The two began to visit and investigate the surrounding villages. Ling Huanwu also followed Song Yaoyao's example, smearing ash on her face and disguising herself as an ordinary village woman, and went around asking questions in the villages.
They asked expectantly, but mostly received only shakes of the head and sighs.
After a day of fruitless searching, Ling Huanwu was somewhat frustrated, but Political Commissar Hao encouraged her, "Don't be discouraged, this is just the beginning, there will always be clues."
Ling Huanwu, filled with anxiety, spent two whole days wandering around the village, asking every household near the mining area.
They either shake their heads and say they don't know, or they get annoyed by the questions and simply refuse to see anyone.
It wasn't until the evening of the third day, when she bumped into ten-year-old Gousheng squatting on the ground playing marbles under the old locust tree at the village entrance, that her eyes suddenly lit up.
She walked over in a soft voice and took a piece of fruit candy out of her pocket.
Ling Huanwu squatted down and handed it to Gousheng: "Gousheng, Auntie has a question for you. Did you go up the mountain on the day of the mine explosion?"
Gou Sheng's hand, which was holding the marble, suddenly froze. His eyes instantly drifted to the distant mountains, and then he quickly lowered his head, stammering, "N-no, I was at home helping my mother feed the ducks that day."
This evasive manner actually calmed Ling Huanwu down.
Her intuition was right; the child definitely knew something.
She shoved the candy into Gou Sheng's hand, her tone softening, "Auntie knows you didn't mean to hide it. Are you afraid of being scolded if you tell? Tell Auntie the truth, and Auntie promises not to tell your parents. I'll even give you another piece of candy."
Seeing that Gou Sheng was still pursing his lips and remaining silent, Ling Huanwu added, "If what you know can help, maybe Political Commissar Hao will even praise you for being brave!"
These words finally struck a chord with the boy.
Gou Sheng clutched the candy, hesitated for a while, and then lowered his voice to speak, "That day my mother went to bed early, and I remembered what the adults said about using a clear quartz block to exchange for candy coupons at the supply and marketing cooperative, so I stole the small glass lamp from home, the one my mother used for sewing, filled it with some kerosene, and secretly ran to the mining area."
"We hadn't gone far from the mine entrance when we heard a 'thud' from inside. It wasn't loud, but like a muffled thunderclap wrapped in cotton."
The boy swallowed hard, his eyes still showing a hint of lingering fear: "I was so scared I almost dropped the lamp. I was also afraid that the people at the mine would find out that I had sneaked in, so I quickly squatted behind a rock and picked up a shiny stone and put it in my pocket."
But after running only a couple of steps, I couldn't help but look back.
Inside the mine, I saw many small blue-green lights flashing, sparkling and beautiful!
Then I heard someone inside shout, "My God!" "What is this?" It sounded like... like a joyful exclamation.
I panicked, thinking that if I stole the stone and got caught, I would be finished, so I quickly ran down the mountain.
After running for only five minutes, I heard a loud 'boom' behind me.
Looking back, the mining area was filled with smoke, and flames were rising!
I was so scared my legs went weak, I collapsed to the ground, and finally scrambled home.
As Gou Sheng spoke, his eyes reddened a little, "Later, when someone came to ask what happened, I was afraid my parents would scold me for secretly going to the mining area, and even more afraid of getting into trouble, so I never dared to tell them..."
Ling Huanwu felt as if she had been hit by a heavy hammer, her heart heavy and aching.
The boy's statement that "there were people in the mine five minutes before the explosion" undoubtedly confirms that Zhou Jiuzhen and his group were still inside at the time.
Five minutes was not enough time for them to escape from the mine, which meant they really died in the explosion.
But the next second, another question arose:
What is blue-green light?
How could there have been a small explosion before the massive explosion that caused the wildfire?
Moreover, the small explosion was followed by gasps of surprise, which was clearly not something Su Haiting could have caused by sabotage.
It's more likely that the people in the mine detonated it themselves.
Layers of doubt, like a hazy veil, shrouded her eyes, preventing her from peeling back the layers to find the truth.
Ling Huanwu thanked Gou Sheng and returned home dejectedly.
She locked herself in her room and didn't even eat.
For the next few days and nights, she pondered the boy's words over and over again, and finally decided to enter her spatial dimension.
Hidden in the space are several old geological handbooks that her great-grandfather collected when he was in the geological team in his early years. The pages are yellowed, but they are her only hope now.
She turned the pages one by one, her finger pausing on the words "quartz mineral associated with fissures and geodes" and "fluorite luminescence properties," when her eyes suddenly lit up.
Fluorite is often found in quartz geodes and emits a blue-green fluorescence when illuminated.
Could this be the light the boy saw?
The small explosion might have been caused by Zhou Jiuzhen and his team discovering a crystal cave and trying to blast open the mineral layer for further exploration, which accidentally triggered the subsequent large explosion!
This guess instantly excited her.
Before dawn, she grabbed her geology manual and ran to find Political Commissar Hao.
"Political Commissar, I have a lead! We need to go back up the mountain to the explosion site. Maybe...maybe we can find their trail!"
As dawn broke, Ling Huanwu and Political Commissar Hao led a group of soldiers back towards the bombed-out mining area.
The mountain road was rugged.
Along the way, Ling Huanwu kept recalling the overview of the location of geodes in the geological handbook. The dense text seemed to have turned into a clear map to guide her.
Upon arriving at the mining area, all that could be seen was devastation, with rubble and debris scattered everywhere.
Ling Huanwu took a deep breath and began to carefully examine every possible spot again.
Finally, in an inconspicuous corner, she discovered traces of two explosions. Overjoyed, she quickly took out a piece of chalk and solemnly drew a circle around the area.
Political Commissar Hao had been paying close attention to Ling Huanwu's movements, and upon seeing that circle, he instantly understood her meaning.
He immediately directed the soldiers to dig at the location marked with chalk.
The soldiers were full of energy, digging hard with each hoe stroke.
After digging for a whole morning, everyone was exhausted and panting.
Just then, a soldier suddenly exclaimed, "We've dug up an empty one!"
The crowd gathered around and saw a hole under the hoe, from which a faint light was shimmering.
"It's a rift geode!" Ling Huanwu exclaimed excitedly.
Everyone got excited, and the digging speed increased.
Soon, a large vertical hole appeared before everyone's eyes, and they jumped down without hesitation.
The world below astonished them; it was a hidden paradise.
The space was very open, and the geodes were colorful. Various crystals shimmered with strange light under the dim light, which was beautiful.
Ling Huanwu and the soldiers immediately dispersed to search for Zhou Jiuzhen and his group in the vast crystal cave.
They searched for an entire afternoon, leaving no corner unchecked, but still found nothing.
Ling Huanwu was originally full of hope, thinking that Zhou Jiuzhen and the others went down to the bottom of the crystal cave, and the small explosion triggered a large explosion, blocking the entrance of the crystal cave, which is why they couldn't get out.
Perhaps they can still be saved!
But now, all expectations have been dashed.
Ling Huanwu seemed to have all her strength drained away, standing there blankly, her eyes empty and lifeless.
The magnificent crystal caves around her now seemed to have lost all their color in her eyes.
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