Chapter 84

Su Jing squatted on a flat rock in the hematite vein, her fingertips swirling with pale blue spiritual energy as she gently touched the "Ore Detection" icon on the system panel.

With a flash of pale green light, a semi-transparent 3D mineral vein map suddenly unfolded above the rock, like a suspended jade slab, clearly showing the crisscrossing mineral veins beneath one's feet.

On the map, red lines representing hematite veins spread like a spider web, labeled "Hematite Crystal (80% purity), medium distribution density." At the deepest part of the red lines, a bright yellow spot stands out, with small print next to it reading "Gold Crystal Vein (95% purity), 1.2 kilometers from the current location, vein thickness approximately 5 meters."

Her gaze was instantly drawn to the bright yellow spot of light—the gold crystal ore had a purity of up to 95%, making it even rarer than hematite. The system had previously mentioned that "alien ores can enhance cultivation items."

The higher the purity of the ore, the better the strengthening effect should be. It might even be used to reinforce the energy core of the laser gun, or even increase the hardness of the spiritual energy protective layer.

Scattered along the edge of the map are colorful dots: blue ones are silver crystal ore, purple ones are manganese crystal ore, and there are a few orange-red spots marked "burnable iron ore (can be burned for heating, combustion efficiency = 3 × smokeless coal, no harmful gases)". A wisp of virtual hot mist floats around the spots, indicating the heat-generating properties of this type of ore.

"Let's solve the problem of excavation efficiency first." Su Jing withdrew her gaze and switched to the "System Shop" on the panel with her fingertips. She still had 126,400 points left, and what she needed now was a low-vibration, high-efficiency excavation tool. After all, the alien guards tracked them by vibration, and the noise of ordinary excavation tools could easily attract danger.

In the "Dungeon-Specific Tools" section of the shop, an icon for an "Advanced Mining Robot" was flashing. She clicked on the details:

- Name: Advanced Mining Robot (Copy-Adapted Version)

- Specifications: The body is made of lightweight alloy, weighs 3kg, and is about the size of a small suitcase;

Excavation noise ≤30 decibels (low vibration, can avoid guard detection).

Equipped with diamond-coated drill bits, it can penetrate rocks with a hardness of 9 or less;

It comes with a 5kg storage compartment and supports real-time transmission of excavation data;

It has a 12-hour battery life and can be replenished via space energy.

- Unit price: 500 points/unit

- Note: Supports team collaboration and can be controlled via mind commands.

“Perfect, 10 units will give you 5,000 points, which is great value for money.” Without hesitation, Su Jing selected “10 units” and clicked “Confirm Purchase”. The panel flashed with a pale golden light effect, and the points jumped from 126,400 to 121,400. At the same time, 10 silver-gray mining robots slowly fell from the light membrane in mid-air and landed gently around the rocks without making a sound.

When the robot starts up, there is only a very soft "hum" sound, and the display screen on the side of the body lights up with a light blue light, showing "Standby mode, waiting for consciousness command".

Su Jing reached out and touched the body of one of the robots. It felt cool and smooth to the touch, without the roughness of ordinary machinery.

When the fingertip approaches the drill bit, a faint energy fluctuation can be felt, but there is no obvious vibration—this low vibration property perfectly matches the alien guard's sensory weakness, so there is no need to worry about causing trouble during the excavation.

She got up and walked to a rock crevice not far away, where the orange-red light spots were particularly dense. Several angular pieces of flammable iron ore were embedded in the crevice, and tiny sparks shimmered on the dark red surface of the ore. When she got close, she could feel a gentle warmth, unlike the biting cold outside, but rather like the warm sun in winter. The system notification read: [Flammable Iron Ore: Contains high-purity combustible components. After ignition, it can burn continuously for 4 hours/kg, releasing heat equivalent to 3 kg of smokeless coal. The combustion products are carbon dioxide and iron slag, which are non-toxic.]

"Another layer of protection for post-apocalyptic heating." Su Jing carefully pried a piece of burning iron ore from the crack. The ore was warm to the touch, and the sparks on its surface didn't extinguish upon contact with air; instead, they shone even brighter. She placed it into the "energy zone" of her space, where a notification immediately popped up: "Added 1.2 kg of burning iron ore, categorized and stored, ready for extraction and use at any time." Looking deeper into the crack, she could also see several pieces of pale blue silver crystal ore, their surfaces gleaming with a metallic luster. The system labeled them: "Silver crystal ore: can be used to make conductive components, adapting to the circuit upgrades of cyber devices." She didn't touch them for the time being, focusing her attention back on the mining robot.

At that moment, a faint "ding-ding" sound came from afar—the map showed that two red dots (other mission participants) were digging for hematite ore 300 meters away using manual tools. Although the digging sound was not loud, faint ripples appeared on the map. Su Jing could imagine how cautious they were; after all, no one wanted to attract the 3-meter-tall alien guards. She did not approach, but instead issued the first command to the 10 robots through her mind: "Team mode activated. Target hematite vein within 50 meters of the current location. Use low-power mining. Automatically return to the current rock to unload after the storage bin is full."

As soon as the command was given, the 10 robots immediately sprang into action—they worked in pairs, their bodies nimbly avoiding rock protrusions as they moved toward the area with the dense hematite veins. The drill bits slowly extended, making no harsh friction sound when they touched the rocks, only a very light "rustling" sound, and there were almost no ripples on the map.

Su Jing looked at the robot's real-time data transmission: "Mining efficiency: 100 kg/unit/hour, current purity 80%." At this speed, 10 robots can mine 1,000 kg per hour, which is more than enough for the 72-hour task, and may even be completed ahead of schedule.

"Since there's no problem mining hematite, we should explore the gold crystal veins."

Su Jing pulled up the mine map again to confirm the route of the gold crystal mine. Starting from the current location, she needed to bypass two areas of dense hematite and one area of ​​red dots (5 mission participants). Although the route was 0.3 kilometers longer, it would avoid most of the vibration sources and reduce the risk of encountering guards.

She adjusted her commands through consciousness: "5 robots will continue to stay in the current area to mine hematite. Once the storage bins are full, store the ore in the 'ore zone' space."

The other five units switched to 'follow mode' and accompanied me towards the gold crystal vein, detecting and marking high-purity ore locations along the way.

Upon receiving the instruction, the five robots immediately stopped digging and nimbly returned to the rock, where they handed over the work to the other five robots. The five accompanying robots circled around Su Jing, maintaining a distance of one meter. Their displays switched to "detection mode," emitting a pale green scanning light that projected simple markings of ore distribution onto the ground as they swept across the rock.

Su Jing picked up a piece of iron ore she had previously extracted and put it in her pocket—in case she encountered a low-temperature area, this ore could provide temporary warmth. She looked up in the direction of the gold crystal vein, where dark red rocks stretched out under a deep purple sky, and a bright yellow spot of light in the distance resembled a guiding light. The five silver-gray robots beside her were quietly waiting for the next instruction. The excavation and exploration of the dungeon had only just entered a crucial stage.