Her little darling (Chapter 93)
Although mine tunnels may all look similar, there are still some nuances to consider.
For example, some ores are concentrated in certain areas, making mining more efficient. In other areas, where ores are scattered and sparse, mining can be difficult and uncertain, as there might not even be any ore underground.
Therefore, when people enter a mine, they quickly observe the distribution of ore on the ground. They soon discover that there are more exposed ores on the right side, while the left side, where Ye Sheng is, has very few.
The crowd effect leads most people to rush to the right side to dig, leaving only those who aren't physically strong enough to compete, reluctantly heading to the left side.
Even though there are fewer ores, there are at least some.
Unlike the dejected and downcast people around her, Ye Sheng is focused and immediately summons a small pickaxe. She then raised her hand and strikes the ground.
With just one strike, Ye Sheng feels a burst of joy, her eyes and brows reflecting her happiness!
Last time, using the small pickaxe to dig for potatoes was very easy, and this time, digging for star iron ore is just as effortless!
This is not just an ordinary little pickaxe; it's her favorite little treasure!
(?ω?)
Thanks to the small pickaxe, which saves effort and time, Ye Sheng is very motivated to dig. With a 'bang,' the pickaxe strikes a stone.
When Ye Sheng pulls out the stone, she squats down to inspect it. She finds that the stone is about the size of a coconut. She takes out a dagger and forcefully cuts off a piece from the surface.
A faint green glow immediately appears.
It's star iron ore!
As her first piece of star iron ore, Ye Sheng secretly looks around and, seeing no one paying attention to her, decides to collect the ore.
The lottery space quickly responds.
[Star iron ore successfully collected, exchanging for 300 points]
[Lucky one's debt information updated, debt points now at 805]
Only 300 lottery points!
Ye Sheng is a bit disappointed. However, considering that this is just raw star iron ore, unrefined, getting this price isn't bad. Moreover, she's in the mine, so she can dig as much as she wants.
It's like lying on a mountain of gold!
She must work hard and strive to pay off her debt today.
With no other women around to distract her and the small pickaxe's efficiency boost, Ye Sheng is incredibly comfortable mining in the cave. She wishes she could stay in the mine for days.
After digging for half a day, even though there were fewer ores on the left side of the mine, Ye Sheng's efficiency was incredibly high. Besides some ordinary stones, she collected all the star iron ore she found.
Previously, she had drawn a psychic soothing potion while being in debt, but now she had paid it all off and even earned over a thousand extra lottery points. This motivated her to keep digging, aiming to accumulate 2,000 lottery points to draw another Wishful/Ruyi Bag.
Her current Wishful/Ruyi Bag contained a lot of items. Even after cleaning it out, there wasn't much space left, just enough for some ore. She thought it would be better to draw another bag to store the star iron ore.
Hehe, perfect plan. The current bag could be called No. 1, and the new one could be No. 2...
*Bang!*
The small pickaxe struck another stone. Ye Sheng habitually dug it out and used her dagger to scratch off a small piece of the surface. Immediately, a green... Wait, why is it red this time?
Realizing that this stone was unusual, Ye Sheng quickly pulled out her Super smartwatch. She used the search function on the Wasteland Forum, snapped a picture, and started searching. She found the most reliable entry:
"Mutated Star Iron Ore: While regular star iron ore can make weapons sharper and more durable, mutated star iron ore can grant weapons a special 'bloodthirsty' attribute. Specifically, after wounding an opponent, the injury cannot heal with regular medicine, only repair fluid (if the concentration of mutated star iron ore is high enough, it can cause wounds to fester rapidly). Mutated star iron ore is extremely rare and highly valuable. The preferred place to sell it is the Base Weapon Forging Workshop. Contact number: 7312..."
Wow!
This piece of mutated star iron ore, about the size of a papaya, was amazing! It's super valuable!
Ye Sheng decided to store the mutated star iron ore in her Wishful/Ruyi Bag. Since she was still in the mine, she could continue to collect ordinary star iron ore. It was more worthwhile to keep the mutated ore for weapon forging.
The mention of the contact number at the end of the forum entry clearly showed the rarity of the mutated star iron ore.
However, as a raw stone, the amount of usable material extracted might not be much. She hoped to find a few more pieces in the future! Having a weapon forged entirely from mutated star iron ore would be incredible.
A festering blade...
But, while the thought was exciting, the reality was harsh. After that, most of what Ye Sheng found were ordinary stones, and even star iron ore became scarce.
Fortunately, despite the scattered star iron ore, Ye Sheng managed to accumulate enough for 2,000 double lottery points. She silently made a wish for another Wishful/Ruyi Bag.
The next second, her hand felt a weight, and a black box appeared, already opened. Ye Sheng reached in and took out a small Wishful Bag, after which the box disappeared. However, an unprecedented notification suddenly appeared in the air.
"Lucky participant, please note that the double lottery has many restrictions. One of them is that the same item can only be drawn three times. After that, specific wishes for that item will not be accepted, and the probability of obtaining it in a regular lottery will be set to the lowest (this does not apply to ordinary food and daily necessities; the final interpretation right belongs to the Great Lottery of Luck)."
What?!
The sudden notification from the lottery space thwarted Ye Sheng's plans.
(ー`?ー)
Originally, after exchanging star iron ore for a large number of points in the mine, Ye Sheng had some active thoughts. Since points had become easy to obtain, why not take this opportunity to draw all the items she wanted?
For example, a larger storage space.
Through numerous double lotteries, Ye Sheng discovered some hidden rules. Besides being able to wish for specific items, the value of the items obtained with double lottery points was generally not particularly high. Most of the items were either one-time use or had a time limit.
This meant that dreaming of getting an upgraded version of the Wishful Bag (small)—like the Wishful Handbag—was unrealistic. However, drawing multiple Wishful Bags and combining them to form a Wishful Handbag was possible.
But now, with the lottery space's direct restriction, Ye Sheng's plan was disrupted. She had to put aside her thoughts of exploiting the double lottery. It seemed the double points lottery was only useful for emergencies. She would have to try her luck with a ten-draw after returning.
With this in mind, Ye Sheng felt even more motivated to mine, eager to collect enough for 10,000 lottery points. Besides, she also wanted to fill the new Wishful Bag with 500 pounds of goods. She was going to be very busy!
"Ha ha, after digging for half a day, I finally found a piece of star iron ore."
"Tsk, there's so little star iron ore on this side. We really need to go to the right side to dig!"
"Hey, who's that over there? They've dug quite a big hole."
On the left side of the mine, where most people weren't very strong, the digging was slow, making Ye Sheng's efficiency stand out. The biggest pit in the area was the one she had dug.
However, there really wasn't much star iron ore on the left side. Ye Sheng's substantial gains were mainly due to the bonus from her small pickaxe.
The surrounding people couldn't help but glance frequently in Ye Sheng's direction. Fortunately, she had also unearthed plenty of ordinary stones, which she casually tossed around, making it seem like she hadn't found anything valuable. The empty nylon bag beside her made her look like an unfortunate person who hadn't found anything at all, dissuading others from trying to share in her gains.
However, the boring process of digging was often accompanied by gossip.
"Hey, did you hear? The psychic the convoy hired is the most powerful among the younger generation of the Ling family. If it weren't for Han Kaixuan's past connection with the Ling family, we wouldn't have been able to get a psychic to help us this time!"
"Of course! We're talking about a psychic, not some common mutated creature. But I heard that this psychic has taken a liking to an ordinary girl and is now pursuing her aggressively?"
"Who knows? But if the Ling family finds out, they'll be pleased. They really want their psychics to leave descendants, just in case something unexpected happens."
"Ha, 'something unexpected,' more like they're afraid the psychic might suddenly decide to take their own life! Even though psychic children often die young, with the example of Erensu hunting mutated creatures at the age of eight, families see a lot of potential in raising psychic children. It's just that psychics are hard to control and can't be forced to reproduce... I feel sorry for that girl the psychic is interested in. She's practically being turned into a breeding tool."
Ye Sheng listened silently.
It would have been better if the person they were talking about wasn't her.
{><}
Feeling a mix of anger and frustration, Ye Sheng dug even more vigorously. Her thoughts gradually became more erratic. If female psychics could have children, then maybe her "little one" could too... Cough, cough, if only it wasn't inconvenient to ask "little one" directly, she wouldn't have needed to rely on Mo Lin!
The question of how a female psychic can impregnate a woman must be answered. Besides preventing Ling Lan from doing something bad to her, Ye Sheng had more reasons to be cautious—there was a wounded psychic at her home. If she wasn't careful and accidentally had a child with the poor thing, it would be a disaster!
However, thinking it through carefully, it shouldn’t be as simple as getting someone pregnant just by looking at them.
Could it be through deep interaction...?
For a moment, Ye Sheng's thoughts strayed off track uncontrollably. Just as she continued to ponder this, the mine suddenly began to shake uncontrollably.
Fragments of earth fell on her, making her covered in dirt and dust.
Many of the torches hanging around fell, dimming the light in the mine considerably.
The people diligently mining in the cave were startled, and without thinking of anything else, they grabbed the star iron stones they had excavated and ran toward the entrance, fearing they might get buried if they delayed.
Ye Sheng was among the crowd. However, unlike the large number of people digging on the right side of the mine, the left side where she was had fewer people, so there was no overcrowding or trampling. This allowed her to be among the first to leave the mine.
The Blue Whale Mercenary Group had previously inspected the mine and declared it very sturdy and not prone to collapse.
Why did it start shaking suddenly?
Ye Sheng was filled with doubt. However, when she emerged from the mine, she immediately understood the reason.
She saw a colossal polluted creature, as tall as a ten-story building, running over from the other side of the bamboo forest. The bamboo, which had seemed as thick and tall as trees, fell like fragile toys at the creature's slightest touch.
The creature was black and white, covered in fur, reminding Ye Sheng of the rare animal, the giant panda.
Thinking of this, Ye Sheng quickly took out a detector from her bag and scanned the rapidly approaching polluted creature.
"Beep! S-class polluted creature detected – Thunder Iron-Eater."