For humanity, burn the stars.

Chapter 109 Gas?!

Everyone was thrilled to see the coal that had been successfully extracted from the mine shaft.

Picking up a fist-sized lump of coal, the Little Knight asked curiously, "By the way, can this stuff just be burned directly? I've never seen it in real life."

"How did you determine that it was of good quality?"

Other players were also curious, but didn't really understand these things.

[Painkiller] pointed to the piece of coal in his hand and explained to them, "Look, the surface of the coal is black and shiny, with an oily sheen and a mirror-like reflection, which proves that there are very few impurities."

"Furthermore, the coal is very light, which means that the internal carbon content is loose, making it more durable and less likely to break into pieces."

"As for the mixed coal that was in contact with the soil layer, it contains a lot of impurities such as mud and gravel, so it is denser and therefore becomes heavier and its color is also very turbid."

He casually tossed the piece of raw coal into the cart. [Painkillers] continued, "As for your other question—raw coal generally can't be used directly."

Even products of this high quality need to be processed before they can be used for different purposes.

【魂FIVE】 looked at him in amazement and couldn't help but ask, "Amazing, how do you know all this?"

2

"Bro, what do you do for a living in real life?"

[Painkiller] continued mining the coal, casually replying, "Hey, what's the big deal? Isn't this common sense?"

His family used to burn coal a long time ago, but as he grew older and their circumstances improved, they naturally stopped using it.

The other players exchanged strange glances.

Is this common sense? They really didn't know that.

The corner of Painkiller's mouth twitched, and he roughly understood what was going on.

So they're all city kids, or from areas where the temperature doesn't require burning coal.

In any case, their curiosity was satisfied, and the players then went back to work.

Soon the cartload of raw coal was piled up and began to be transported out.

The next step requires a series of processing steps, which will take some time.

Fortunately, players can learn this knowledge through the Seed Fire system, so this part shouldn't be a big problem.

It has to be said that it's quite interesting to be able to try these things out with your own hands.

[Painkillers] The raw coal that had been pulled out was pushed onto the ground, and the initial screening began.

It seems he's the only one here who used to burn coal and knows a little about these things, so naturally he has to do more work.

First, large stones and impurities must be removed from the raw coal to prevent them from affecting the subsequent processing.

In addition, other substances such as sulfur can also be collected.

These are essential materials for the production of gunpowder or other chemical industries later on.

After completing the initial screening, [Painkiller] then spread the raw coal on the ground.

This step requires air drying and sun drying to reduce the moisture content, making them easier to burn.

Not far from him, Li Erniu was also busy at work.

He is gradually building a kiln by drawing on the knowledge within the system.

The soil removed during the coal mining can be used here.

He planned to pile up the raw coal and smolder it until it turned into coke.

The raw coal has high levels of impurities and sulfur, and the flame is unstable, so it cannot be used directly for burning.

It must be processed into coke to allow for a longer and more stable furnace fire, only then can it be used for steelmaking.

And coincidentally, once this earthen kiln is built, it can be further processed into a kiln for traditional steelmaking.

Just as everything was proceeding smoothly, another exclamation suddenly came from the coal mine below.

[Little Knight] slammed his pickaxe against the coal wall in front of him, and fiercely chipped off a chunk of raw coal.

But this time, after the raw coal was mined, a cavity appeared, and there seemed to be some space on the other side.

He was a little puzzled and curiously peered closer to see what was going on.

But then, a strong odor pierced through the mask of his protective suit and rushed into his nose.

The little knight took a few steps back and waved his arms repeatedly in an attempt to dispel the smell.

"Ptooey!"

"Holy crap, what's that smell?!"

Upon hearing this, [Senjouhara Sun Xiaochuan], who was standing nearby, also came over.

"What...what's that smell?! Holy crap, it smells like rotten apples?!"

Just then, the protective suit also gave a prompt after collecting the data.

[Toxic gas detected, please move away immediately]

Fortunately, the players weren't completely lacking in common sense; they had learned some things before going down into the mine.

[General Chui Ha] thought of something, and his expression changed.

If I remember correctly, there's a common situation in coal mines—

Various harmful gases are generated along with the coal from the fissures in the coal seam and are released during mining.

That type of gas is collectively referred to as methane.

"This is gas, isn't it?!"

With a warning from [General Chuiha], the players quickly moved away from the vent.

At the same time, the detectors on the protective suits provided information on the main components of the gas.

Looking at the list in front of him containing methane with a concentration of over 85%, along with other aromatic hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, and a series of other gaseous components, the "atomic bomb" turned green with rage.

"Run!"

In an instant, the players hurriedly grabbed their tools and dashed out of the mine.

Fortunately, they hadn't dug very deep, and they soon returned to the surface.

No, after rushing out, before even taking two breaths of fresh air, the "atomic bomb" suddenly remembered something.

He casually scooped up a large clump of soil from the ground and then surprisingly prepared to return to the Mad Cave.

The chubby baby next to him grabbed him and looked at him with disbelief.

"Big Fool Chun, what are you doing?!"

[Atomic Bomb] While pouring water from the kettle onto the soil, he said urgently, "Gas is a resource too! And a more important resource than coal!"

"There seems to be a lot of gas in there, let's block it up first! Then see if we can collect it!"

After saying that, he immediately went back into the mine and found the location of the gas leak.

He shoved the water-soaked soil over the hole, and the gas leak immediately slowed down considerably.

However, in some places, gas continues to leak through the soil covering the gas.

Just then, two more footsteps sounded behind them.

【SoulFIVE】 and 【Hitagi】 each held a clump of dirt and used the same method to plaster it onto the gap.

This completely plugged the leak, preventing any further leakage.

[Atomic Bomb] breathed a sigh of relief and went to the side to tap the coal wall.

"There seems to be a cavity inside, but it doesn't look very big."

"But no matter what, we should be able to produce a few cubic meters of gas, right?"

【魂FIVE】Looking at him, she quickly understood what he wanted to do.

Raising an eyebrow, he asked the [atomic bomb], "You mean, we should just use gas as a weapon?"