Chapter 455 - 232: Unexpected Harvest from the First Exploration

Chapter 455: Chapter 232: Unexpected Harvest from the First Exploration

"I thought I wouldn’t sleep very soundly in the mountains, but I ended up sleeping straight through until broad daylight."

Su Chen stretched lazily as he walked out of the log cabin. He took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, and it woke him right up.

He had been worried about all sorts of mosquitoes and little bugs at night, but there were none. Ivan later explained that they had used professional insect repellent measures around the campsite.

After all, the camp was semi-permanent. The long-term patrol team naturally had to ensure their living environment was comfortable, so they had planted many insect-repelling plants around the campsite.

’Huh?’ Last night, he’d only known that they had arrived in a small basin between two mountains. Now, he could finally see it clearly.

The entire basin was situated between two mountains. It was very flat, about a kilometer long and only seventy to eighty meters wide. Small hills flanked both sides, covered in lush, green birch forests as far as the eye could see. In the distance, a river flowed through the basin.

"Good morning, boss!"

Just then, Ivan walked over carrying a tray. Su Chen glanced at what he was holding: a roasted leg of lamb, smoked fish, and a pitcher of milk.

"This was all made at the ranch this morning. You should eat it while it’s hot, Boss."

Su Chen nodded and took the breakfast. Only then did he ask, "Where are Xiao Chen and Chen Fei? Why don’t I see them?" After speaking, he found a table and chair made of logs, sat down, and began to dig in.

He had climbed the mountain path for nearly an hour last night, and after a whole night, the roasted whole lamb he’d eaten was long gone. His stomach was already growling with hunger.

"Boss, Mr. Xiao took Chen Fei and the others, along with the two Mel brothers, to survey the gold panning site."

Su Chen was taken aback. ’He hadn’t expected Xiao Chen to be even more eager than he was.’

"Hm? They went to the gold panning site? Is it far from here?" During their chat last night, Su Chen had heard them mention that the site was nearby, but he didn’t know exactly how close it was.

In response to Su Chen’s question, Ivan raised his hand and pointed toward the river at the end of the basin. "That’s the river, Boss. The panning site is just a ways upstream. We could cut the travel time in half by going over the mountain, but it’s a much harder climb."

After listening to Ivan’s explanation, an image of the terrain—the basin nestled between the mountains—immediately formed in Su Chen’s mind. He mulled it over for a moment, then nodded to show he understood and said no more, simply picking up the pace of his eating.

In less than ten minutes, Su Chen had devoured the leg of lamb and the smoked fish. He finished by downing the half-pitcher of milk, wiping his mouth, and getting to his feet. "Let’s go. We’ll go see what’s going on, too."

Upon hearing this, Ivan immediately called over three or four patrol members. They grabbed their weapons and escorted Su Chen in the middle as they headed toward the river. As for taking the mountain shortcut, Su Chen didn’t even consider it. ’Last night’s hike was exhausting enough. Who wants to go climbing first thing in the morning?’

A narrow path led from the basin toward the river. Su Chen noted that it looked like it had been recently cleared. After a seven or eight-minute walk, the group reached the end of the basin where the river was.

Su Chen finally got a good look at the river. The water was crystal clear, and he could occasionally see large fish, about ten centimeters long, darting about. Looking upstream, he saw a few small black dots moving about in the distant water. He knew without a doubt that it had to be Xiao Chen and his group.

"They’re full of energy. Not afraid of the cold at all!" Su Chen shook his head and smiled. Even though it was already May, the temperature in Siberia was low, especially with the drastic difference between morning and night. Plus, the river was filled with snowmelt flowing from Siberia’s permafrost layer. Only someone in great physical shape would dare to get in.

Just as Su Chen and his group were getting close, they heard several shouts of alarm. Su Chen thought they might have had an accident and quickly started running toward Xiao Chen’s group with Ivan and the others.

"Brother Cheen! Are you guys okay?!" His voice arrived before he did; Su Chen shouted while still over a hundred meters away. At that moment, he could vaguely make out Chen Fei and the others lifting a huge object out of the river, something that was shining a brilliant gold.

"You’ve got great timing!" Xiao Chen said with a laugh, looking at the breathless Su Chen.

"Did you... find... some kind of treasure?" Su Chen took several deep breaths to steady his ragged breathing.

Xiao Chen stepped aside, revealing a golden object nearly a meter in diameter lying on the grass. "Is... is that a gold nugget?" A look of thrilled disbelief appeared on Su Chen’s face.

Everyone knows that where there are gold nuggets, there’s usually a gold mine. ’Sure, it’s possible it was just a chunk mixed with dirt that washed downstream, but the odds of that are tiny.’

Although the gold mine theory was initially just a guess by the Mel brothers based on their experience, this new evidence proved their conclusion: there really was a gold mine here.

"Hahaha! Chen Fei insisted on trying his hand at panning for gold. I don’t know if he got ridiculously lucky last night or what, but he picked a random spot nearby and dug this thing up." As he spoke, Xiao Chen gave the gold nugget a light kick.