The wind whipped up dust from the ground, which landed on Chen Hao's shoes. He stood there, his hand still raised, his heart pounding as if it would leap out of his mouth. The five people opposite him didn't move, their eyes fixed on him like nails.

He slowly lowered his hand, turned to the side, and made himself look less like he was about to fight. He asked in a low voice, "Nana, do you remember what you just said?"

"Which sentence?" Nana's voice was steady.

"I mean...asking them if they often come here to mine."

“I remember.” She paused, “but the tone of your voice now is 32 percent more tense than before.”

"Nonsense, we're face to face now!" He bit his lip, cleared his throat, and took a half-step forward. "Dude, I'm not here to rob you. Do you guys mine this mine often?"

The leader didn't speak, his gaze sweeping over Chen Hao's face before settling on Nana behind him. His eyes held no emotion, only judgment.

Two seconds later, he raised his hand and waved. Two of his men, carrying pickaxes, walked directly towards the ore pile.

Chen Hao's heart tightened. They were really going to start digging!

He took a sudden step forward, his voice rising: "Wait! Do you know how to refine this ore? Just mining it won't work, it'll become brittle!"

The pickaxe stopped in mid-air.

The man turned his head and stared at him.

Chen Hao swallowed hard and continued, "This ore has a high titanium content, but it also has a lot of impurities. Without proper smelting temperature and pressure control, the ore will just turn into waste. You wouldn't even want to use it as bricks to build a wall."

A moment of silence.

The leader finally spoke: "You know about metallurgy?"

“We have a model.” Nana stepped forward and showed the data stream on the corner of her wrist screen. “It can be accurate to the heating rate and cooling cycle per minute.”

The man narrowed his eyes: "Why should I believe you?"

“We’re standing right here, we’re not running away.” Chen Hao shrugged. “If you really don’t believe me, we’ll leave now, and you can dig however you want. Anyway, you can come back to us when you find out you can’t turn it into steel—oh right, you probably don’t know where we are.”

The man's lips twitched.

Chen Hao seized the opportunity to add, "Besides, this vein isn't just this much. I just looked at the topographic map, and there's an extension to the east. If we really fight, we'll both suffer heavy losses. It's better to take more and go back to build houses and survive."

He almost laughed after he finished speaking. It sounded like a negotiation, but it was all made up. The "extension zone" thing was something he'd just made up after glancing at Nana's picture. As for "building a house to survive," that was purely for empathy—who doesn't want a place to shelter from the wind and rain?

But those words actually worked.

The man stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Thirty minutes."

"ah?"

"You all move aside, we'll mine for thirty minutes first." He pointed to the ore pile, "When it's your turn, you'll naturally move aside."

Chen Hao was stunned: "It's settled like that?"

"Don't try anything funny." The man's smile faded. "There are five of us, and we all sleep with one eye open."

"I understand, I understand." Chen Hao nodded repeatedly, pulled Nana back a few steps, and stood next to a large rock.

The two men stood to the side, and the three men began digging, while the other two guarded their sides, their eyes never leaving them.

Chen Hao muttered to himself, "Do you think they might dig it all up and then run away?"

“No.” Nana looked at the screen. “Their tools are badly worn and their transport capacity is limited. They can only take a maximum of 200 kilograms. The theoretically recoverable amount of this mine is 1.8 tons. They will need to make multiple trips and will inevitably have to set up temporary camps. The probability of a short-term evacuation is less than 40%.”

"Couldn't you have put it simply? Like, 'They'll have to come back'?"

"I am stating the facts."

“Facts also need packaging.” He sighed. “My legs are shaking a little right now, not from fear, but from hunger.”

"I suggest you shut up to save your energy."

"You are such a thoughtful partner."

In the distance, the crackling sound of pickaxes striking ore filled the air. Amidst the rising dust, chunks of dark gray ore were pried up and tossed into sacks. The leader personally supervised the bagging process, weighing each sack in his hand.

Chen Hao looked at it and suddenly thought of something: "Hey, Nana, what do you think if we really cooperate, they provide the labor and we provide the technology, and after we've refined it, we can share half with them and exchange it for some other resources?"

"Theoretically feasible."

"For example, food, medicine? Or... is it possible for them to help us look for generator parts along the way?"

“Your assumptions are too optimistic,” Nana said. “The current agreement only covers the sharing of data collection rights and does not involve subsequent allocation. Imposing additional conditions rashly could damage the fragile trust.”

"I know, but I have to think long-term." He scratched his head. "I can't keep relying on talking to others to do things every time I need to fix something."

"Next time you could try bringing a decent knife."

"You think I don't want to? Last time I found a saw, it was swept away by a mudslide before I could even get used to it."

As they were talking, the other party finished loading the third bag of ore. The leader looked up at the sky and waved to signal a halt.

He walked this way.

Chen Hao immediately stood up straight.

The man stopped five meters away and said, "It's your turn."

Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief: "Thanks. We won't be greedy, we'll leave once we've collected enough."

“I don’t care how much you harvest,” the man said, “but remember, this land is not unclaimed. We’ve been operating in this area for three months, and there are patrols every day.”

"Understood." Chen Hao nodded. "We won't be coming back after today."

"That would be best."

He turned to leave, but then stopped: "Is your model... real?"

“It’s true,” Nana replied.

"Then... if I encounter any smelting problems in the future, can I ask you for help?"

Chen Hao and Nana exchanged a glance.

“Okay,” Chen Hao said. “But next time we meet, let’s not confront each other with weapons. It’s too hurtful to our relationship.”

The man neither laughed nor responded, but simply nodded and led his men to retreat to the other side of the valley.

Only after their figures disappeared around the corner of the slope did Chen Hao plop down on a rock.

"I'm exhausted," he gasped. "Those few minutes were more tiring than the last three months of running for my life."

“Your blood pressure has risen by fifteen percent,” Nana said. “I recommend you drink more water.”

"I don't have any water, but I have a bag of moldy cookies. Do you want some?"

"unnecessary."

“I knew you’d say that.” He pulled out the crumpled packaging bag, took a bite, and said, “The taste is quite unique, like a mixture of dirt and despair.”

Nana crouched down, opened her toolbox, took out the detector, and recalibrated its position.

"Prepare for collection," she said. "Prioritize samples with less surface weathering and fewer cracks."

"I'll listen to you." He stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. "But let's not take too much. Leave some for them; it'll show we're civilized."

"Martial virtue is not in my database."

“Then write this down: Wu De, pinyin wu dé, means—don’t push others too far.”

He walked to the edge of the ore pile, bent down, and picked up a piece of ore. Its surface was rough, with natural edges. He tried scraping it with a knife; a metallic luster flashed across his face.

"Can this thing really fix generators?"

“Yes.” Nana took the ore and put it into a sample bag. “After smelting and forging, it can replace the original structural parts.”

"That's good." He grinned. "When Susan gets back and sees the materials have arrived, she'll probably jump for joy."

"Susan's physical condition is not suitable for high-intensity jumping."

"I'm just giving an example."

As he was speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a thin, long scratch on the edge of the ore pile, as if it had been repeatedly scraped with a tool. The mark was fresh, and the edges showed no signs of weathering.

He squatted down to take a closer look.

"What's wrong?" Nana asked.

“This place… seems to have been marked.” He reached out and touched the line. “It wasn’t formed naturally.”

Nana approached the scanner: "It is indeed an artificial engraving, pointing southeast."

"Southeast?" He looked up and glanced over. "Isn't that the extension zone you mentioned?"

"Coordinates match."

"So... they discovered it a long time ago, but didn't do anything?"

"The possibility exists."

He stared at the scratch and suddenly realized that things weren't so simple.

These people aren't just here to mine. They know more.

Their willingness to relinquish the data collection rights may not be because they were persuaded.

It's not because they've already gotten what they really wanted.