Opening the Situation

Yang Ling's words were like a massive boulder crashing into a still lake, stirring up wave after wave.

The miners watching the spectacle instinctively crowded closer.

The overseers nearby who had been watching the commotion also came over, their expressions tinged with surprise and doubt.

Fang Qingyang forced a smile.

"Supervisor Yang, don't joke around. Are you saying you can mine ten jin of Red Gold Ore in a single day?"

"More or less. It depends on luck. If I find a large enough vein of Red Gold Ore, even a dozen jin is possible."

Yang Ling nodded lightly.

Fang Qingyang fell silent.

The nearby overseers exchanged glances as well.

More than ten jin a day—was that even possible?

The players were filled with emotion. Before this, they might not have fully believed it.

But after seeing that Yang Ling didn't need to rest while mining, they understood that ten jin a day wasn't difficult at all!

If they didn't need rest either, they could mine at least one or two jin a day!

"Don't just stand there. Settle the accounts."

Yang Ling reminded him.

"Oh, right!"

Fang Qingyang said, "One qian of Red Gold Ore is worth twenty copper coins. Twenty-two jin is... forty-four taels."

His expression grew increasingly strange.

Chen Xu and the others secretly sucked in a breath.

Forty-four taels...

That was enough to buy several of their lives!

Still forcing a smile, Fang Qingyang settled Yang Ling's payment before starting to count the Red Gold Ore mined by the other players.

"Three qian, sixty copper coins."

"Five qian, one hundred copper coins."

"Two qian, forty copper coins."

At first, everything seemed normal.

"One tael? Two hundred copper coins."

"Two taels? Four hundred copper coins."

"Three taels? Six hundred copper coins."

"What's your name?"

"Li Tianye."

Beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on Fang Qingyang's forehead.

He forced himself to remain calm as he paid these miners their wages.

By the end, there were more than thirty jin of Red Gold Ore piled on his counter!

The nearby overseers looked more grave than ever at the sight.

The miners watching were dumbfounded as well.

"How can they mine so fast!?"

"Their pickaxes are different from ours. That one seems to be a Fine-Steel Pickaxe!"

"Supervisor Yang gave them those, right? But even if the pickaxes are different, they shouldn't be able to mine this much!"

"That's just how it is underground. The Red Gold Ore in the mine is actually in larger chunks. Once you find one, you might not finish mining it for days, which saves time searching for ore."

"But it still shouldn't be this much..."

They were secretly alarmed, unable to understand it.

"All right, go back and rest. When the agreed time comes, gather in front of the mine entrance."

Yang Ling said.

"Supervisor Yang, then we'll be heading back first."

Naturally, the players wouldn't call Yang Ling by any other title in front of the natives.

They bowed respectfully, then hurried toward the village with their copper coins.

There was a distinct spring in their steps, and their excitement was beyond words!

They were rich!

For the first time, they had earned so many copper coins in just one day!

They wouldn't have to go hungry anymore!

They could eat whatever they wanted!

Fish, meat, eggs—if they wanted to buy them, they could!

"Supervisor Yang!"

Just as Yang Ling was about to leave, someone suddenly called out.

"What is it?"

Yang Ling looked at the miner.

The miner gathered his courage and asked carefully.

"Supervisor Yang, can I go down into the mine with you too?"

I've been waiting for you to say that.

A faint smile appeared on Yang Ling's face.

"Why not? If you want to go down into the mine with me, just come along."

"Thank you, thank you!"

The miner repeatedly cupped his hands in salute.

He wanted to make a fortune too!

Where there was one, there would be more.

After that miner spoke up, many more miners gathered their courage and asked. Yang Ling naturally agreed to every one of them.

After telling them when they would be going down into the mine, Yang Ling drifted away.

He knew that he had opened up the Red Gold Ore situation.

This was a very good start.

"You can all disperse now."

An overseer waved his hand, driving away the miners who had been watching the commotion.

Then several of them walked over to Fang Qingyang, their expressions grave.

"Something big has happened."

"Why is Yang Ling mining so fast?"

"Quite a few miners have already been tempted. If we don't stop this, more and more miners will go down into the mine with him!"

"If this continues... it'll be difficult for us to explain ourselves to Senior Brother Yang. Overseer Fang, think of something!"

"Do you think... this could be fake?"

Fang Qingyang mused.

"Fake?"

The overseers exchanged looks, their expressions shifting.

"You mean... he brought that Red Gold Ore in with him beforehand?"

One overseer asked quietly.

"That's right!"

Fang Qingyang nodded slowly. "He's doing this to lure miners into going down into the mine with him and increase production."

"Then that's easy. We just need to tell the miners the truth."

The overseers breathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the miners were also discussing what had just happened.

Quite a few miners had already agreed to go down into the mine with Yang Ling.

"You idiots, no one can possibly mine more than ten jin of Red Gold Ore in a day!"

"Supervisor Yang is probably bluffing. Who knows whether he brought that Red Gold Ore in himself?"

"Exactly. If you really get fooled and die in the mine, wouldn't that be a terrible waste?"

These remarks did cause many miners to calm down.

But some miners frowned and said,

"The copper coins they exchanged for Red Gold Ore are real. Are you saying this because you want to stop us from making money?"

"..."

"Whether it's real or not, won't we know after going down into the mine with the supervisor once?"

"That's right! Let's go down with him and see for ourselves!"

Those miners with ulterior motives exchanged glances, looking somewhat flustered.

Under the temptation of money, their arguments seemed to have lost their effect...

Back in the courtyard, Yang Ling casually took a bath and refreshed himself.

He then began cultivating the Vajra Wisdom King Art.

After gaining 13 experience points, he switched to practicing the Bandit-Catching Saber Technique.

When the agreed time arrived, he appeared once more in front of Mine Cave No. 1.

This time, not only were all the players present.

There were also several dozen ordinary miners.

Among them were several people hiding their identities as players.

Such concealment was obviously useless before Yang Ling.

He didn't expose them and simply led the miners down into the mine.

With their first experience behind them, the players were much more proficient this time.

The ordinary miners, who had initially been rather nervous, were gradually infected by the atmosphere. They cast aside their distracting thoughts and began searching for Red Gold Ore. Once they found some, they got to work.

Before long, a series of clanging sounds drew their attention.

Yang Ling had found a decent-sized deposit of Red Gold Ore, the kind large enough for several people to mine.

He had Chen Xu, Chen Guoqing, Wang Haodong, and Li Tianye mine it together.

But his mining speed left everyone watching from both nearby and afar astonished once again.

[Crazy Ten-Strikes]

[Crazy Ten-Strikes]

[Crazy Ten-Strikes]

The Red Gold Pickaxe had already become a blur.

This scene left the ordinary miners staring wide-eyed.

"S-So fast!"

"Supervisor Yang mines so fiercely! He doesn't seem that old, but it looks like he's been mining for decades!"

"At this speed, ten jin a day really is possible!"

"Forget him—even the others are mining pretty quickly. They aren't lying. You really can make a fortune by going down into the mine!"

"Supervisor Yang is deeper in the mine. If there are Ore Worms, they'll target him first. Is he protecting us?"

"Probably..."

The ordinary miners' gazes gradually grew fiery.

This newly arrived supervisor had slowly earned enough of their respect!

Before this, they had never heard of a mine supervisor who would go down into the mine and do the same dirty, exhausting work as them!

"Is he really Yang Ling from the Iron Garment Division? A professional constable? Why do I feel like his profession has something to do with mining?"

Three players hiding their identities were also observing in secret.

Seeing this, they couldn't help but stare in shock.

One of them even opened the Divine Realm Level Rankings for a look.

"His profession really is constable..."

"What do you think? He's genuinely strong, and he mines quickly too. This leveling team he's put together has a lot of potential."

One of them whispered.

"Should we reveal our identities?"

"Let's observe a little longer."

The seemingly more composed one said slowly.

The other two exchanged glances, nodded slightly, and continued mining with their heads lowered.

While mining, Yang Ling's peripheral vision swept over those three from time to time.

He had actually noticed them from the first day he arrived at the Red Gold Ore mine.

For no other reason than that their levels were far ahead of everyone else's.

All three were level 10, stuck at the threshold of changing professions!

They definitely had some kind of leveling trick; he just didn't know what kind.