Early in the morning, we departed from the Yue family.
This was Xia Qingtian’s first time seeing a mine up close.
There were clear demarcations and hazard warning signs around the area. Mining seemed to have ceased for a long time, and there were some markings at the mine entrance.
“The ore here is relatively stable with the surrounding rock; mining is not difficult. However, the radioactive material contained within the ore requires special handling,” the person in charge explained in detail to Xia Qingtian.
Xia Qingtian listened and posed questions and technical inquiries as appropriate.
Later, this mine would cooperate with Mr. Gu’s project. Mr. Gu would arrange for a more authoritative team of experts, but before that, Xia Qingtian needed to have a certain understanding of it.
“In the past, mining did not have many technical barriers. Our Yue family started with jewelry, so we had slightly more refined requirements, with higher demands on geological structure and the integrity of the ore.
This largely preserved the current integrity of the mine tunnels. If mining were to resume later, it would be relatively easier and more manageable.”
As the person in charge spoke, he pointed out several nearby mine entrances to Xia Qingtian: “Would you like to go down into the mine? We have professional protective suits here that can block radiation, though they are a bit thick, stuffy, and hot.”
“I’ll take a look,” Xia Qingtian said. She wanted to know how far the mining had progressed. Although she didn’t understand much, she had someone knowledgeable to explain it to her.
As for the thick, stuffy, and hot suits, she didn’t care.
She wasn’t that delicate to begin with.
Seeing Xia Qingtian nod, the person in charge immediately instructed someone to prepare the protective suits.
“Are you two going down together?” Xia Qingtian asked Xia Shang and Er Ya, who had accompanied her.
She still didn’t know what tricks Uncle Miao Er was planning, and the hidden spies in the Yue family had yet to be caught.
Xia Qingtian felt that at this time, it was safer to keep Xia Shang and Er Ya by her side rather than leaving them at the Yue family’s residence.
After all, she was protected not only by people arranged by Yue Chengfeng but also by Young Master Lei San’s people.
The safety level was obviously higher.
“No! It’s dark and spooky, what’s fun about that?” Er Ya pouted, her cheeks puffed out, looking displeased. “We have mines on the back of our village mountain too, why would I come here to play with you? I don’t want to!”
Er Ya felt that this place was not fun at all. “Xia Shang, I don’t want to play here, let’s go somewhere else, okay?”
“Qingtian, you go ahead. I’ll stay and keep her company,” Xia Shang said to Qingtian with a helpless look.
Er Ya’s personality was quite playful and difficult to manage. If he didn’t accompany her, who knew what mischief this girl might get into.
“Alright then, you two be careful and don’t wander out of the bodyguards’ sight,” Xia Qingtian instructed. “If anything dangerous happens, immediately crouch down, find a safe place to shelter yourself, and wait for rescue.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that,” Xia Shang nodded.
“I don’t want to play here anymore!” Er Ya was still protesting. “Can we go back! Qingtian~ Can we go back! Can we go somewhere else, please!”
“Er Ya, be good,” Xia Qingtian said, rubbing Er Ya’s head. “When I come back, I’ll take you to eat something delicious: glutinous rice wrapped in soft red bean paste, slippery with taro balls, spread on shaved ice, drizzled with flavored fruit syrup, with chocolate chips and animal-shaped marshmallows as decoration. If you are good, I’ll take you to eat this after I’m done.”
“Slurp…” Listening to Xia Qingtian’s description, Er Ya licked her lips and nodded. “Then you have to be quick!”
“Mm.” Xia Qingtian nodded, then took the heavy protective suit from the person in charge. After putting it on, she descended through mine entrance number three.
“Xia Shang, have you ever eaten that thing Qingtian mentioned?” Er Ya asked, cupping her face and staring at Xia Shang with her big, round eyes. “Is it delicious?”
“I haven’t eaten it, but if Qingtian says it’s delicious, it should be good,” Xia Shang didn’t like sweets much, but he trusted Xia Qingtian.
“I want to eat it…” Er Ya hadn’t finished speaking when she felt the ground shake violently. Accompanied by a loud boom, mine entrance number five not far away exploded.
Immediately after, bodyguards rushed forward and protected the startled Xia Shang and Er Ya beneath them.
Stones flew, and dust billowed.
Outside a warning sign closest to the mine, a figure glanced back from a distance and then ran away.
“Number Nine, you go chase!” The bodyguard protecting Xia Shang narrowed his eyes as he spotted the fleeing figure and immediately dispatched someone to pursue the suspicious individual.
When the dust finally settled, Er Ya was the first to recover. She pushed away the person protecting her and sprinted towards mine entrance number three: “Qingtian!”
“Be careful! You can’t go there now!” The bodyguard who was pushed away immediately reached out and grabbed Er Ya.
The mine terrain was unpredictable; a collapse in one area could easily lead to subsequent collapses.
Many seemingly solid places were now extremely dangerous.
“Qingtian is over there! Let go of me!” Er Ya struggled and kicked at the person holding her.
“We need to descend the mountain immediately. We will arrange for a rapid rescue,” the bodyguard, experienced, picked up Er Ya by the shoulders without further ado.
“Everyone descend the mountain now!” Blocking Xia Shang, who was also trying to rush forward, the bodyguards felt exhausted.
Why did a perfectly good mine entrance suddenly collapse?
Xia Shang and Er Ya were forcibly escorted down the mountain and put into a car. Following them up the mountain were professional rescue teams and on-call medical teams.
News of the Yue family’s mine explosion spread like wildfire, and so did the news that Xia Qingtian was buried in the mine.
Upon hearing this news, the Yue family patriarch immediately fainted.
The three Yue brothers also seemed to have lost their souls, falling into disarray.
Yu Zixuan, who was with Yue Chengfeng, her eyes flashed with disbelief. After asking twice more, she confirmed that Xia Qingtian had indeed been buried by a sudden mine collapse.
Her fate was unknown.
Standing in front of the mine, Young Master Lei San’s face was grim.
He just couldn’t understand how, with elite guards protecting her, shielding her from poisonous insects, toxins, and assassination, Xia Qingtian could perfectly bypass these dangers and end up buried by a mine.
Who could he reason with?
Yet, the incident happened under his protection, and he couldn’t shirk responsibility. He could only spend money and time to find more people to dig her out.
It was just… absurd!
“Young Master Lei, it was mine entrance number five that was blown up. Mine entrance number three was only slightly affected. According to the current assessment by experts, the rescue difficulty is not very high, but it requires time,” the person in charge of the rescue said with a slight frown. “However, our biggest shortage right now is time…”
“What do you mean?” Young Master Lei San frowned and asked. “Is it a lack of oxygen or some other issue?”
“There are still large amounts of radioactive material in the mine. It’s very dangerous for people to be trapped inside like this.”
“Tsk…”