Saving the World in an Apocalypse-Style Text Game-Chapter 1173 - 529: Stone Treasure Trench, Fengyang Academy

[The city of Luoyi was filled with ruins, with even the walls that surrounded the prefecture city having collapsed and damaged, leaving only a few buildings still standing.]

[The desolation was such that weeds struggled to push through the crevices of broken tiles and rubble, and swarms of Extreme Evil Monsters roamed the ruins, their eyes filled with malice that surveyed the surroundings, as if searching for different kinds to invade and slaughter.]

[Seeing this, you couldn’t help but think of Sakura Fall. Back when the last divine being of Sakura Fall was completely eroded, and the entire island nation turned into a purgatory for the living, it was a scene of Doomsday.]

[Now, the Central Region of the Vermillion State was just like Sakura Fall. If the remaining divine beings were all to be eroded, then neither the Western Territory nor the Central Region, nor the islands overseas, would be spared from transformation into a purgatory for the living.]

[Do you want to explore the city of Luoyi first, or head straight to the ’Stone Treasure Trench’ south of Luoyi?]

Lin Xun thought for a moment and chose the latter.

If he hadn’t received accurate information about the location from Lu Wu, he would have had to explore the city of Luoyi first to look for clues. Now he could head directly to the final destination and finish the task.

[The White Elephant Demon carried you on the clouds, flying toward the boundless mountains south of Luoyi...]

[You had entered the Central Region. Here, the mountains stood tall, yet the area didn’t feel desolate. Instead, lush vegetation flourished, contrasting starkly with the desolation of the Western Territory.]

[Searching among the mountains for a short while, you found ’Stone Treasure Trench’ with guidance from the records within the classics.]

[Stone Treasure Trench was situated between two mountains in a depression, boasting an open-pit mine strewn with rubble, where a few mine shafts could faintly be seen.]

[Around the outskirts of the mining area, there were some dilapidated and abandoned military tents, which puzzled you, as there were no signs of people engaged in mining, nor any signs of traders or families around.]

[According to Vermilion Geography Records, after Emperor Wu ascended the throne in Vermillion State, he implemented a policy whereby the government monopolized the salt and iron trade, embedding taxes within the prices and strictly prohibiting private individuals from smelting iron or boiling salt.]

[Eventually, whether it was copper, iron, jade, or emerald, any valuable buried in the grounds of Vermillion State belonged to the government and the emperor.]

[For every significant mineral deposit, the government would deploy salt and iron officials to guard it, either conscripting the common people for mining or selling the veins to noble families and clans...]

[And ’Stone Treasure Trench’ produced ’Stone Treasure Molybdenum Gold,’ a rare and valuable mineral, so it was unthinkable for there to be no mining crew present.]

[Even if everyone in the Central Plains had succumbed to Extreme Evil and turned into mindless monsters, such desolation should not be apparent.]

[There could only be one possibility for such a situation...]

[You had a bad feeling, so you and the White Elephant Demon retracted your magical cloud and swiftly descended to the open-pit mine.]

[The military tents left around the mine seemed to have been there for years, their fabric shredded into ragged strips by weathering, and if not for the large stones anchoring the corners, you probably wouldn’t be able to see these remnants at all.]

[Within the mine, rubble was everywhere, with no sight of mining tools like picks, shovels, chisels, or hammers, only some decayed and shapeless bamboo baskets, bamboo rakes, and Single-wheel King Eight Arches...]

[You quickly made your way to several mine shafts...]

[The shafts were excavated along the mountainside, with wooden shelters built over the mine entrances to protect from wind and rain, and the shafts sloped downward into the depths of the earth.]

[When you approached a mine shaft and peered inside, your heart sank.]

[You couldn’t give up, so you checked each of the mine shafts in turn, but all were the same.]

[These shafts had been abandoned, and the rubble piling up inside blocked the tunnels, making it impossible to proceed further.]

[For you and the White Elephant Demon, with your Great Magical Power, some rubble obviously couldn’t block your path, but seeing this, you already understood everything.]

[Stone Treasure Trench’s veins of Stone Treasure Molybdenum Gold had been mined out long ago, which was why the mine now appeared abandoned.]

[Ordinarily, mining operations would begin by extracting the exposed ore on the surface, followed by digging downward along the orebody to create shafts. During the mining operation, waste rock would be temporarily placed within the open-pit mine, continuously being backfilled while transporting the waste rock elsewhere.]

[Now, not only was the mining area covered in rubble, but even the mine shafts were filled with waste rock, indicating that the veins here had long been depleted. The miners must have continued digging along the orebody for a long time without finding new deposits.]

[So there was no longer a need to expend labor and resources in transporting the waste rock; after filling up the mining area, they didn’t even bother to clear the shafts until they were filled with waste rock, and new veins were no longer discovered...]

[...]

[After listening to your explanation, the White Elephant Demon’s large face drooped in disappointment, saying, "Little junior brother, what do we do now?"]

[We finally obtained the exact location of ’Stone Treasure Trench,’ only to find nothing here.]

[How are we supposed to obtain that ’Stone Treasure Molybdenum Gold’ now?]

[You also had no idea what to do next, except to search around the mining area to see if there were any other clues left behind.]

[The White Elephant Demon, unwilling to believe it, mused to itself, "I refuse to believe that these people could have cleaned it out so thoroughly!"]

[With its Great Magical Power, it ventured alone into the mine, swinging its Lotus Iron Hammers; rocks flew in all directions as it forcefully cleared a path and continued downwards, resembling a humanoid excavator.]

[After searching for a long time, you had not found any particularly valuable clues, only learning that this mine had once been stationed by the Fire Worship Army.]

[The Fire Worship Army did not typically station at mines, not even at gold mines within the Vermilion territory. This situation could only mean that ’Stone Treasure Molybdenum Gold’ was extremely valuable, and it might even have played a role in military conflicts.]