Opening the chat channel, Cao County Citizen left many messages.
Are you there? Can I send you photos?
Are you there?
Are you asleep? Sleeping so early? Are young people so weak?
Alright then, I'll give it to you tomorrow night. Yesterday's profit share was fifty-seven thousand, and I'll give it to you together tomorrow night.
Jiang Ye typed and replied with a sentence:
Okay. Talk tomorrow night. I have a presumptuous request, can you take a photo of the back of your head?
Closing the message, he flopped onto the bed, exhausted.
The next morning, Jiang Ye woke up. It was already past ten o'clock.
A rare, long sleep.
The stove had long since gone out, but he wasn't woken by the cold, thanks to the bear-skin bedsheet and bear-skin quilt. The bear hides were incredibly warm, almost making him sweat.
He got up, fried a piece of bear meat, and then stood before the base panel, opening the Galactic Mall.
He placed an order and bought an opening salvo assault rifle.
Eighty-six thousand yuan was spent in an instant, and his personal account dropped to 516,000 yuan.
The assault rifle appeared in the trading pod. Jiang Ye picked it up.
It was all black, heavy, and exuded a cold, murderous aura!
A four-times scope was already installed on the gun. Jiang Ye tried aiming it out the window, and the view was super clear.
There were also three complimentary empty magazines, each holding thirty-five rounds.
Jiang Ye then bought 106 rounds of Dadam ammunition, just enough to fill the magazines, with one round left over.
This one was for testing the gun.
He loaded one bullet into the magazine, then attached it to the gun.
He opened the window, aimed into the distance.
He fired!
The shot was huge, but the recoil was only slight.
The bullet flew out, shattering a cluster of snow oil grass in the distance.
Jiang Ye was very satisfied. The gun felt great in his hands, and its accuracy was good.
It took a long time to load all the bullets into the magazines. One magazine was attached to the gun, and the other two were tucked into his pockets. He also brought a shovel and a pickaxe, and four blood grenades.
He left the base to search for metal ore!
The wind seemed to be lighter today, a sign of slowing temperature drop, which was a good thing.
But the temperature was noticeably colder. He shivered as soon as he stepped outside.
Roughly estimated, it was around minus thirty degrees Celsius.
At this temperature, anyone without heating equipment would freeze to death.
Even the snow oil grass growing on the ground seemed to have frozen harder.
Jiang Ye walked towards the west. He hadn't been to the west yet, so there might be ore there.
He walked for a full hour.
He only felt the air he inhaled was very cold, and he couldn't smell any ore.
Jiang Ye was getting anxious. Was there no ore nearby? Was this place so poor?
Or, did the snow oil grass growing everywhere block the smell of the ore?
As he was lost in thought, he suddenly stopped.
Then, he sniffed the air with his nose.
The expression on his face gradually turned to surprise.
He smelled it!
A very special fragrance, a bit familiar. Yes! He remembered, it smelled like the grape juice he drank as a child, which cost three yuan a bottle!
Jiang Ye sniffed like a dog, moving forward along the scent.
However, after a few steps, the smell disappeared again.
He felt very confused and had to step back. After stepping back a few paces, he smelled it again.
He walked back and forth multiple times, his nose almost bleeding from sniffing, and Jiang Ye finally confirmed.
The location of the ore was right beneath his feet!
Moreover, it was definitely buried quite deep, so only a faint scent could be transmitted through the thick ground layer. If he deviated even slightly, he couldn't smell it.
He was lucky enough to have walked directly above the ore pile.
He didn't know if it was metal ore, so he decided to dig it out and try.
Jiang Ye drew a circle with a diameter of one meter on the ground with his shovel.
Then he stepped back to a safe distance.
He took out a blood grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it hard!
He ducked, covering his head.
Boom! A violent explosion, sending blood mist, dust, and soil into the sky.
The surrounding snow oil grass swayed collectively, trembling in the strong wind.
The dust blown into the air fell back down, scattering on the grass blades, making a rustling sound like rain.
Jiang Ye walked into the crater and sniffed.
The ore smell was stronger.
Yes, it was below!
He stepped back, pulled another pin, and threw!
Boom!
He threw again!
Boom!
Jiang Ye walked to the edge of the crater and looked down. It had already been blasted five meters deep.
However, all he could see was dirt, no ore.
The ore smell had indeed intensified, and he should reach it soon.
Jiang Ye descended to the bottom of the crater, gripped his shovel, and began to dig vigorously.
Shovel after shovel of cold earth was constantly thrown out of the pit.
This was probably the deepest mine he had dug so far.
After digging for an hour, he reached a depth of six meters.
The crater was already quite enormous, like a super crater left by a heavy artillery shell.
When another shovel struck, it hit something hard.
Jiang Ye rejoiced, thinking he had found it!
He used his shovel to clear away a shallow layer of dirt, revealing several apple-sized stones.
Jiang Ye leaned down, and the strong ore smell rushed into his nostrils, reminding him again of the grape juice drink from his childhood.
He reached out, dug out a piece of ore, and held it in his hand to examine.
The main body of the ore was gray, inlaid with many dark red crystals resembling agate. The crystals varied in size and were arranged chaotically.
Jiang Ye tried to determine if it was metal ore by its metallic luster, but after looking at it in the sunlight for a long time, he couldn't figure it out.
One moment it seemed metallic, the next it didn't.
He could only take it back to the base to test it.
Jiang Ye switched to a pickaxe, smashing it down a few times, and knocked out six dark red ore stones.
He held them in his arms, left the crater, and headed back towards the base.
The journey was long, and he didn't arrive until 12:30 PM.
As soon as he entered the base, Jiang Ye threw an apple-sized piece of ore into the trading pod for scanning.
[Item: Copper Ore]
[Item Description: Copper ore, mostly various shades of red, approaching black. Under illumination, the surface turns dark gray. It is a secondary mineral, formed by the oxidation of copper. Crystals are cubic and octahedral, with dodecahedral forms in rare cases.]
[Estimated Value: 360 yuan]
Jiang Ye was delighted. He threw all the ore he had brought into the trading pod and sold it for 1980 yuan.
Then, he returned to the base to upgrade his functions.
As expected, the second upgrade condition also had a green checkmark!
Jiang Ye couldn't wait and chose to upgrade!
This upgrade was indeed fast, mainly because of the help of the ore vein sense. If it were another colony commander, they might not be able to upgrade for a whole year. Those with bad luck might get stuck at this level.