Chapter 1719
Silver Wrapped in Gold
In the morning, as soon as she got up, Mu Xueli said to Wang An:
"Brother-in-law, let's go to the gold mine now and see what good stuff they have there."
Wang An ruffled Mu Xueli's hair and said in an annoyed tone:
"What's the rush for you? Look at you, so useless. What makes you think it can grow legs and run away? Hurry up and practice your skills. You didn't even finish practicing yesterday, don't you know that?"
After saying that, Wang An glared at Mu Xueli again and then left the tent.
Wang An's reprimand not only silenced Mu Xueli, but also made Wang Li, who was about to speak, swallow his words.
In this situation, no one would want to provoke Wang An.
The Black Dragon Eighteen Hands martial art requires not only a very solid foundation in basic skills, but also frequent sparring with others, meaning one needs someone to provide practice moves.
Otherwise, this insidious and vicious martial art would not be able to unleash its full power.
This morning, when Mu Xueli and Wang Li were fighting with Wang An, Wang An focused his attention on Mu Xueli and gave her a good beating.
Even after finishing her martial arts practice, Mu Xueli was still rubbing her thighs and arms with a grimace, and she complained to Wang Li that Wang An was taking revenge for personal reasons.
After Mu Xueli finished speaking, Wang Li not only didn't comfort him, but also grinned gloatingly:
"Serves you right, you got cocky. You deserved a beating, but it wasn't enough, hahaha."
It was clear that Wang Li was quite pleased that Mu Xueli had been beaten by Wang An.
Mu Xueli pointed at Wang Li, and after hesitating for a long time, she finally said:
"You just wait, you just wait until next time you get beaten up."
Wang Li shook his head and said:
"Hehehe, I'll make you so mad, I won't get beaten up, hahahaha!"
After a quick breakfast, Wang An and his three companions rode their horses straight to the gold mine.
To be honest, Wang An was also very curious about what good stuff was in that gold mine. However, if Wang An rushed to the gold mine in such a hurry, it would seem like he lacked depth.
Upon arriving near the gold mine, the four of them first secretly observed the area. After confirming that the area around the gold mine was no different from yesterday, they headed towards the location of the shacks near the gold mine.
The gold mine now looked incredibly horrific. In addition to the severed limbs of the TS people, there were now 12 more intact corpses.
It must be said that in this world, every gold mine may be a man-eating beast, and the birth of gold may inevitably be accompanied by bloodshed and violence.
Before the TS people seized this gold mine, no one knew or could verify how many people had died there, but just during the time the TS people were seizing the gold mine, more than 20 people died there.
Now, the gold mine has been seized by Wang An and his three companions again, and this time, more than 20 lives have been lost in vain.
Therefore, it is absolutely true that gold is associated with bloodshed and violence.
When Wang An and his companions arrived at the area where the ten corpses were arranged in a circle, they saw that what the ten corpses had been bowing and worshipping before their deaths was actually just a dark, indistinct statue.
Based on its shape, the statue appears to be a human figure, possibly a Buddha, but it is clearly an unfinished work, so it is impossible to tell whether it is a Buddha or something else.
The statue is not large, and it seems to be made of stone. It is about 25 centimeters long, wide, and tall. However, it is an irregular shape, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a depression in the middle.
Looking at the statue, Wang Li asked with a face full of curiosity, "What on earth are they worshipping?"
As he spoke, Wang Li bent down to pick up the statue, but couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:
"Holy crap, why is this thing so heavy?"
Wang Li casually bent down to pick it up, but because he wasn't prepared, he not only failed to lift the statue, but also almost strained his back.
Upon hearing this, Wang An's expression shifted, and he immediately realized that this dark statue was definitely not an ordinary stone.
So Wang An stepped forward and lifted it up with both hands.
The statue was completely black, and it was impossible to tell what it was. However, some white parts were visible on the edges and corners, indicating that it was clearly not stone. Wang An felt that it looked like silver or aluminum.
After feeling its weight, Wang An estimated that it weighed over 50 kilograms. It was indeed very heavy, quite heavy indeed. If Wang An's arm strength hadn't been trained to be incredibly strong, he probably wouldn't have been able to support it.
However, it was precisely because of this weight that Wang An immediately ruled out the possibility that the thing was made of aluminum.
But this little thing, so small, has such a heavy weight. Wang An thought for a moment and said:
"This thing must be made of gold or silver, otherwise it couldn't be so heavy."
As he spoke, Wang An placed the statue back on a stone, took out his scalpel, and shaved a corner of the statue.
Then, Wang An's eyelids twitched, and he said with considerable surprise:
"Holy crap, this is real money."
As he spoke, Wang An frowned, because he felt that such a large piece of silver shouldn't be this heavy. Therefore, Wang An felt that there was still something strange about the statue.
So Wang An used his cleaver to chop again at the spot where he had just cut, and a large piece of silver was chopped off.
Seeing the distinctive yellow hue of gold peeking out from a corner of the statue, Wang An immediately laughed and said:
"Holy crap, this is silver wrapped around gold! Hahaha. Awesome, this thing is really awesome."
Wang An knew about gold-plated silver and gold-plated copper, and gilding stone statues was a common practice, but he had never seen a statue like this one with silver plating over gold before.
After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li, who was standing next to him, picked up the piece that Wang An had chopped off, while Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong also came over and looked at the gap in the statue.
"Tsk tsk tsk, silver wrapped around gold, brother-in-law, what the hell are they doing?" Mu Xueli looked at the chip in the statue and asked in confusion.
Wang Li also examined the fragment in his hand, pried the gold off the silver, and echoed:
"Yeah, they even wrapped silver in gold! What the hell was this person thinking?!"
Unfortunately, Wang An had no idea what was going on. They had never met before, so who knew what kind of people these were?
So, Wang An waved his hand and said:
"Who knows? Alright, stop researching. Just know what this thing is all about. Hurry up and find it. There must be tons of good stuff around here."
Before he died, the bandit said that besides robbing this gold mine, they had also stolen a lot of ginseng from the herders in these mountains. So, this gold mine contains more than just gold. (End of Chapter)