Urban Sims

Chapter 176 The Most Valuable Resource
Mining is an extremely dangerous job.

No matter how careful you are and how prepared you are in advance, in the face of disasters such as sudden landslides and magma eruptions, the probability of survival is very small.

And it is impossible to have a world like Zhou Ming's, where the government organizes tens of thousands of people to rescue hundreds of devices, the news media broadcasts live day and night, and the people of the whole country anxiously hope for a miracle to happen.

There is no one to save!
In addition, through two game experiences, Zhou Ming discovered a rule: in underground mining areas, the average life expectancy of male miners is no more than 35 years old, and no more than 40% of miners can live to be over 5.00 years old.

The average life expectancy is so short. On the one hand, the labor intensity of mining is too high, the physical strength is overdrawn for a long time, and the aging speed is accelerated; on the other hand, various sudden underground disasters have caused a large number of accidental deaths. As for the miners, two will die in mine accidents and one will be disabled without any compensation.

A large number of men died abnormally, which led to an imbalance in the ratio of men to women in various mining areas. There are more women than men, and polygamy has become a normal phenomenon. Even so, it is still difficult for many adult women to marry, especially those widows with children. Married, in order to survive, they can only follow the mine.

Isn't there a mine vein that has fewer mining accidents, higher ore value, and abundant reserves, and only needs to dig for a few hours a day to ensure food and clothing for the whole family?

some.

Not only that, but in the third mining area, there are more than a dozen such stable veins.

But this kind of mine veins are all occupied by those large families in the third mining area. These families are numerous, well-equipped, vicious and cruel, and they are single-family, so they can't fight against them at all.

Such as the Jin family brothers, the Lang family brothers, the Shi family brothers, the Sha family brothers... As long as the mine in your hand is targeted by these brothers, there is basically no possibility of keeping it.

Therefore, after two rounds of game experience, start a new round, even if Zhou Ming told Tie Qiang the few stable veins he had written down, with the power of the Tie family, they might not be able to defend them.

"What are the mineral resources that can be mined for a long time, have high value, and are not very laborious and dangerous?"

At this time, one thing came to mind, Zhou Ming had a flash of inspiration, and suddenly became very excited:
"I have a solution!"

Enter the game again!

……

In the blink of an eye, Tie Qiang is already 16 years old. Because of adequate nutrition, he is stronger than his two brothers now, and the credit points he has earned in the past few years are even more than his father and brothers combined. He can often dig some high-value rare mines, and he also has the nickname of "Lucky Iron Strong".

He even had a lot of "love encounters". Many beautiful widows and little beauties in the third mining area favored him and seduced him to the fullest.

Of course the young Tie Qiang couldn't hold back, even though he was only 16 years old, he had already achieved the achievement of beheading ten people. He accidentally became the father of two children, causing a small part of his income to flow into the women's pockets. hands.

But he doesn't care, as long as he has the "grandfather" in his mind, he doesn't have to worry about not having enough credit points to spend.

No, he just got off work today, and the "grandpa" in his mind told him another thing that surprised him.

"Tie Qiang, do you want to do a job where you don't have to go down to dig mines anymore, and you can have countless credits in your account every day sitting at home?"

"Think about it, of course! Is there really such a job?" Tie Qiang, who was very tired, immediately sat up from the iron bed and asked excitedly.

"Yes, as long as you find a mine, a mine with infinite value."

"What mine? It's there, I'll go find it right away!"

"Water, go to the shallow mining area, it's easy to find water."

"water?"

Tie Qiang was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "Why are you looking for water? There is no way to mine water, and you can buy it from the company. One liter of water is only worth 2 credits..."

Tie Qiang didn't take it seriously, thinking that water is not a rare thing, and it can't be sold for so much money. However, after he listened to the idea that "grandpa" told him, Tie Qiang, who became more and more excited, just took a short rest. After a few hours, I set off with my tools and went to the place designated by my grandfather in the shallow area to find water.

It took about a month to drill seven or eight holes in a row with a rock drill. Just when Tie Qiang was about to lose confidence, a torrent of white liquid hit the machine in his hand at high speed and hit the flexible protective clothing for a while. Pain, he couldn't help but loosen his hand, the rock drill fell down, and the person dodged aside to avoid the impact of the thin line of water.

"I found the water, I found the water!"

Tie Qiang yelled excitedly, Zhou Ming in reality also drew two semi-arcs at the corners of his mouth, smiling and nodding.

Groundwater is not difficult to find. Just 4000 meters above the third mining area, there is a large water storage rock formation with a storage capacity of more than 30 million tons. In the last life, when Tie Qiang was [-] years old, a company explored After the team accidentally cut through this rock formation, a large amount of high-pressure fresh water spewed out at a flow rate of hundreds of cubic meters per second, killing many exploration team members on the spot, and about half of such a huge amount of fresh water flowed downward. In the third living area, in the following two years, the third living area was plagued by groundwater flooding.

After the water in the aquifer of the rock formation was almost gone, there was a lake with an area of ​​about ten mu in the third living area.

Zhou Ming stared at the water, what's the use?
The first thing is to sell money. These waters are all fresh water that contains various trace elements and can be directly drunk. If you collect all these fresh waters, put them in containers, and sell them at a price of 1 to 1.5 credits per liter, only Counting the drinking needs of more than 3000 people in the third living area (2 liters per person per day), you can earn 6000-9000 credit points.

This does not include people's daily washing water, bathing water (people here take a bath at most twice a year), water for cleaning tools...the amount of water used in these aspects will not be less than the amount of drinking water.

The second is farming, using the water to grow food and vegetables.

In a place 12Km deep underground, food and vegetables are grown, isn’t this a joke?

No kidding, water is the source of life, no matter how harsh the environment is, as long as there is water and no matter how poor the soil is, plants can grow.

Of course, an external energy supply, such as light energy for photosynthesis in plants, must be added.

At this time, some people may laugh. The electricity provided by the mining company costs 1 credit point per kilowatt-hour. People usually turn on the lights even if they are reluctant to turn them on for an extra minute, then they will turn off the lights. You use these precious electricity to emit light. Yes, let the plants absorb and grow. Hasn't the cost been properly accounted for?
Of course Zhou Ming did the calculations, so he planned to let Tie Qiang assemble his own generator to generate electricity for self-sufficiency.

What do you rely on to generate electricity?

Underground magma.

Yes, the temperature of underground magma is as high as 3000 degrees. Even if a steam boiler is placed near the magma river, under the high temperature of thousands of degrees, the steam will continue to expand and do work, driving the power generation device to generate electricity. The wires are sent to the living area, and the electric energy is converted into light energy through the bulb, and the energy for plant growth is also available.

With the level of technological development in this world, mineral companies still provide materials such as high-tesla magnets, electric wires, copper wires, welding equipment, plastic water pipes, and high-strength steel plates.

In addition, in order to meet the tastes of different consumer groups, some cereals, beans, fruits, and even corn kernels are available, but the price is much more expensive than compressed nutritious meals.

Therefore, after successfully finding water, in the next few years, Tie Qiang pulled his brother and father to help him install a 4000-meter-long pressure-resistant water pipe. After controlling the water resources, he sold the water for a while. Earned the first pot of gold: 300 million credit points.

Taking these credits and buying a batch of equipment and materials, the Tie family organized a group of personnel to successfully assemble a power generation device with a power generation of 20KW at a depth of [-] kilometers underground, and transmit it to the living environment through cables. Under the guidance of Zhou Ming, Tie Qiang built the first greenhouse consisting of glass boxes, and the light bulbs on the top finally used free electricity.

Two months later, the first batch of peas matured. After picking them, the pea soup cooked by mother Hongyan, with its fresh texture and different taste, instantly conquered everyone's stomachs.

After another month or so, the rice is ripe, the barley is ripe, and the corn is also ripe... Countless patterns began to appear on the dining table of the Tie family.

Some people may ask, this is water, electricity, grain and vegetables, and the Tie family has come up with so many tricks, are others greedy or want it?
Of course I'm greedy, of course I want it!
Especially the Jin family brothers and the Lang family brothers, the two largest local snakes in the third mining area, were so greedy that they stretched out their hands a few times, but apart from suffering losses and paying a heavy price, they almost got nothing.

It turned out that in order to protect these interests, Tie Qiang followed Zhou Ming's suggestion, took out half of the profits earned from selling water, and hired 30 miners with the best skills and physique in the mining area to act as full-time bodyguards to protect the interests of the Tie family. There are 4 fathers and sons from Shangtie's family, more than a dozen relatives, and nearly 50 strong men. They are not afraid of any forces at all.

Moreover, after the greenhouse was built, with the expansion of the greenhouse and the continuous increase in the output of food and vegetables, the demand for manpower also increased. The Tie family also hired some wives of miners and some extremely poor widows to work in the greenhouse. Going to work, although the salary is not very high, but it also greatly reduces the burden on the family, and the labor intensity is not high. For a while, being able to work in the greenhouse of Tiejia has become the envy of housewives in the mining area.

but……

Will everything develop so smoothly?

After Liu Wei, the person in charge of the third mining area, reported the situation to Fang Zhihong, the manager of the E7 area, the middle-aged man in his forties thumped his desk and said expressionlessly: "If you want to do it like you, Mining companies, how can they dig underground mines?"

(End of this chapter)