Shining his flashlight on the broken machine again, he roughly understood this time. It seemed to be a machine that supplied oxygen underground, and there was no way there would be gold in such a machine.

He tried to disassemble it, but the machine was already quite sturdy, and after being left for a long time, it had become a bit rusty, making it even more difficult to disassemble. Chen Feng simply gave up.

The gold is definitely not in here, so where else could it be?

Chen Feng frowned as he looked at the pile of broken shoes, then picked up the detector and probed directly at the pile of shoes.

As soon as the detector passed by, it started making "ooh ooh ooh ooh~" sounds. Chen Feng's face lit up with joy, but the next second he realized that something was wrong.

At most, there might be gold hidden in one shoe; how could every shoe possibly make a sound?

He squatted down and took a closer look, and found that the buckles on the shoes used to thread the shoelaces were metal. Chen Feng couldn't help but roll his eyes.

What a disappointment! It turns out it was just these buttons making noise.

However, the system notifications kept ringing. Chen Feng spent a while probing the surrounding walls, but still found nothing.

He took a deep breath and squatted down, pondering where the goods could possibly be hidden.

Looking at the shoelaces on those shoes, Chen Feng suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He reached out and pinched the shoelaces of each shoe one by one, and after he finished, he tapped the shoes to make sure there was nothing hidden inside.

After squeezing one shoe and throwing it away, Chen Feng felt as if he had squeezed some granules inside the shoelace when he finally squeezed the shoe underneath.

Upon seeing this, Chen Feng was overjoyed and quickly pulled out the shoelaces, squeezing out the particles inside.

When he finally pinched the head, three or four small particles fell to the ground with a clatter. Chen Feng shone a flashlight on them, and they gleamed with a dark golden light.

"Holy crap, they actually have it?!"

Chen Feng picked up the gold nugget, overjoyed. He hadn't expected that he had guessed correctly; the gold was indeed hidden in the shoelace!

Picking up the gold nuggets, Chen Feng estimated they were worth about 1,400 or 1,500 yuan. He happily tossed the nuggets into the bottle and couldn't help but chuckle.

If it weren't for the system, he would never have discovered the gold hidden here in his entire life.

As for why there was gold in the shoelaces, Chen Feng guessed that some workers found it while working and decided not to hand it in, but to secretly take it out themselves.

The plan was good; the shoes had metal parts, and the gold could be hidden in the shoelaces without being noticed. Unfortunately, for some reason, he didn't take it out.

In the end, Chen Feng got the benefit for nothing.

The reason the worker didn't return to search after the mine was abandoned is probably because it wouldn't be worth the effort and the travel expenses would be too high.

There aren't many local workers like this; many live far away, and the round-trip fare is very expensive. It's not just a matter of whether they can find a job, but also whether they have enough money for the fare.

That's what Chen Feng guessed anyway. Who knows what the real situation is? In any case, Chen Feng benefited in the end.

As the gold nuggets were thrown into the bottle, the system notification disappeared, and Chen Feng continued walking inside with the detector.

"Squeak squeak squeak..."

As they walked further in, a rat suddenly appeared from the depths of the mine. It squatted down about a meter away from Chen Feng, raising its two front paws and looking at him without any fear.

They even seemed to be looking at it with suspicion, perhaps wondering why this large creature, which hadn't appeared here for a long time, had suddenly reappeared.

Hello.

Chen Feng looked at the rat without any ill intent and greeted it softly.

The mouse ignored Chen Feng, instead lying on the ground looking around before slowly scurrying into its hole.

Seeing this, Chen Feng became curious and followed its steps into the cave.

Soon, he saw the hole the rat had crawled into, and next to it was a pile of dirt that had been dug out. The rat was standing by the entrance to its hole.

Listening to the sounds, Chen Feng guessed there were a few more rats down there. He looked around but didn't see anything unusual, so he decided to continue walking in.

Unexpectedly, the system suddenly sent a notification.

"bite!"

“There is precious metal within a three-meter radius of the host!”

Chen Feng was somewhat surprised to hear the sound, and upon thinking of the rat, he couldn't help but blink.

"Could there be gold in the mouse hole? But the mice were living perfectly well here. Is it really okay for them to dig up the hole themselves?"

Chen Feng said to himself, and although he was somewhat reluctant, he still picked up the detector and started probing.

If the goods really are in a rat hole, then Chen Feng can only apologize.

After all, the goods are more important. You guys are so good at drilling holes, drilling another one shouldn't be a problem, right?

Carrying the detector around, it probed back and forth, and even when it reached the mouse's head, the mouse remained quietly lying on the ground, showing no sign of panic.

Such an obedient mouse—if it weren't for the fear of it carrying germs, Chen Feng would have really wanted to pet it.

When they reached the mouse hole, the metal detector emitted a "whoosh" sound, and several black lines immediately appeared on Chen Feng's forehead.

"No, it really is inside someone's cave..."

Chen Feng was speechless. This mouse was so well-behaved; he really didn't want to dig its hole.

Hearing the detector's sound, the mouse turned around, glanced back, and then remained obediently lying on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Brother Rat. I apologize to you. Please make another hole for me.

Chen Feng took out a shovel, squatted down, and whispered to the obedient mouse.

The mouse looked up at him when it heard the sound, its eyes seeming somewhat speechless. Of course, perhaps all mice have that look in their eyes; it was just Chen Feng's imagination.

Chen Feng looked at the mouse, stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then stood up and carefully scanned it again with the detector.

After all, it was this rat that brought him here, so we should try to minimize the damage and dig out the goods in just two or three shovels.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Feng discovered that the goods didn't seem to be in the cave, but rather in the pile of excavated soil, which surprised him.

He quickly squatted down and used a shovel to dig through the soil. Sure enough, after a few digs, Chen Feng actually found a piece of gold in that pile of soil.

Chen Feng's eyes lit up with surprise, but also with a hint of disbelief.

The gold was quite a lot; Chen Feng estimated it was worth over a thousand. Holding the gold in his hand, Chen Feng almost burst out laughing.

"Brother Rat, you're really generous, bringing me here. You really have something good here!" Chen Feng said happily, holding the gold in his hand as he looked at the rat.

Upon hearing this, the mouse stood up, raised its two front paws, and stared at Chen Feng, as if to say, "Dude, aren't you going to do anything?"

After being reminded, Chen Feng suddenly remembered, took a piece of bread from his bag, and without even tearing it open, simply opened the plastic bag and handed the whole thing to the mouse.

The bread was about the size of five mice. When the mice saw Chen Feng handing them food, their eyes lit up and they grabbed the bread with their two front paws.