The speaker, wringing his hands, looked flustered, his eyes darting about.
The person opposite him was much calmer. "It's fine, there have been unexpected situations before. After all, who can guarantee there won't be any issues with the environment? The safety measures inside the arena are very good, so don't worry."
"But..."
He was about to say more, but was silenced by a look from the person in front of him. "No buts! At this point, the participating students from all the military academies are already in position. You want to tell the organizers now that there will be problems in the arena? If the competition is delayed, who will bear the losses! Who will appease the public's emotions?"
Hearing this, the worried person fell silent. After all, he was not in charge; he was just a minor figure helping to set up the arena.
No matter how afraid he was of problems, it wasn't something he could intervene in. He comforted himself: when the sky falls, the tall ones will bear it; if something really goes wrong, the supervisor will take responsibility.
With this thought, the two left the venue, awaiting the start of the competition.
Since the Imperial Military Academy had secured first place in the previous round, they were the first to enter. The moment the five of them stepped into the competition arena, the scenery changed.
It looked like a ruin, with a dilapidated building at the entrance. The door was broken and lying on the ground. From the outside, the tables and chairs inside were also in disrepair.
"What is this place?" Rong Feiwen asked, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the ramshackle building.
Zheng Yiran ignored him and proceeded to inspect the arena. However, this inspection was not easy.
"That should be the miners' residences. This arena is an old mine. It's been abandoned for several hundred years, and for some reason, it was chosen as a competition venue again."
The venues were not fixed each year; there were over a hundred selected arenas. Some were added annually, while others were phased out. Then, a few days before the competition, a draw was held, and the chosen venue would become the official arena.
This competition's location was clearly a venue added this year or in recent years, but one that hadn't been selected in previous years.
Such venues presented more uncertainties for the participating teams. As they couldn't find previous competition records before participating, they had to adapt to the situation.
"Clearly, this arena will be more difficult to handle than expected."
Zheng Yiran informed them of the current situation and then directed them to move forward.
[Are all those holes the mining tunnels?]
[Probably.]
The audience, having never seen a mine before, was very curious. The bullet comments did not stop, constantly displaying various questions.
Zheng Yiran and the others clearly noticed these mining tunnels. Meng Huai walked up to one of them. The tunnel had been excavated downwards from a small hill about a meter high, so Meng Huai squatted down to examine something.
Zheng Yiran also leaned in and saw that the area Meng Huai was looking at was covered with scratch marks.
"Were these made by star beasts?" Hui Xingxiu asked, while simultaneously trying to recall what kind of star beast could make such marks.
The scratch marks on the stone walls of the mining tunnel were deep and wide, sinking about ten centimeters deep. It looked like the creature's claws were quite sharp.
However, Hui Xingxiu couldn't think of any star beast that fit the description at that moment.
After observing, Zheng Yiran and Meng Huai stood up and dusted off their hands. "These marks don't look new; they seem to be from many years ago. The star beast might not be nearby, let's keep moving!"
Meng Huai agreed and followed behind the team.
[So, what creature's claws were these? They could etch so deeply.]
[If the military students can't guess, how can we!]
[Alright.]
As Meng Huai and the others moved on, they carefully avoided the numerous mining tunnels that appeared before them.
[Seeing the mining tunnels, I'm really curious! Can anything valuable be dug out from these tunnels?]
[Probably not, otherwise this place wouldn't have been abandoned. There likely isn't anything valuable.]
[I just checked the information. It's said that this area was abandoned hundreds of years ago. The main product here was soil莴 ore, which was banned long ago. It's not valuable and difficult to excavate.]
[I see.]
However, just as the bullet comments finished stating that there was nothing valuable, Rong Feiwen, who was in the middle, spoke up.
"Wait a moment!"
Rong Feiwen, having nothing else to do, took out his detector to see if there were any useful materials in this environment.
Don't be surprised; he had a detector in his spatial buckle, and it was the latest model. As long as it was worn, it would alert him if there were any high-grade materials nearby.
This function didn't exist hundreds of years ago. Rong Feiwen took it out just to try his luck, and unexpectedly, it actually sounded!
"This?" Jing Yuanheng, standing to Rong Feiwen's right, also saw the light on the instrument. "What's going on?"
Rong Feiwen was also incredulous. He walked around the area with the device, finally stopping in front of a mining tunnel. "No, I mean... if we were to mine during the competition, do you think that would be appropriate?"
Seeing Rong Feiwen's actions, Zheng Yiran had already guessed. Now that he had spoken, Zheng Yiran directly asked, "Is it a very precious material?"
Rong Feiwen patted the instrument in his hand. "Latest model intelligent ore detector. See this light? It's graded. The color here is fourth grade."
Fearing that Zheng Yiran might not understand, Rong Feiwen added, "There are five grades in total. Although I don't know what it is exactly, if we manage to mine it and use it on our mechs..."
Rong Feiwen didn't finish his sentence, as he couldn't guarantee much without knowing what the ore was.
However, precious materials were not easily obtained, and on the battlefield, anything obtained through one's own efforts belonged to them.
The thought of "opportunity knocks but once" flashed through their minds.
After considering, Zheng Yiran said, "If we can guarantee the safety of the mine, we'll mine this ore!"
Delaying the current competition for the sake of improving their mechs' strength in future matches was a deal Zheng Yiran thought was worthwhile.
Meng Huai walked to the mining tunnel, casually picked up a few pebbles, and threw them on the ground. Then, observing the direction in which the pebbles scattered, he told Zheng Yiran, "It's safe."
The audience was stunned by this scene.
[The competition has arrived, and it's become mining time?]
[The academy sent you to compete, not to mine!]
[You really can't view these students from the Imperial Military Academy with ordinary logic! What's going on? Why are they going to mine!]
[The competition! My goodness!]
[No, what is this method for testing the safety of the mining tunnel?]
[I was fortunate enough to draw once from Meng Huai's shop for a divination, and I feel that Meng Huai's technique just now is somewhat similar to the technique of divination with tossed copper coins. Is there any connection?]