Chapter 414: Uranium Mine? The True Power of the Dawn Consortium |
"King, Trap has sent word. That support convoy has entered the canyon and linked up with the enemy forces there."
Alpha looked at Yu Yuan.
"I saw it too. Tell Trap to stay hidden. At critical moments, retreat rather than take risks!"
"I already reminded him."
Before Yu Yuan lay a map, or rather, a mine shaft diagram.
The geologist Xu Ke and his student Es were currently studying it.
The mine shaft diagram was obtained from Quis.
He had only found it in the previous town chief's home after occupying Dead Mine Town.
It recorded detailed tunnel maps and mineral deposit information for the Death Mine.
What Xu Ke and Es were doing now was filling in and perfecting this mine shaft diagram, completing the newly excavated tunnels below.
Xu Ke was half-leaning over the table, a pencil carefully sketching patterns on the white paper used to piece the map together, relying on the memories in his mind.
This task wasn't too difficult for a geologist like him.
It was part of their basic skills.
As the final stroke was completed, Xu Ke let out a long sigh of relief, a slight smile appearing on his face. He pointed at the area he had just finished drawing and looked at Yu Yuan.
"Leader, this is the area where the rare earth mineral source was discovered. It's located in the deepest part of the mine shaft. Based on my previous understanding of the mine, this is very likely a rare 'Concentrated Mining Area,' characterized by multi-period, multi-stage mineralization.
This type of Concentrated Mining Area generally has two mineral formation models. One is the vertical stacking model, like floors in a building, where the ore veins are divided into shallow, middle, deep, and extreme deep layers, with different minerals appearing in different segments based on their properties."
"The second is the symbiotic-paragenetic model, 'you have me, I have you.' Simply put, multiple minerals are mixed together."
Yu Yuan looked at the discovered ore veins marked on the mine shaft diagram, his brow slightly furrowed.
"But the minerals on this diagram show both vertical layer relationships and paragenetic relationships. How do we distinguish them?"
Hearing this, Xu Ke also let out a long sigh.
"That's precisely why this Concentrated Mining Area is so rare. It belongs to a mixed type, but overall, it's still distributed according to the vertical stacking model."
Xu Ke's expression then turned somewhat grave as he looked at Yu Yuan.
"Also, I might know why the Dawn Consortium values this ore vein so highly."
He pointed at this mine shaft and said:
"I didn't pay attention to this point before, but after careful study by Es and me, we were shocked to realize that this type of Concentrated Mining Area also has a high probability of containing other, very dangerous minerals. That might be the Dawn Consortium's real target."
"Very dangerous minerals?"
"Yes, radioactive minerals. The most valuable among them is—uranium ore."
Yu Yuan's eyes instantly narrowed.
Even if he knew nothing about minerals, how could he not have heard of uranium ore's reputation?
When he received compulsory education, the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" was a key learning topic.
As the core element of nuclear bombs, its name was thunderous to his ears.
"You're saying there's uranium ore here?"
Yu Yuan's voice trembled slightly.
"I can only say there's a high probability. Otherwise, it's impossible to explain why the Dawn Consortium values this place so much. Only this reason makes sense."
Yu Yuan didn't doubt Xu Ke's words.
He trusted Xu Ke's judgment.
If that was the case, then his attitude towards the Reyes Legion and the Dawn Consortium needed to change.
Previously, he had only treated this regional event as a training opportunity, solely to boost the Pioneering Group's strength as quickly as possible.
Therefore, he often had no intention of intervening personally, including the canyon ambush and the ambush on the Reyes Legion's support troops.
But if the Dawn Consortium's goal was indeed the possible uranium ore here...
Then the means they would employ to obtain this ore vein were something Yu Yuan had to pay attention to.
The biggest threat he could think of was likely that weapon called 【Dawn】.
Thinking of this, Yu Yuan sent a message to Shadow.
【Wolf Den · King: Focus surveillance on convoys from the Merry City direction. Inform me immediately if you spot the Dawn Consortium.】
【Shadow: Yes!】
Originally, he had planned to use the Dawn Consortium as a training target too. Now he changed his mind. He needed to first understand the threat posed by the Dawn Consortium.
Leaving Xu Ke and Es to continue perfecting the mine shaft diagram, Yu Yuan received a message sent by Carmen.
The dozen or so soldiers sent back to Green Forest City had all received treatment.
The others were fine; their injuries would heal quickly.
But two had suffered irreparable disabilities: one lost an arm, the other had a leg amputated.
Upon receiving this news, Yu Yuan sighed.
What a pity for these two soldiers.
Such good soldiers.
One of them was even a soldier who had awakened the 【Veteran】 identity template.
Nevertheless, he instructed Carmen to ensure proper arrangements for both of them. First, recuperate and recover.
Then assign both to the training camp to assist the veterans with training.
The one who awakened the 【Veteran】 identity template would serve as an assistant instructor; the other would assist.
However, Yu Yuan was thinking that next time, if they encountered a spiritual creature with super-strong regenerative abilities, perhaps they could find a way to regrow their lost limbs.
"What a shame. Loris shouldn't have killed it back then. What a perfect regenerative prototype!"
As the two forces of the Reyes Legion joined up, the Pioneering Group's harassment of the Reyes Legion officially ended.
Because according to intelligence provided by Trap, a tight defensive perimeter had been set up around that canyon area. The difficulty of harassment was now completely incomparable to before.
But he himself had no intention of launching further attacks anyway.
A tactic works once, not twice.
The enemy wasn't that stupid.
Of course, they weren't that elite either.
According to Quis's intelligence, the Reyes Corps was actually also a mercenary group, quite well-equipped, but the quality of its personnel was uneven.
Thus, in the early hours of the next day, a message from Shadow arrived.
It was a photo.
In the photo, a convoy was traveling on a wilderness highway, but the flat-panel radars on two armored vehicles caught Yu Yuan's attention.
Alpha looked at Yu Yuan, his expression grave.
"King, those two armored vehicles in the middle are loaded with active electronically scanned array radars and launch units. Those should be long-range missile launch vehicles. We must take them out. Otherwise, our little town alone absolutely cannot withstand their attacks."
"The other vehicles are also all equipped with Doppler search radars, tracking radars, infrared thermal imagers, and other detection and command systems. This convoy possesses extremely strong long-range strike capabilities."
"Also..." Alpha pointed to the last military vehicle.
"This vehicle feels very different to me too. The platform mounted on it is likely a drone launch platform. Combined with the earlier active phased array radars, the enemy is fully capable of attacking us from dozens of kilometers away."
Hearing this, Yu Yuan nodded slightly.
This kind of enemy was the most terrifying. If it were a Bronze-tier combat unit, Yu Yuan could still handle it.
But attacks launched directly from dozens or even hundreds of kilometers away? He was truly powerless against those.
Unless he had corresponding air defense interception capabilities.
Yu Yuan also gained a clear understanding of the Dawn Consortium.
This overlord-level faction was the truly threatening opponent.