Steel torrents pioneering a different world

Chapter 101: A Mine Like Winning the Lottery!! (Bonus Chapter)

"Maintain vigilance around the perimeter and reinforce the three-dimensional fire network!"

Following Zhao Chong's words, the sentries dispersed and took up high ground.

The assault team quickly unloaded folding stakes and high-strength barbed wire from the vehicle, and in the blink of an eye, they set up a deadly barrier around the perimeter of the position.

Zhao Chong glanced at the magic feedback detector displayed on the tactical terminal.

A stable green color on the screen indicates that there is no high-intensity energy reaction in the vicinity.

Several reconnaissance soldiers who went forward also reported that it was safe and there was no abnormal interference.

"The higher-ups said there were unusual electromagnetic disturbances and a blizzard here. Did the other side sense the danger in advance and run away with their buckets?"

"They probably really thought we were too difficult to deal with, so they just ran away!" Wang Kang's voice came through the communication headset.

Many of the team members laughed.

Zhao Chong breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to the construction vehicle, "Engineer Bian, it's safe, you can get off now."

"coming."

The car door opened, and a figure wrapped up like a bear struggled to jump out.

Bian Huan, an engineer on the exploration team, was wearing a heavy thermal suit, but he also had a shotgun slung over his shoulder and a full set of magazines hanging from his waist.

He held a topographic map that had been printed a little over an hour ago, pointing to two hills in front of him.

"Team Leader Zhao, if it's confirmed to be safe, let's speed things up. We can complete the preliminary exploration and sampling of these five hilltops before 3 PM Earth time."

"Don't worry." Zhao Chong patted his shoulder and grinned. "We'll go up first and clean up every nook and cranny on the mountaintop where Skeleton Six might be hiding. Then you can come up and get to work."

Bian Huan nodded and called to his coworkers to start moving the equipment down.

The robust drilling rig and basic chemical analyzer were retrieved.

A few minutes later, Wang Kang's voice came through the channel.

"Captain, the high ground has been captured, visibility is now good, and the surveillance drones are in place."

"The high-altitude surveillance drones are also in place!"

"understood."

Zhao Chong looked up at the sky. It was a level 6 wind, no snow, and the view was quite open this time.

"The weather is nice today, no snow, and visibility is better than yesterday."

"That's great, we can get more work done," Wang Kang chimed in. "Drone ready to drop clearance bombs, three, two, one, takeoff..."

Three small drones silently took off and flew toward a steep snow slope on the mountainside in the distance.

This is the only route the soldiers take when climbing the mountain, and it must be cleared to eliminate safety hazards.

The next second, three muffled explosions rang out in succession, the sound echoing repeatedly in the valley, followed by a thunderous roar.

The steep snow slope seemed to have been kicked hard by a giant, and the entire snowfield turned into a white torrent, roaring down and completely burying and flattening everything that might be hidden below.

Violence, efficiency.

This is the daily routine of a heavily armed special forces unit!

Only after confirming that the safety hazard of avalanches had been eliminated did Bian Huan's exploration team, under the protection of soldiers, begin to carry their equipment up the mountain.

Zhao Chong found a sheltered rock to sit on, took out a mint from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, the cool sweetness melting on his tongue.

As the first special operations force to arrive in this alien world, their combat effectiveness was severely hampered by the long-term use of internal oxygen systems and breathing masks. This time, they were granted permission to remove their breathing masks and participate in subsequent scientific observation.

To date, no toxic or harmful substances have been found in the air of this other world. In fact, scientists have found that some foods from this other world are beneficial to human metabolism, so people's estimates of the air's toxicity have been reduced to an extremely low level.

If it weren't for orders from higher-ups, thousands of pioneers would have already removed their heavy respirators!

Karma——

As the crows circled overhead once more, Zhao Chong raised his gun, and the colorful black crows immediately screeched and rose higher.

"Ha~"

"These guys are like ghosts; they fly over to watch the show whenever we make a move," Wang Kang complained.

"Thank goodness these guys didn't dare fly into base camp!"

After discovering that these creatures possessed extremely high intelligence, the troops issued an order to kill the crows on sight in the core area of ​​the camp.

To clear out birds of prey, the troops even equipped themselves with aerial tricycles with bird-like bodies.

Over several days, they collected hundreds of crows and birds of all sizes, and the birds no longer approached the core area within 5 kilometers of the camp.

In places where external air defenses are lacking, crows, various large birds, and even eagles often circle high in the sky.

Among them, the crows are the most arrogant, often watching the commotion from hundreds of meters away.

Other birds are not so bold and mostly hover high in the sky!

"I heard that a team researching gimbal-based weapons came over a few days ago. I reckon it won't be long before we have a large fleet of drones protecting us! Then the drones will be able to roam freely in the distant green forests!"

“If we face stronger resistance, our defense will be much easier,” Zhao Chong said with a smile, looking around.

Because he was looking up, the howling wind and snow poured into his neck, making him shiver involuntarily.

Looking at Bian Huan's busy team in the distance, I wondered what I should eat today!

Just then, Bian Huan's voice, slightly distorted, came through the channel, carrying a hint of barely suppressed excitement.

"Team Leader Zhao! Come here right now!"

Zhao Chong's heart skipped a beat. He jumped up, gun in hand, and rushed towards Bian Huan's position: "What's wrong? Have you spotted the enemy?"

Bian Huan was kneeling on the ground, carefully holding a section of rock core that had just been taken out of the borehole.

The black glove was holding the grayish stone, but the fractured surface of the rock core revealed a striking bright red color.

The intense red color, like congealed blood, broke apart in the grayish-white rocks, creating an eerie beauty.

"Captain Zhao, look at this!" Bian Huan's voice trembled with excitement as he handed the rock core to Zhao Chong. "Just as we predicted, it's a typical low-temperature hydrothermal deposit caused by an earthquake zone! It's a trigonal crystal system... I bet those dozens of reddish hills ahead have a lot of mercury sulfide deposits!"

Zhao Chong was not a geology expert and did not understand what crystal system mineral deposits were, but he recognized this thing.

Mercury sulfide ore.

This stuff has an even more impressive name—cinnabar!
Their mission objective for this trip!
A few days ago, they and the engineering team traveled all the way here to establish a security and warning network and quickly confirm whether this red mountain range contains a large-scale mercury sulfide mine!

I thought I'd be busy for many days, but I didn't expect that on the first day, with the first hole I drilled, I would hit the jackpot.

This luck is simply divine intervention; it's like God is feeding them to them.

Wang Kang's voice came through the channel, tinged with amusement: "Captain, did Engineer Bian dig up some treasure? He sounds like he's won the lottery."

Zhao Chong's tense nerves completely relaxed, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud, replying in the channel: "It's not just winning the lottery, it's raiding the lottery center! Get ready to pack up, we can go home early today!"

(End of this chapter)