"Where is the mining area?" Mu Sicheng asked.

Bai Liu's voice came from the headset: "You can break into the Gold Distribution Office. This department manages gold distribution. There should be maps and locations of gold mines inside."

"OK." Mu Sicheng agreed, turned around and violently kicked the door open. A huge amount of gold powder hit his face. Although Mu Sicheng quickly covered his mouth and nose, he still inhaled some of it and began to cough violently. He waved away the gold powder, half-closed his eyes, and walked into the Gold Distribution Office.

The first floor of the Gold Bank is very spacious, as wide as a stadium, and the height is estimated to be about six or seven meters. A gorgeous octagonal ceiling hangs in the center of the ceiling, with crystal pendants hanging from the eight corners, connected to ribbons that spread out in eight directions and connect to the ground. The silk-textured rose-red ribbon is covered with gold powder. There are also golden sculptures of animals of different shapes in the lobby. It is beautiful and looks like the venue for some celebration.

Mu Sicheng took the photo and sent it over. Liu Jiayi sighed and said, "A department that manages money is designed so romantically. This country is really..."

"Innocent." Bai Liu continued in a calm voice, "Mu Sicheng, take a close-up photo of these sculptures for me."

"Okay." Mu Sicheng took a close-up photo of the golden sculpture of a dog and showed it to Bai Liu. But when he was taking the photo, he keenly noticed something was wrong, "This dog..."

The dog sculpture is wearing a collar, with its mouth wide open and its fur clearly visible. It squats on the ground with its tongue hanging out, looking in a certain direction, as if waiting for its owner. You can even see the eyeballs moving in an arc, but it suddenly stops. It is so lifelike that it is a little scary - this no longer looks like a sculpture made by nature, but like a real pet dog solidified in gold.

"Gold is not suitable for sculpture because it is too soft and difficult to carve very fine patterns." Bai Liu's voice came over slowly, "So ordinary craftsmen will not deliberately make gold sculptures because it is difficult to produce high-quality ones."

"So..." Tang Er asked hesitantly, "This dog is very likely..."

"There are not enough clues and information to be sure." Bai Liu said lightly, "Mu Sicheng, don't touch it."

Mu Sicheng stopped his hand from touching her and shook his head: "How did you know I was going to touch her?"

"You must be thinking that if this dog is a real dog that has been solidified, then it is most likely a monster. As long as you touch it and unlock the monster book, and let the dog attack you, we can confirm the identity of the dog, right?" Bai Liu asked calmly, "But have you ever thought about it, if this dog is really a monster, do you think there can only be such a monster in such a large issuing office?"

"Be careful when you go upstairs so you don't bump into other statues."

Mu Sicheng paused, looked at the stairs hidden behind, and walked towards it slowly and carefully.

Behind him, the eyes of the golden dog, which had been motionless, moved slowly, and a drop of saliva rolled down its tongue. The moment the drop of saliva fell to the ground along its fangs, it turned into a golden drop of water.

There were also some animal statues in the corridor, a squirrel and a bird on the windowsill, and two cats in the corridor. Mu Sicheng jumped over them carefully, took photos and sent them to the team.

"How strange! Why are there no human sculptures?" Mu Ke asked thoughtfully, "They are all animals."

"Maybe it's because no one is here at the Gold Distribution Office." Mu Sicheng looked around and answered, "There's a lot of golden dust on the stairs in front of the platform, and everything has been emptied. It feels like no one has been here for a while, and the dog there looked like a stray dog."

"That is to say, this office has been empty for a long time, which led to many stray animals moving in here." Mu Ke thought thoughtfully, "and then they became golden eagles here."

Mu Sicheng kicked open an office door, pried open the desk drawer, and found a map in the drawer: "I found the mine map, do you want me to look for other clues?"

"Not for now." Bai Liu ordered in a deep voice, "Get out first. It's not a coincidence that the animal turned into a golden eagle here. Don't stay in this place until you figure it out."

"Have your health and spirit decreased?"

Mu Sicheng swiftly climbed out from the window sill and opened the system panel to check: "Nothing."

There was silence on the other side of the headset for a while, and then Mu Ke's slightly puzzled voice came: "We don't have it here either."

"So it's not mental transformation, nor is it a decrease in health points. How did these animals turn into golden eagles?"

"Is the concentration of gold powder in the issuing office high?" Bai Liu asked.

"It's very high." Mu Sicheng answered quickly, "I was scolded as soon as I walked in."

"It should be related to this thing." Liu Jiayi's voice came, "We found some masks in the hospital, but they are useless. The gold powder seems to be very fine. It feels like you can inhale it even when you wear a mask. We found some data in the hospital and summarized some information. Let me tell you."

"Many of the recent cases in the hospital are miners." Mu Ke explained calmly, "The miners here seem to have high incomes, live in very good wards, and use the most advanced treatment methods. According to the descriptions in the medical records, these miners have always used the best protective measures and technologies since they started mining, and there have been no major problems. But after a certain point in time, the gold production here began to decline, and the Gold Bank introduced a series of layoffs. A large number of miners lost their jobs, and the people were very dissatisfied."

"After that, about a period of time, the date on the medical record was about ten years ago, the declining gold production suddenly experienced an explosive growth, the demand for miners increased, and many mining areas hired a large number of miners."

"But it was from that time that the probability of miners suffering from occupational diseases increased significantly."

"From the medical records here, it seems to be a disease of organ sclerosis. At first, I thought it was the same long-term occupational disease of mining workers, but later I found that it was not true. No matter what medicine was used, it could not alleviate this organ sclerosis. The number of miners suffering from the disease increased significantly, and seriously ill miners even coughed up a golden red powder."

Liu Jiayi said: "We speculate that it is blood-stained gold powder."

"That's right." Mu Ke nodded. "It should be at that time that Georgia, the eldest prince here, put forward the heresy theory, saying that the skyrocketing gold mining area was due to the influence of heresy, and demanded that it be closed and handed over to the Heretic Bureau III for handling, which caused anger."

"So, on the day Georgia insisted on handing over the mine, all the people went to the mine to stop it." Bai Liu continued calmly, "The people of Gurolun did not trust the Bureau of Heresy, which had unknown origins. They could not understand Georgia's choice."

"Even his father, the King of Gurolun," Tang Erda sighed in a complex voice, "went to stop him. We found a newspaper. The biggest headline called on everyone to stop Georgia and gave him a title, 'The Treasonous Prince'."

"They said that Georgia was destined to become a 'forsaken man'. He must have been only sixteen years old at the time."

"No wonder I didn't see anyone on the street. It turns out they all went to the mining area." Mu Sicheng suddenly realized, and then asked in annoyance, "But there are too many points marked on the mining area map. There are seven major mining sites. Where are they?"

"The mining area map of the issuing office should record something else," Bai Liu asked. "Does it record the recent increase in the amount of mineral production in each mining area?"

"Yes." Mu Sicheng replied.

Bai Liu: "Go to the mine that has the largest increase recently."

"Let me see..." Mu Sicheng searched carefully, "Ah! Mining Area 13."

"Okay, you go first, don't make any noise, we'll follow you soon." Bai Liu ordered calmly, "Don't clash with Georgia's large army before I arrive."

Mu Sicheng: “OK!”

13 mining areas.

Georgia stood on a steep mountain with no grass and covered with gold dust. Through the gold dust, she could vaguely see some black ore. Georgia lowered her eyes and looked at the abandoned rails and mine carts at the foot of the mountain. This was once the most prosperous mining area in the country, with more than 3,000 mine carts running a day, and the rails could be pulled all the way to the bottom of the king's castle in the city center.

After a long winter break, the first mining season begins every spring. Excited miners drive mine carts out of the caves, across the snowy plains, and transport minerals to the base of the king's castle.

Everyone would grind the first cart of gold mined into gold dust, and scatter it under the castle with joy, celebrating with him and his father standing on the castle the arrival of another carefree, fairy-tale-like spring in the kingdom of gold.

What a luxurious memory, he was actually laughing with them at that time, and his pupils were reflected with the golden powder falling all over the sky - for a long time, he thought this was what the arrival of spring looked like.

Minecarts will transport gold to the Gold Issuing Office continuously. The Issuing Office will plan the gold it obtains and sell it as trading materials. They will collect data, unify plans, calculate the amount of gold to be sold every month and every year, and control it within a range that will not cause the depreciation of gold in the outside world, in exchange for materials that can make the people of the entire country live happily.

The Gold Issuing Office is the outlet for the Kingdom of Guloren to issue gold to the outside world. It is the only place for the entire Kingdom of Guloren to communicate with the outside world. It is known as the "Window of Guloren" and was once the most respected institution in the entire country.

Georgia once worked here and relied on his own abilities to become the deputy director of the General Administration. He had access to many core secrets, and it was also through this window that he learned about the existence of the Heretic Administration.

Georgia did not agree with the Director General's approach at the time. He questioned this officer, who was older than his father and had managed the Director General for half a century, "Why didn't you leave a portion as an emergency reserve when planning for gold?"

"The amount of gold distributed to citizens and transported abroad can be appropriately reduced."

"Why should we keep it?" The Director General looked at him with doubt. "Your Highness, we should do our best to use the gold we have mined to give every citizen the best life. If we keep so much gold, they won't be able to live as well as they should."

"But..." Georgia clenched her fists and he lowered his head. "Gold will eventually run out."

"Haha, how could that be?" The general laughed out loud as if he had heard a great joke, "The waters of the ancient Luo Sea will dry up, the rice fields of ancient Luoren will wither, but only gold——"

"——It is inexhaustible."

"That day will never come." The general manager looked at the gloomy prince and winked playfully, "Hey, future king, be happy. Didn't the gold and gold dust mined this spring fall on you?"

The general patted Georgia on the shoulder, smiling lovingly, and said, "Don't ever talk about reducing the amount of gold given to the citizens again. The people of Guloren love you so much. If they hear this, they will cry out of sadness."