Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 469: Gold...

Sunshine was in Hunkerville, primed to deal with urgent business. At least, that was what she had been informed when Kent called her over.

Like the man had said, he was waiting for her in the company of his wife and sister. They looked calm, Carly looked nervous and wary.

Kent grasped Sunshine’s hand quickly after taking a brief glimpse at Hunter. "First," he said in a shaky voice, clasping her forearm, "thank you for restoring cell communication. My mother has not left the storm cellar beneath our old house since the apocalypse started.

Imagine her surprise when she noticed bars on her phone! She called me immediately to find out how I was doing." He chuckled. "Right before she berated me for me being foolish for staying on the surface."

Sunshine chuckled. "Mothers we never cease to worry."

Kent’s smile faded, replaced by caution. His eyes darted around nervously.

Sunshine noticed immediately. "What is it?" she asked.

Kent didn’t answer. He just gestured for her to follow.

Another prime core, I am certain. She thought. Sunshine sent Hunter ahead to scout the mine. Carson remained behind, faithfully following and ready to help her hide the swap.

They moved deeper into the mine, footsteps echoing quietly. The air was cooler. The mine was quieter; everyone had been sent out.

It was all so mysterious that Sunshine wondered what Kent had found. Her blood boiled in anticipation. It had to be a prime core.

Hunter returned to her side and Kent stopped in front of a massive, exposed vein of gold. Not a streak. Not a few stones. An entire sleeping giant of it.

Sunshine froze.

Her breath caught. "You’ve got to be kidding me," she murmured, stepping closer. The deposit was enormous_ thick, rich, untouched.

Hunkerville was already known for its minerals, like iron ore, copper, zinc and quartz crystals. It was one of the reasons she’d wanted the town protected in the first place. Because it was a key area for development in future.

But she never heard about gold!

"Is...is that gold?" Carson stepped out from behind Sunshine, jaw so wide open that it almost detached from his mouth.

Kent nodded.

"This town doesn’t have gold.." Carson muttered. "If it did, someone would have reported it...."

"Nobody knew." Soledad cut in. "Not even us." She mounted another lantern on the wall. "We never dug this deep before. If my husband was not a geokinetic, I reckon, this gold would never be found."

"You found it." Sunshine looked at Kent in shock.

"Carly and Gilly found it," Kent said quietly. "Carly came straight to me. No one else knows besides us."

Sunshine turned slowly, looking from Kent to the gold and then back to him again. "And you didn’t keep it?" She had seen sons sell their mothers in the apocalypse. How could someone resist the temptation of keeping all this gold for themselves?

Soledad answered before Kent could, her voice calm but firm. "Because gold is different from iron or copper. Even if we mine it secretly, it will not be long before someone says something and then whispers will travel."

Kent nodded. "People will covet it. Strangers will flock here, good and bad. My father used to tell me stories about what happened when those quartz crystals were found in the caves.

People thought it was diamonds. The townsfolk who were once united by hard work turned on each other. They started eyeing each other with suspicion. Some clever young ones reached out to friends in big corporations looking to sell the land from under the nose of others.

And then people started turning up dead. Three in total. Others started camping out outside caves with guns to protect their share. It tore this town apart. They sent federal agents and military down here."

Soledad chimed in softly. "My great grandfather was one of the three that was killed. And then it turned out that it was not diamonds but quartz crystals. They were common, worth a few dollars. Not the millions that everyone thought they would be getting."

"It took years for people to forgive and trust and each other again in this town." Kent said sharply. "To us...me at least, this gold is a curse. Useful, but a curse. If people know this much gold is beneath their feet, they will stop being neighbors and start being enemies."

Carly nodded. "Peace here matters more than wealth. The world outside is dangerous enough as it is. We would rather have the bubble, your food, soldiers and superhumans, and the weapons than this gold. So, we decided to call you. We figured you’d know what to do with it."

Sunshine felt something warm and painful tighten in her chest. Trust like this wasn’t common anymore. They had taken a risk by coming to her. She smiled, genuine and appreciative. "You did the right thing," she said softly. "All of you."

Carly nodded, proud of herself for many reasons. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Sunshine straightened, already thinking on what steps they needed to take next. "Here’s what we’ll do. Kent, I’ll need you to mine it_ but quietly. Choose a trusted team. They’ll be paid well. No shortcuts, no gossip. If the rich idiots in inner wall find out about this, they will probably try to buy the mine. We don’t need their fingers in this pie. It will be used for the base, the entire base."

Kent nodded without hesitation. "I’ll oversee everything myself."

Sunshine continued, eyes gleaming now with purpose. "We’ll process the gold and mint coins. Golden ones. One side will carry the Quinn logo. The other_ a snowflake with the letter S."

Carly blinked. "Snowflake?"

Sunshine smiled faintly. "Yes. Paper money as a currency is losing value slowly and it is becoming rare. Gold does not lose value. We can use it for trade." It would relieve some of her burden incurred when buying things from the system.

Things that were not used by her alone but the entire base.

Kent let out a breath, half-relieved, half-amazed. "As long as you give me equipment, I can handle it," he said reassuringly. "Even if you’re not here to watch over me." He was pleased that she trusted him and he was glad he had trusted her as well.

"I know," Sunshine replied. She turned toward the exit. "I’ll send the equipment as soon as possible."

Carly raised her hand. "....Errr...I am not the sharpest egg in my class but isn’t gold worth a lot? How will you determine how much gold in a coin is equal to a dollar?"

[That is where I come in.] They system chimed in Sunshine’s mind.

She looked at Carly and said, "I will take care of measurements. Of course, not all the coins will be pure gold. I have seen coins worth fifty dollars on face value but the gold within is worth over two thousand dollars."

"We need a silver mine." Soledad suggested.

Carson smirked. "I know this little town of yours is blessed, but we should be realistic. This was a miracle. I find it doubtful that you will pull off another one."

Soledad shrugged. "Who knows?"

Sunshine cleared her throat. "We will dilute the gold with copper."

Carly raised her hand again. "Another question. Why must the coin have a Quinn group logo and a snowflake? Can’t it have an eagle or government logo?"

"There is no more government." Soledad hissed. "A whole year and they have not come out to help us or tell us how we are going to survive. The officials are hiding in bunkers like the rest of the world. When they come back to the surface, they will find that the world they left is long gone."

Carson sighed.

Kent cleared his throat. "Ma’am, you can deal with the official side of this. I don’t want to debate politics and the economy. We’ll need more squads here. Just in case word gets out about the source of the gold."

Sunshine nodded. "I’ll work on it." She would send more soldiers, more guns, more acid grenades. Woe betide anyone that tried to steal her gold.