The little star from the Gobi Desert, handed over to the state, is hailed as a national treasure.

The makeshift laboratory is brightly lit at this moment.

It was called a laboratory, but it was actually just a small room partitioned off with wooden planks, with a few old tables pushed together and filled with bottles, jars and a few instruments whose names I didn't know.

On a wooden shelf in the corner were mineral samples of various sizes, each with a neat label.

At this moment, the stone that Tian Tian had discovered was being carefully placed in the center of the table. The light shone down from above, illuminating its dusty surface and revealing several fine lines on it.

Several key figures in charge of the mining area arrived—Feng Dapao, Qin Yan, He Lin, Zhou Xiaobing, and several veteran technicians. Even the area outside the gate was packed with miners who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

Everyone was filled with intense curiosity, wanting to see what the stone that Sweetie found contained.

At this moment, Tian Tian was carried by Liang Zhe to wash her hands.

The little girl's hands were already covered in mud when she was climbing the mountain, and she looked filthy.

Liang Zhe filled a basin with hot water and used soap to wash his daughter's fingers one by one.

Handling uranium ore does carry some risk, but because the contact time is short and it takes place outdoors in good ventilation, no noticeable harm is expected. Even so, everyone should still take precautions after each descent from the mountain.

"Daddy." After all the commotion of the day, the little girl was already drowsy, her eyelids drooping, but she was still thinking about the stone she had found. "Where's the singing stone?"

"Over there, everyone's watching." Liang Zhe dried her little hands with a towel. "Sweetie, go to sleep if you're sleepy."

"Not sleepy..." Sweetie yawned slightly, leaned on his shoulder, and forced her eyelids open, looking towards the laboratory.

Liang Zhe lovingly picked her up and carried her back to the laboratory.

Inside the room, Zhou Xiaobing had already taken the FD-3013 radiation meter out of the wooden box. This was equipment specially issued to uranium exploration teams by the Institute of Atomic Energy. Although the outer casing had slight wear, the crystal on the probe was still highly efficient and sensitive.

He pointed the probe at the stone on the table and, amidst the expectant gazes of the crowd, pressed the power button.

The previously calm hissing sound suddenly changed at this moment.

"Click. Click-click. Click-click-click—"

The sounds grew denser and more urgent, like raindrops hitting a sheet of metal. The hands on the dial jumped rapidly, passing 100, 200, 500, 1000... and finally came to a steady stop on a number.

3000!

Zhou Xiaobing's eyes lit up instantly.

"How much?" Feng Dapao leaned closer, his head almost touching the watch face.

Xu Qiang didn't answer immediately. He stared at the ticking hands, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

Then, he took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with his sleeve, and put them back on.

"Equivalent uranium content..." His voice was slightly hoarse with excitement, "...over three thousand."

"It's a rich mine!"

"Whoosh—"

These words acted as a fuse, instantly igniting the entire laboratory.

Cheers, applause, and shouts of approval mingled together. Emotions suppressed all night were finally released. The crowd outside clapped enthusiastically. Some whistled, others yelled "Bravo!" For a moment, the area in front of the small laboratory was bustling with excitement.

"Sweetie! Well done!"

"Expert Liang, your daughter is amazing!"

"To search for minerals amidst such a huge landslide danger—that's a truly remarkable achievement!"

Liang Zhe stood at the door, holding the sleeping Tian Tian in his arms, looking at every smiling face, and was overwhelmed with emotions.

His daughter's soft body nestled in his arms, her little face pressed against his chest, fast asleep, oblivious to the commotion around her.

He lowered his head and looked at her peaceful sleeping face, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him—pride, heartache, lingering fear, and a faint sense of unease.

Just then—

Don't be too happy yet.

A cold voice suddenly rang out, like a bucket of ice water poured over the newly boiling flames.

The crowd instinctively parted to make way. Fu Dashi walked in from outside.

He was covered in dust, his trousers and shoes stained with wet mud and pebbles from the back mountain, clearly having just come down from the mountain. His eyes were gloomy and sharp, looking past the crowd and landing directly on the ore on the table, with undisguised sarcasm.

"Fu Dashi? What is this...?" Feng Dapao frowned, about to explode, but was stopped by Xu Qiang raising his hand.

Fu Dashi ignored Feng Dapao, walked straight to the table, took the white gloves handed to him by someone, put them on, and picked up the ore. He first examined it from left to right, then gently tapped the surface of the ore with his knuckles, listening carefully to the sound. His movements were practiced, and his expression was solemn.

The laboratory was completely silent.

All eyes were focused on Fu Dashi's hand and the ore in it.

Fu Dashi stared at it for a full minute.

Finally, he put down the ore, took off his gloves, and faced the crowd that had been waiting for him.

"It's a good piece," he said. "Crystal uranium ore, with grains around 20 micrometers in size, disseminated in pyrite veins. The quality is better than the pieces I found on the north slope before."

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what he was up to.

Fu Dashi paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present—Xu Qiang, Feng Dapao, Zhou Xiaobing—before finally landing on Liang Zhe, who was holding Tian Tian at the door.

"However," he changed the subject, "judging from the degree of weathering and roundness, this should be a 'rolling stone.' What is a rolling stone? It's a lone rock that broke off from the parent vein, was washed away by rainwater, or was carried elsewhere by a landslide. It's good in itself, but it doesn't prove anything."

"Rolling Stones?" The smile on Feng Dapao's face gradually disappeared.

"Yes." Fu Dashi put the ore back on the table and took a step back. "It proves that there was mineralization in this area, which is a good thing. But it's isolated. Where did it come from? Where is the parent vein? How big is the vein? What is its grade? Is it continuous or intermittent? This stone can't answer any of these questions."

He looked around at everyone, his voice neither hurried nor slow.

"Our current situation is like finding a pine cone in a forest. A pine cone is a good thing, but with just that, can we find the pine tree? Can we know how big the pine forest is? Can we be sure that it wasn't carried there by some squirrel from dozens of miles away?"

No one speaks.

As a senior geological expert, Fu Dashi possesses extremely solid professional knowledge, and the questions he raises are always to the point.

"This little girl found a really good piece of ore, I admire her a lot." Fu Dashi's gaze fell on Tian Tian, ​​whose small figure was curled up in her father's arms, fast asleep. "Such a young child, risking a landslide to rush up there, I, Fu Dashi, have no words for that courage."

He paused, then changed the subject again.

"But ore is ore, and a vein is a vein. These are two different things. If we act impulsively and dig in with great fanfare, only to end up with another barren slope—who will bear that responsibility?"

This statement precisely hit everyone's sore spot, and the previous liveliness in the laboratory vanished completely.

The crowd looked at each other, and the smiles on their faces gradually faded.

Those veteran technicians who were just rubbing their hands excitedly are now silent.

"I'll say it again." Fu Dashi turned to Xu Qiang, "Dean Xu, if Expert Liang can lead us to the mineral vein within three days, I, Fu Dashi, will personally apologize to him, and from now on, I'll go wherever he points without hesitation."

He paused.

"But if it's just a lone rock—then I'm sorry, I'll stick to my plan."

After saying that, he nodded to Xu Qiang and turned to walk towards the door.

As he passed Liang Zhe, he paused. His gaze fell on Tian Tian's sleeping face, which looked exceptionally innocent under the light. Fu Dashi looked at her for two seconds, said nothing, and walked away.

His figure quickly disappeared into the night, leaving a room full of people looking at each other in bewilderment.