffer fish that was biting the crab out of the water.

The moment the puffer fish comes out of the water, it spits out the prey in its mouth, and its body expands rapidly, turning into balls in no time.

The deformed puffer fish is close to the size of a football, and its body is covered with tiny spikes, which will not hurt human hands, but it can open the mouth of a big fish and stab the soft inside of the mouth, taking the opportunity to escape the fate of being swallowed.

"My lord, this kind of fish tastes very delicious, and the poison in its body can be used to make medicines. It can be extracted and stored in a special way, and it can be sold at a high price in the trade zone." Mu Mian held the puffer fish in front of Ye An, and said in his mouth.

Ye An took the puffer fish, held it in his hand and weighed it twice.

The puffer fish swelled again, and the whole fish was round and bulging, with two big eyes and not too big fins, it looked kind of cute.

"Mining first, and the rest later."

Mu Mian knew the priority of the matter, and quickly asked the women to put down the puffer fish, take out tools, and disperse the fish and crabs on the river bank.

As the school of fish receded into the deep water, the mutated crabs scattered around, the eddies in the shallow water disappeared in large swaths, the turbulent river sand and mud gradually settled, and the river water gradually became clear.

"It's here." Ye An pointed out the approximate range of the sunken ore to Gerald.

Gerald observed for a while, discussed with the people around him, nodded to Ye An, then took out the respirator from the animal skin bag, and demonstrated how to wear and use it himself.

As he said before, due to the limited materials and the urgent time, the respirator was made a little rough, and the appearance of wearing it on the head was also very strange, and it was not in line with the beauty.But it works without any issues and can be replaced underwater, ensuring miners can keep breathing and get more ore out of the water.

"Tie it like this."

Mu Mian and others started to wear respirators, Mario and Sang Fei took the initiative to help them, and taught them how to wear them.

Ye An wanted to go into the water, but was stopped by Kapok.

"My lord, let's go down first and make sure there is no problem."

Kapok out of good intentions, Ye An has no reason to refuse.

When everything was ready, Gerald distributed tools resembling shovels and shovels to everyone, and motioned them to carry animal skin bags on their backs. After personally checking the equipment on everyone, Gerald nodded to Sang Fei and Mario, and put himself into the water. gesture.

The respirators are worn on the head and back. Even if they are not in the water, it is difficult for everyone to speak. They can only communicate with each other with gestures and convey simple information.

Kapok has a strong learning ability, firmly memorizes the necessary gestures, and quickly gives orders to the women.

Accompanied by the sound of splashing water, Gerald led the Jincheng people into the water first, leaving a companion with a broken arm on the shore to explain to Ye An the issues that need to be paid attention to when digging underwater mineral deposits.

"If it's just the ore washed up by the river, you don't need to go through a lot of trouble. Just a few more people can transport it out. If it's a mineral vein hidden under the water, there are more things to do. At least three passages need to be dug. "

While speaking, the Jincheng people picked up stones and drew on the ground.

Before coming to the isolated island, the Jincheng people had already discussed that they would not hide anything from Ye An, as long as he wanted to know, he would tell the truth.

Judging from the distance and location of Jincheng and Delta, unless there are special circumstances, there will be basically no conflicts between them, and there will be no competition for resources.That being the case, why bother to hide it, making friends with a powerful mutant and gaining the other party's friendship is only good for Jin Cheng and not bad.

Ye An listened carefully to the other party's explanation, and would ask questions from time to time.

The people of Jincheng spoke excitedly and mentioned digging mines, opening passages in the mountain and digging caves.

Ye An listened, and suddenly his heart moved, remembering that the isolated island is actually a mountain, most of which are buried under the water, and he couldn't help but fall into thought.

Before he could continue to think deeply, there was a sudden movement in the water.

The Jincheng people, Mu Mian and others who entered the water broke through the water one after another, carrying animal skin bags containing ore on their backs, and swam quickly towards the shore.

Behind them, the water waves swayed in circles, and the triangular fins emerged from the water. It was the sub-adult tiger shark that rushed out of the sunken ship with Ye An before.

Two tiger sharks appeared one after another, did not attack the crowd, just cruising in circles, wandering in the river, conveying curiosity.

With the help of their connection, Ye An assimilated each other very easily, and learned that they were already full, and appearing here was purely out of curiosity.To be on the safe side, Ye An still passed on his thoughts, hoping that they could keep a certain distance and not hurt others out of curiosity.

"My lord, there are mineral veins underwater!"

When Ye An communicated with Tiger Shark, Mu Mian and others had already landed one after another, took off the respirator, put the ore on the ground, and told what they found at the bottom of the river.

"Mine lode?" Ye An looked back and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Sure." Kapok raked the wet hair on his forehead, and said in a positive tone.

"We've confirmed everything, and there will be no mistakes."

Gerald and the people from Jincheng stepped forward, put down the bag containing the ore and tools, held the respirator in front of them, and explained to Ye An the discovery at the bottom of the river in detail.

The bed of the river was covered with ore, and it was very evenly distributed.

At first they had the same idea as the kapok, these ores should be washed by the current and sucked into the water by the vortex.

After taking away the ore and turning over the river sand, Gerald and the Jincheng people quickly changed their minds.Based on their experience, there must be mineral veins at the bottom of the river, extending along the river channel and leading to the isolated island.

"If my inference is correct, this vein has been mined before. If we continue to dig deeper, we should be able to find more evidence."

While speaking, Gerald handed Ye An a piece of wood that was as long as an arm.

For other people, they may not be able to find something wrong with the wood, but Jincheng people are not.Despite the rotting surface of the wood, they could still recognize it as a tool part from the remaining shape and the gears embedded in it, probably used in mining implements.

Ye An took the wood, but he didn't grasp the strength well, and accidentally crushed a piece, knocking off the rusty gear.

The gears land upside down, with the side embedded in the wood facing up.

Ye An bent down to pick it up, brushed off the ice slag on it, and accidentally found a pattern hidden under the rust.Driven by curiosity, I rubbed it with a stone a few times, and a vague fish pattern came into view.

He is very familiar with this kind of fish pattern.

Connecting the underground caves and corridors of the isolated island, the sunken ship, and the likely mined veins, Ye An gradually formed an outline in his mind, the veins became clear, and the clues began to be completed bit by bit.