Around the mining area.

Mu Sicheng began to slow down his pace. He looked cautiously at the golden sculptures gathered at the entrance of the mine not far away. He moved the earphone to his lips and whispered: "I saw the human-shaped sculpture."

After saying that, he took a photo and sent it over.

The human-shaped golden sculptures in the photos are frozen in various poses at the entrance of the mine. Their looks and expressions are very excited and fierce. Some of the sculptures are holding banners and seem to be cheering.

"The banner says 'Never hand over the gold mines'," Mu Ke translated. "It also has some insulting words, so I won't translate them here."

“I’m a little bit weird.”

Mu Ke was thoughtful: "I saw in the newspaper before that after a period of decline, gold production has experienced a second explosive growth. The recent increase in gold production written on the map found by Mu Sicheng also confirms this. There must be something wrong with this second increase in gold, otherwise there wouldn't be a large number of miners suffering from strange organ sclerosis diseases. And it is precisely because of this second increase in gold that Georgia's resistance to handing over the mining area has greatly increased. The people have seen the hope of gold growth and will never agree to the handover again."

"But the problem is..."

"The fairy tale says that God will only supply gold for a thousand years." Bai Liu continued calmly, "If it is the God we know, after the thousand-year agreement is up, he will definitely stop supplying gold instantly according to the deal. It is impossible for him to continue supplying gold. The second outbreak of this batch of gold mines is abnormal."

"And Georgia's decision to hand over the gold mine to the Bureau of Heresy is problematic."

"He was a prince at the time. Even if he realized there was a problem with the mine, the most reasonable approach would be to shut it down and investigate and deal with it himself. He couldn't so easily hand over the source of the people's dependence to an external organization like the Bureau of Heresy. This approach would also be more likely to gain support."

"There was still room for change, and Georgia's approach could have been less radical." Bai Liu paused, "But it must be some third-party factor that triggered the conflict between the two sides."

"This third-party factor must be something that Georgia cannot prevent, that is, force majeure." Liu Jiayi pondered for a moment and continued, "And this force majeure factor should have been introduced by someone inside, and there are many people who support it, otherwise Georgia would not choose to cooperate with external parties."

"And this force majeure factor made Georgia think that only the Bureau of Heresy could handle it..."

Inferring this, Liu Jiayi and Bai Liu both paused.

The specific content of this force majeure factor is about to emerge.

Bai Liu calmly gave the answer: "In the ancient country of Loren at that time, someone once again sought cooperation and trade with God to allow the gold mine to continue to be produced."

Mining Area 13 is located inside the mountains. From the exit that was blasted open in the mountain, you can take a mine cart down along the long-built track. Both sides are like some kind of ruins and treasures, full of piles and clusters of gold ore. Even after digging it out, it doesn’t even require much effort to refine it, as it is already gold of a very high purity.

But twelve years ago, this situation, which had lasted for a thousand years, no longer existed in ancient Luolun.

After a long winter break, the first cart of ore mined in the spring could not even fill half a mine car. People looked at the miners sitting on the mine cars in fear and confusion. Everyone was waiting for the first cart of gold ore in the spring to be ground into gold powder and sprinkled into the sky - this was the ceremony of the arrival of spring in ancient Luolun.

But it was cancelled that year, as everyone knew that with such poor output, they could not hold such a lavish ceremony.

It was as if some kind of omen that Guloren's spring would never come again.

Gold production was declining month by month. The streets were filled with unemployed miners and crying children. The amount of gold distributed by the Gold Bank was reduced by half every month. His father sat at the fence, overlooking Guloren, which seemed to be entering an endless winter, and could not sleep all night.

But Georgia was unusually calm. He knew this day would come eventually.

In everyone's eyes, Gu Luolun without gold is a disaster, but in Georgia's eyes, this may be an opportunity, an opportunity for everyone to move forward.

We have been trapped in this gold mining country for too long, a thousand years, which is enough to make us fear the outside world. Of course, there are scary things in the outside world, but it is much better than an ancient Luolun without gold.

Georgia, who had already prepared the case, seemed to have grown up overnight when his father knelt down and hugged him and cried bitterly that night. He patted his father's shoulder and said calmly, "Father, please give Gu Luolun to me."

His father raised his head with tears in his eyes: "Do you have a way to make Gu Luolun produce gold again?"

"I don't have any," Georgia replied calmly, "but father, talent is the most precious gold of a country."

"As long as there are people, no matter how long the winter is, everyone can survive. We are not at the end of our rope. The mining area is still producing gold. We will preserve this gold, open the window of Gurolun, cooperate, communicate and fight with the outside world. In this process, everyone's will will become stronger, and our country will become stable and strong."

"... Let me think about it again." His father said in a daze, "Think about it again."

Georgia guessed that what he was going to do would encounter a lot of resistance, but it was not absolutely impossible to do. However, perhaps naivety was something in the bones of every Guloren person - he naively thought that God would never come to this Guloren country that was no longer happy and believed in fairy tales.

I also naively forgot that the pain equivalent to a thousand years of gold cannot be covered by the crying of a child.

When Georgia was nervously and carefully implementing his plan, he heard many strange noises coming from the palace. Some ministers began to frequently talk to his father in secret every night. At that time, he mistakenly thought that his implementation of the plan had attracted the attention of these old-fashioned ministers and they objected to his father. Georgia did not care because the plan was being implemented smoothly.

Until one day, his father found him and held his hand nervously and excitedly: "We found God!"

"He's willing to trade with us again!"

Georgia's mind went blank at that moment, and she could only subconsciously ask, "God?"

"Yes!" His father was so excited that he almost jumped up. "Our high priest heard from the Vatican that there is a customer who sells islands floating on the sea. He is very similar to the god we described. The high priest spent a lot of effort, and the other party finally agreed to meet us!"

"He will arrive in Gurolun today. I have asked the people from the issuing office to meet him at the country's gate!"

"Let's not talk about whether he is God or not." Georgia pushed down the hand of his excited father that was shaking his shoulders, held on to the table and tried to stay calm. He raised his head and asked coldly, "Even if he is, God is here to take the price of our pain. What are you going to do? What can you do?"

His father became somewhat uneasy and timid under Georgia's gaze: "...the guest said that he could trade with us again."

"What is the content of the deal..." Georgia almost had to use all her strength to control herself from yelling out loud, and asked calmly, "What is it?"

"He can supply us with gold for a while longer, through a special stone called the Philosopher's Stone." His father explained nervously, "We have already tested this stone. We just need to bury it underground, and gold production will indeed increase significantly. We haven't found any clear side effects, so you don't have to worry!"

"There is no such thing as free gold in this world, father." Georgia closed her eyes. "What does he want?"

His father was silent for a long time before saying, "Pain."

"He said he would take our pain when the time came."

"When will the time come?" Georgia asked softly, his eyes narrowed, disappointment revealed uncontrollably.

"At least not today, not this year!" His father also began to get angry, pounding the table, "At least the Philosopher's Stone he brought can allow our people to have a good spring this year! At least it can allow children to lie at home and fall asleep listening to fairy tales this year! At least tonight, after the Philosopher's Stone is buried in the mining area, I won't hear the cries of people who are afraid that they will not be able to survive at night!"

"Georgia, why do you always have to think so far ahead!"

"If we can't even handle the things right in front of us, how can things far away really have anything to do with us?!"

"What if he comes to take the pain a thousand years later?!"

Georgia remained silent, her fists clenched tightly, and the king asked aggressively, pointing out the window and looking directly at Georgia: "Do you want to see these people fighting outside?"

"If there is no gold this spring, they will starve to death in winter. Do you want them to starve to death this winter?"

"Putting my strategy and your strategy together, who do you think the people will support?!"

Georgia took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently: "But..."

"No buts!" The king slammed the table sternly, "The most important thing is to keep the people in front of you alive. You can worry about it when the time comes!"

Looking at Georgia's lips that had turned pale from being pursed, the king paused and softened his tone: "Put a hold on your recent strategies for now."

"You must be tired from doing all this. Take a good rest during this period."

When Georgia walked out of the palace, there was no expression on his face. He seemed as if his soul had been pulled out of his body. He walked on the street in a daze. All around him were closed shops, daily necessities with rising prices, and people who were counting on their fingers, with sad faces, and counting how long they could spend their gold.

His face is well-known to many people, so whenever he walks past someone, someone will ask him expectantly:

"Your Highness, when will the gold be distributed?"

“When will the mines resume operations?”

"Guluolun wouldn't be without gold, would he?"

“God will never abandon us, will he?”

In front of those eyes that were so innocent that they were almost frightened, Georgia opened his mouth but didn't utter a single word. His heart was beating violently in his chest, and his blood was boiling with some kind of turbulent emotion - he had learned to control his emotions when he was very young, before he learned to draw a bow.

Wang Chu was not allowed to be impulsive or show his emotions. His every move had to conform to regulations, be elegant, proper, and serve as a national leader. He could not do anything inappropriate. In order to achieve all this, Georgia trained herself almost harshly. After he was five years old, he never cried - because that was inappropriate.

When Armand would cry loudly because of falling, Georgia would just pat her bleeding knees and get up, then carry her tearful brother on her back and walk towards the palace step by step as if nothing had happened.

"Don't run so fast next time, Armand." Little Georgia calmly scolded her brother, "You don't look like a prince at all."

Armand sobbed and wondered: "Brother, you fell down too, don't you feel pain?"

Georgia paused. "It hurts."

Armand asked in a low voice: "Brother, why don't you cry?"

"Because if even the crown prince of this country is crying because of this little pain." Georgia looked up at the brightly lit Gu Luolun and said softly, "Then who will bear the price of the transaction with God on their behalf?"

"Well, then I won't cry either." Armand said shyly.

"No need." George paused, "You are just a child, not Wang Chu. It is normal for children to cry."

"Just don't cry in front of others, Armand."