Jiang Ye sprinted towards the base at a hundred-meter dash pace, his momentum fiercer than a rabid dog.
Boom! A deafening roar erupted behind him, a blood-red light flashed and died, the thrown grenade had exploded!
Jiang Ye dared not look back or hesitate. True men never look back at explosions; they just run for their lives!
Finally reaching the base, he yanked open the hatch, dove inside, and immediately slammed it shut, locking it with a series of clicks.
Then, he peered out through the base's window.
The sky was too dark; beyond ten meters, it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
He didn't see the ghost pursuing him; the surroundings were empty.
Jiang Ye, thoroughly panicked, grabbed an empty blood grenade and stuck it into his arm.
Deep red blood plasma rapidly sprayed into the grenade, 10
Bury it.
Grabbing a shovel, he exited the base and began digging two meters east of the structure, quickly excavating a rectangular pit.
He tossed the alien corpse inside and covered it with soil.
Jiang Ye, being cautious, left one of the alien's fingers exposed. This way, a glance at the protruding finger would confirm that it was properly buried and hadn't come back to life or escaped.
After dealing with the alien corpse, Jiang Ye felt relieved. The vicinity of the base had returned to safety.
He took five ears of corn and went to the earthen stove dug yesterday; the pot and flint were still there.
He started a fire using the usual method and boiled the corn.
As usual, he ate two ears of corn, leaving the remaining three in the pot to serve as lunch and dinner.
Jiang Ye, carrying his shotgun and shovel and pickaxe, entered the mine pit and began his work.
In the first few days of mining, cryolite was abundant, strewn everywhere.
After days of continuous extraction, the large chunks of cryolite were almost all gone, leaving only smaller pieces of ore.
Jiang Ye placed an empty pot in a corner of the pit wall and threw the chipped-off small ore pieces into it.
At his previous pace, it would take less than an hour to accumulate more than half a pot.
But today, it took over two hours to gather less than half a pot.
Was Jiang Ye being lazy? Not at all; he was quite diligent. The reason for the decreased mining speed was simple: there was less ore. Each time, he had to shovel a large amount of dirt to pry out a few small ore pieces, resulting in low efficiency.
The scent of ore in the pit had also faded, not as strong as it was initially.
Jiang Ye estimated that this cryolite mine was nearing depletion.
It would likely last only another day or two.
Sweating profusely, he mined until noon, accumulating two pots of ore, both of which he brought back to the base to sell.
The first pot sold for 2087 yuan.
The second pot sold for 2914 yuan.
Earning only 5001 yuan in a morning, this meager amount of money made him anxious.
No, this damned mine was no longer useful; it was a waste of time.
He would open a new mine in the afternoon!