Chapter 390: Geologist Xu Ke, Mineral Resources Reserve

Yu Yuan squatted in front of the two men and used his fingers to pinch the hem of their clothes.

His fingers actually turned black.

On their skin, the black dust was tightly embedded into the skin texture, even completely clogging the pores.

Traces of them having washed but being unable to get clean were visible.

"Coal mine dust..."

Yu Yuan seemed to understand something and looked at the two.

"You... are miners, right? Escaped from the Dead Mine?"

"Yes... sir..." The one who spoke was a middle-aged man in his forties. Though extremely weak, he still tightly shielded the person beside him with his body.

His eyes held wariness, yet also the caution of fearing to anger the person before him.

The person behind him wasn't very old, probably only in his early twenties.

His face was tense, but it was clear he was rapidly observing the surroundings.

He seemed to be looking for a chance to survive.

Seeing this, Yu Yuan's impression of the two improved slightly.

Yu Yuan looked at the soldier beside him.

"Go get them some food and water."

Hearing this, both men were slightly stunned. The food was quickly brought.

"Relax, I have no hostility towards you. Eat something first, then tell me about the mine later."

The two hesitated, exchanging a glance.

The young man kept swallowing saliva, already reaching out to grab the food.

*Smack—*

The middle-aged man slapped the young man on the head.

Pulling him, he said to Yu Yuan, "Thank you, sir!"

"Uh... thank you, sir..." the young man immediately followed suit.

"Heh..." Yu Yuan was amused.

"Hurry up and eat!"

The two could no longer control themselves, grabbing the food and stuffing it into their mouths. They were clearly starving.

"Bring some more food over!" Yu Yuan said.

"Yes!"

A while later, the two had finished two rounds of food and still seemed to want more.

"You've been hungry too long. You can't eat too much at once, or you'll die from overeating."

"Now... tell me about the Dead Mine and the Brotherhood."

The middle-aged man licked his lips and looked at Yu Yuan.

"Sir, whatever you want to know, I'll tell you everything..."

The young man also nodded repeatedly. The first full meal in days had left him very satisfied.

"That's right, sir. Just ask anything we know."

"Good. First, tell me about the Brotherhood's situation..."

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By the time the two had talked themselves hoarse, Yu Yuan finally understood the general situation of this area.

Especially the situation regarding the Dead Mine Brotherhood.

This area was called the Angler Wilderness Region. Because the Dead Mine belonged to the Angler Mining Company, including the current Dead Mine Town, which was also called 'Angler Town'. All of these were properties of the Angler Mining Company.

Of course, that was all in the past.

Starting from the period just before the wasteland descended, the Angler Mine experienced continuous fatal incidents.

Whenever people went down the shaft, someone would mysteriously die a few days after returning.

Several waves of investigators came, but none found any problems.

Instead, those investigators also died one after another, and the name 'Dead Mine' gradually became popular.

The Dead Mine Brotherhood was originally the Angler Mining Company's hired security force. Due to the fatal incidents, they were dispatched here to garrison and investigate the deaths.

But not long after they arrived.

The wasteland descended, plunging the whole world into chaos.

The hired force lost contact with the Angler headquarters.

The hired force's leader, Quis, sensing something was wrong, immediately rallied the troops, established defensive fortifications, and relying on their understanding of the mining area,

with the help of local miners, gradually repelled attacks from multiple factions and rapidly increased their strength.

Until finally stabilizing the situation, forming the current landscape.

Besides coal resources near the Dead Mine, there were also quite a few pyrite and siderite resources, bauxite, limestone, and quartz.

All of this indicated that the area where the Dead Mine was located had extremely rich mineral resources, and the reserves were not small.

The reason these two knew so much

was because the middle-aged man was a geologist. His name was Xu Ke, a doctoral supervisor in geology at Merry City Federal University.

He researched field exploration of ores, distribution patterns, mineralization mechanisms, and industrial utilization value.

The other was his student named Es. His elective was in mineralogy, and he already had some research achievements in ore composition and crystal structure.

Yu Yuan's gaze towards the two was no longer the same as before.

These were two talented individuals!

What Yu Yuan was thinking about wasn't just the Dead Mine. He hadn't forgotten he also had a Subterranean Gloom Civilization world.

The most precious resource of that world—Void Energy Ore—wasn't that a mineral resource?

With these two here, wasn't that a perfect professional match?

By controlling the mine's resources, Quis had also established trade relations with several regional forces in the surrounding areas.

Exchanging ores with other forces for survival supplies, equipment, and weapons.

Then using these survival supplies to purchase other resources from other small factions in this area.

For example, the lumber resources of the Hailo Scavengers Camp were one of them.

It could be said that in this area, the Dead Mine Brotherhood was the undisputed dominant force. All other small factions relied on the Brotherhood's goodwill to survive.

The two had been captured by another faction and, along with many others, were traded over to the Dead Mine Brotherhood's Quis.

After their abilities were discovered, they were mainly used to help the Dead Mine Brotherhood find mineral veins.

Then, not long ago, Xu Ke discovered a rare earth mineral source and reported the situation.

But they didn't receive the reward they imagined.

Instead, they heard someone say that Leader Quis, worried they would leak the rare earth mineral source information, planned to eliminate them once the mineral source survey was complete.

The two were terrified and began looking for a chance to escape.

Finally, half a month ago, a gas explosion occurred in the mine shaft, throwing the entire Dead Mine Town into mild chaos.

The two found an opportunity, disguised themselves, and took the chance to escape.

They were then discovered and captured by these scavengers.

Shadow also came out of the room. Seeing the scene inside the room, Xu Ke and the other man turned pale.

"King, this is the intelligence!"

Yu Yuan took the intelligence and read it. It was basically the same as what Xu Ke had said.

The Hailo Scavengers Camp was essentially the lumber supplier for the Dead Mine Brotherhood.

All camp supplies had been looted. Besides survival supplies, it was basically some simple weapons and ammunition, mostly Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns.

And one dilapidated mortar with 11 shells, which counted as the only area-of-effect weapon.

Ferson's collection was 5 kilograms of Gold, along with several Blueprints.

—【Multi-purpose Logging Machine】Blueprint

—Rare-tier【Large Logging Chainsaw · Improved Version】Blueprint

—【Firewood Shed】Blueprint

The【Firewood Shed】and【Large Logging Chainsaw · Improved Version】Blueprints were directly absorbed by the Virtual Light Screen.

【Firewood Shed】appeared on the【Shelter Facility Management】page, capable of generating 500 units of Wood daily.

That was still pretty good.

The【Large Logging Chainsaw · Improved Version】surprised Yu Yuan pleasantly.

This was actually a dual-purpose weapon/tool item that could be directly crafted through the shelter's Workbench.

—Large Chainsaw · Improved Version (Rare-tier)

Type: Heavy Weapon/Tool

Engine Displacement: 90CC

Maximum Power: 6.2KW (8.4 HP)

Guide Bar Length: 55cm

Net Weight: 15.5kg

Fuel Tank Capacity: 2.2L

Chain Speed: 22m/s

Effect: When attacking tree-type Life/buildings/facilities, triggers【Special Attack】effect.

(Special Attack: Ignores 90% of target's physical defense. 70% chance to trigger【Critical Attack】on small/medium-sized targets. 70% chance to trigger【Weak Point Attack】effect on large targets, 40% chance to trigger【Critical Attack】effect.)