"Ugh, I got a mouthful of sand!"
John crawled out of the sandpile, spitting out the sand from his mouth and imdiately started looking around for Uncle Mac.
To avoid alarming the stationed guards, John chose a weakly defended spot to infiltrate and rushed into the mine.
However, the sandstorm tornado still had a significant impact.
Dozens or even hundreds of tons of sand were thrown into the air.
Although Exiled Immortal tried not to involve the mine, the terrain was still changed dramatically, nearly burying John and Uncle Mac alive.
"Uncle Mac? Where are you?"
"Here... over here!"
Following the voice, John finally found Uncle Mac completely buried under the sand. After digging and scraping, he managed to rescue him.
"Damn, I almost suffocated..."
Uncle Mac, with lingering fear, pinched the bridge of his nose.
Having lived in Talcavano for so many years, he was all too familiar with the feeling of being buried alive by sand—slowly suffocating in despair, with sand filling the mouth, nose, and even eyes, ultimately buried underground forever.
In fact, if John hadn't been there to dig him out, he wouldn't have lasted much longer before suffocating to death.
"What did I say? I told you all it was too risky, but did anyone listen? Sigh..."
"Co on, we're here now, let's not dwell on it. Let's hurry up and find the minerals, then get out of here. If I rember correctly, this kind of tal can only be found deep in the mine, so we need to go further in."
Uncle Mac put on the specialized boots for walking on sand and handed a pair to John, so they wouldn't sink while walking.
They also equipped masks, gloves, and protective goggles, fully gearing up.
"Now we're ready. Let think... we should go this way!"
Uncle Mac said, pointing towards the entrance they had co through.
"Going out might expose us..."
"It won't expose us. The sandstorm tornado is still raging. I know those guards; they value their lives too much to co out in this storm.
Once we're out, we jump straight down and won't be seen. You can fly, right? You won't get hurt."
"...I'll do my best."
In such extre conditions, John wasn't sure if he could control it well, but given the situation, he had to try.
"Two hours... if we're lucky, that should be enough. Co on, let's get to work!"
Without giving John a chance to refuse, Uncle Mac jumped directly from the entrance.
Seeing this, John was startled and imdiately followed suit.
John also felt a bit of a headache.
Whenever it ca to topics related to minerals, Uncle Mac would get exceptionally excited, sotis to the point of not considering the consequences, his bravery was surprisingly high.
Just as Uncle Mac was about to fall heavily, John barely managed to grab hold of his coat and pulled him into a nearby mine shaft.
Despite the danger, Uncle Mac was completely unconcerned, muttering to himself.
"Hmm... this depth should be fine, but there are a lot of mining marks here. Whether we can find the mineral we want will depend on our luck."
.
"Depend on luck... what if we don't get lucky?"
"Then we'll have to leave. If we stay too long, it might attract attention."
As Uncle Mac spoke, he continuously explored the surroundings, occasionally stopping to take out a pickaxe and dig down.
Sotis he would shake his head and sigh.
John followed behind for nearly thirty minutes with no results, feeling increasingly frustrated.
"Uncle Mac, still no discoveries?"
"Strange, very strange! Look, John, this kind of ore is called star silver ore. Typically, it appears alongside silver fla rock.
Yes, silver fla rock is our target this ti. But here, there's a large amount of star silver ore and not a single piece of silver fla rock.
Clearly, soone has already mined all the silver fla rock.
"And judging by the mining marks, I'd estimate the mining happened no more than seventy-two hours ago. That's what's strange. Minefield No. 1 has been sealed for years, so how is it that mining traces suddenly appear in this tunnel?"
"Uncle Mac, what exactly are you trying to say? Just say it."
"I think the city lord sealed off Minefield No. 1 mainly to keep all the silver fla rock for himself. As for the reasons he gave, they're just fearmongering."
"Does he have the authority to do that?"
"Authority my ass! It's flattering to call him the city lord. In harsh terms, he's just a gatekeeper! Over a hundred years ago, Talcavano didn't even have a city lord. He gave himself that title!
"I never imagined Caliban could be so insidious, taking Minefield No. 1 for himself. But what does he need such a large mineral resource for?"
"No matter what he plans to do, it doesn't concern us anymore, Uncle Mac. We need to leave here right away; we can't delay any longer."
Hearing this, Uncle Mac imdiately beca serious and said, "Minerals are the wealth granted to us by the heavens, belonging to everyone. How can he monopolize them? No, I must get to the bottom of this!"
John felt another headache coming on. He regretted not insisting on his opposition back then; otherwise, how would they have gotten entangled in such trouble?
"Uncle Mac, what exactly are you planning to do?"
"I want to return to Talcavano, expose Caliban's lies, and return Minefield No. 1 to everyone!"
"Sigh... Uncle Mac, you can't just rush back in a fit of anger. Have you thought about how to do it? Are you going to directly accuse Caliban of being a fraud?
Even if your argunt convinces so people, aren't you afraid that Caliban will send soone to take you out?
If he's hiding the truth, it ans there are enormous interests at stake.
Have you thought about the consequences of touching this interest?
Anyway, my stance is clear: I don't agree with you taking such a risk."
"No, this is the one thing I can't listen to you about, John!"
"Didn't you ignore my advice when you insisted on coming in to mine the ore earlier?"
Uncle Mac was montarily speechless, stamring for a while without finding an excuse, and finally resorting to stubbornness.
"Then let it be just these two things! In any case, I can't stand by on this matter. You're not a dwarf; you can't understand my mindset. Forging the world's strongest weapon is the lifelong wish of every dwarf craftsman!
But now, the entire mine is monopolized by Caliban alone, and I can't accept that. My mind is made up.
You don't need to persuade anymore. I will return to Talcavano alone to resolve this.
After this is done, I'll go to Spartonia and continue our journey with you all."
"Sigh... Uncle Mac, do you really think we could just stand by and watch you walk into danger alone? You're practically coercing us.
Alright, to be honest, I also have so doubts about going to Spartonia.
Let's leave here first, regroup with the others, and discuss this matter together."
John had thought about the idea of abandoning Uncle Mac and continuing the journey without him.
But doing so felt too cold-hearted, and leaving Uncle Mac to go back alone was almost like sending him to his death.
After all they'd been through together, John couldn't bear it.
The problem was that not everyone might want to return to that sandy, windblown city.
Leaving the mine with Uncle Mac, John unfolded a map and swiftly headed towards the group's location.
In less than three minutes, he reunited with Exiled Immortal and the others.
Seeing John and Uncle Mac return so quickly, Exiled Immortal asked in confusion, "Why are you back so soon? John, were you discovered? Did you encounter any danger?"
"No, but we did find sothing else... Never mind, Uncle Mac, you explain."
"I apologize to everyone, but for certain reasons, I have to return to Talcavano. It might take quite a long ti."
"What? What should we do? We've co this far! Why go back now?"
Qing frowned and was the first to oppose. After all, he had been looking forward to Spartonia for a long ti, and being told to temporarily shelve this plan was naturally unacceptable.
"Uncle Mac suggests we continue our journey while he goes back alone, but I refused."
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