Chapter 469 - 236: This Area Is a Bit Large

Chapter 469: Chapter 236: This Area Is a Bit Large

The saying "since we’re already here" applied to everyone. After thinking it over, Salman found himself agreeing with Su Chen’s suggestion. They had gone to so much trouble to get into the mountains; wouldn’t it be a huge loss of face if they didn’t bag some game?

After all, members of his royal family cared about nothing more than face. Back when he was buying a yacht, he and Bill Gates had both set their sights on the same luxury model, the Serena. The vessel was so opulent it could carry a small, all-electric submarine and a sightseeing helicopter.

At the time, Bill Gates had already offered 250 million USD. When Salman heard this, he went straight to the owner with an offer of 550 million USD. The owner was so impressed by his extravagance that he knocked 50 million US Dollars off the price, settling for an even 500 million US Dollars.

If he went hunting and came back empty-handed, his royal brothers would mercilessly mock him if they ever found out.

After a moment of thought, Salman nodded. "Alright, I’ll listen to you. We’ll give it a try this afternoon."

This would also be his first time hunting in a forest; his past experiences had all been chasing prey across the grasslands in a vehicle.

After a simple barbecue lunch at the camp, Salman and Abdullah set off with a few bodyguards. Su Chen had also specially arranged for a few patrol members who had hunted with him before, along with Xuan and Huang, to act as guides and to ensure nothing happened to Salman.

Once their group had left the camp, Su Chen led Xiao Chen straight toward the riverbed. The survey team that Chen Fei had brought to the camp had already begun its task.

This survey team was no ordinary group. Xiao Chen had specially recruited them from a top-tier professional exploration department, and their equipment was arguably the most state-of-the-art in the world.

When Su Chen and Xiao Chen arrived at the riverbed, they saw the survey team members already fiddling with various instruments all around it, periodically reporting data that was incomprehensible to Su Chen.

Upon seeing Su Chen and Mr. Xiao arrive, the head of the survey team quickly walked over to greet them. He looked to be in his forties, his dark, weather-beaten face alight with excitement.

"Mr. Xiao, Mr. Su, you’re finally here! If you hadn’t shown up soon, I was about to go looking for you at the ranch!" the team leader said, his voice filled with excitement.

Seeing his reaction, they knew he must have found something extraordinary. Su Chen smiled and waved a hand, gesturing for him to calm down.

"I don’t believe I’ve caught your name."

"Li... Li Sihai!" The team leader took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. Before he’d even arrived, a special security department had briefed him and instructed him to follow every order from Su Chen and Xiao Chen. He knew then that this was no ordinary assignment.

Su Chen nodded. "Team Leader Li, what’s the news that has you so worked up?"

At the mention of it, the excitement Team Leader Li had just suppressed came rushing back. "Mr. Su, my team has taken dozens of two-meter-deep soil samples within a five-hundred-meter radius of the entire riverbed. We’ve found that the gold density in the soil is extraordinary. The deeper we go, the higher the concentration of gold."

As he spoke, Team Leader Li led the two men to a specially cleared patch of ground. There, they saw it was covered in cylindrical soil samples that had been extracted with professional tools.

Each soil cylinder glittered with the faint yellow light of flecks of gold of various sizes. The largest piece was as big as Su Chen’s thumb. The samples showed that the deeper the soil, the more gold dust it contained.

"How did you first discover the gold in the soil?" Su Chen asked curiously. Taking samples from an area with a nearly five-hundred-meter radius around the riverbed was no simple engineering task. To start with such a method meant they must have had some data giving them confidence.

"We used the heavy sand concentration method. Starting from where gold was first discovered in the canyon near the camp, we took initial samples all the way here. Then we used panning trays to determine the amount of gold, which helped us map out the gold-bearing area around the riverbed. After that, by extracting deep soil samples, we can get a rough idea of whether there’s a large-scale gold deposit in the vicinity."

"You worked that fast?" Just as Su Chen was thinking about how massive the workload must have been, he saw Team Leader Li walk over from a short distance away, holding a shovel-like tool and several cylindrical rods.

When he saw the tool in Team Leader Li’s hand, a look of understanding dawned on his face.

"A Luoyang shovel? I thought only archaeologists used these. I never imagined you’d use one for surveying," Su Chen said teasingly, taking it and weighing it in his hand.

’With one of these, surveying the riverbed would be a piece of cake. Forget two meters—even five meters would only be a matter of minutes.’

"Heh heh. For surveying riverbeds, this tool is a game-changer. It saves us a huge amount of time!" A look of self-satisfaction flashed across Team Leader Li’s face.

Xiao Chen, who had been silent the whole time, noticed that other members of the survey team had walked over to the foot of a nearby hill and were now vigorously digging into the ground with their Luoyang shovels.

"Why are they heading toward the mountain? Team Leader Li, don’t tell me you suspect there’s gold in the mountain as well?" Xiao Chen asked suddenly.

Hearing Xiao Chen’s question, Team Leader Li fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

Su Chen and Xiao Chen assumed he was denying it, but Team Leader Li’s next words left them both stunned.

"I suspect the entire river basin is one massive gold mine. Including that mountain!"

"Team Leader Li, this is no joking matter," Su Chen said, a grave expression forming on his face. "You know how big this river basin is—roughly five or six square kilometers. That’s just the area around the river. If you include that mountain, it would be at least ten square kilometers. A gold mine that size would be... immense!"

Given the concentration of gold they’d already found in the soil, the value of such a mine would be immeasurable.

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll know for sure once all the data is in," Xiao Chen said. He then turned to Team Leader Li. "Get us the relevant data as soon as you can. And of course, remember to maintain secrecy!"

Hearing this, Team Leader Li’s posture immediately straightened. He nodded firmly, showing he understood completely.