The stream wasn't deep, just over a meter, originating from the distant peaks, stretching down for tens of kilometers.

Yang Xiao bent down and picked up a piece of purple transparent stone from the bottom of the water, immediately exclaiming excitedly:

"Got it, got it, got it!"

Old Nine looked at Yang Xiao in astonishment, suspecting that Yang Xiao had gone mad in his haste.

"Yang Xiao, what's wrong with you? Don't panic, even if we can't find the vein right now, we will definitely find it."

Then Old Nine's mouth hung open, his gaze fixated straight on the stone that Yang Xiao raised to his eyes.

In Yang Xiao's fingers was a piece of Purple Crystal Stone the size of a thumb.

It was all too familiar; this was exactly the type of Purple Origin Crystal Stone they dug up daily in the mines.

"Yang Xiao, you?"

Standing in the stream, Yang Xiao spoke with excitement:

"Old Nine, just now I randomly grabbed a handful of rocks from the side of the stream and threw them into the water, and among them was this piece of Purple Origin Crystal Stone. If the exposed rocks here contain Crystal Stones, it means there must be a vein, right?"

Yang Xiao looked at Old Nine earnestly, needing an affirmative answer.

Old Nine took the Purple Crystal Stone, nodded firmly, and said:

"That's right, according to our geological common sense, finding minerals on the ground indicates that the vein has extended to the surface."

Old Nine glanced at the Crystal Stone in his hand and then looked around, saying:

"Let's follow the bank of the stream and see if we can find more Crystal Stones."

"Okay!"

Now Yang Xiao was brimming with confidence.

The two walked along the rocky area by the stream, looking carefully at the purple rocks underfoot. Ordinary purple rocks were opaque and lacked luster, while Crystal Stones were transparent with a very strong shine, making them easy to distinguish.

After a short while, Old Nine excitedly picked up a Crystal Stone from the ground and said:

"Yang Xiao, I found one too."

"That's great, this is enough to prove there has to be a Crystal Stone vein here."

"Yes, and the fact that the Crystal Stone vein is exposed on the surface likely means that during the rainy season, flash floods washed these stones out."

"But how do we go about searching for this vein?"

Just then, Qin Lu ran over, calling them to come eat dinner.

Yang Xiao handed the two small Crystal Stones to Qin Lu to look at.

Qin Lu was taken aback,

"Purple Origin Crystal Stone, where did they come from?"

"Found them on the ground."

"Holy smokes, really?"

Qin Lu, originally disheartened, was suddenly excited.

"If we're not mistaken, this area must have a Crystal Stone vein, and it's probably shallow."

"So what do we do?"

"I was thinking just now, there's one simple method. Tomorrow we'll get everyone to form a line and do a drag net-style search of the ground. However, since the vein is underground, even if it's exposed, it might be covered by mud and debris, so it might not be easy to find."

Old Nine, standing aside, thought for a moment and said,

"Maybe I have a method."

Old Nine followed Yang Xiao back to the base camp, where everyone was gathered around a campfire having a barbecue.

Guo Lang of the Prospecting Team saw Yang Xiao returning and chuckled:

"Young Master Yang, are we heading back tomorrow? Several other mining sites are waiting in line for us, you see, you've been prospecting here for eight days without a hint of a vein, and we've done our best."

Yang Xiao glanced at Old Nine, and Old Nine smiled and said:

"Brother, I'd like to ask you a question."

Guo Lang glanced at Old Nine and said indifferently:

"What question?"

"Did you set a detection depth when you used the detection equipment?"

"Of course. Why, do you understand it too?"

"Ah, no, I don't. I just want to ask, what's the detection depth you set?"

Guo Lang bit into a piece of meat, somewhat reluctantly saying:

"We set the depth to about 80 to 120 meters underground. Is there a problem?"

"So, for the rock layers above 80 meters, they are actually not detected, right?"

Guo Lang, getting a bit impatient, said:

"Nonsense, more than eighty percent of the crystal stone mines are buried around a hundred meters deep. It's very rare to find ore veins above eighty meters, so of course we detect below that depth."

Old Nine, not taking offense, said:

"So, your equipment can detect a vertical range of forty meters, right?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Ah, in that case, I'd like you to adjust the detection range to from the surface down to 40 meters underground for detection tomorrow, okay?"

"Ridiculous, who detects rock layers above 40 meters? You guys are just messing around."

Guo Lang felt that Old Nine was questioning his professional competence, which made him quite annoyed—he had been prospecting for ten years and had ample experience.

Old Nine did not speak further, but instead looked towards Yang Xiao.

Yang Xiao smiled faintly and said:

"Captain Guo, how about this: we've paid you a hundred million crystal coins, and it's only been eight days. Isn't there still two days left? Please trouble yourself to adjust the detection parameters as my brother suggested just now, and continue the search for two more days. If we still can't find any ore veins, we will accept the loss."

"You, you guys are just messing around. I've been prospecting for ten years; I've never detected rock layers above forty meters. If this gets out, won't my peers laugh their heads off?

Others will seriously question my professional spirit. Do I even want to stay in this field?"

Guo Lang got very angry, and his subordinates echoed his sentiment.

"That's right, if this gets out, others might think we're deliberately deceiving customers and scamming their money."

"We are a professional prospecting team, with ten years of specialization, you understand?"

"You all don't understand prospecting, why are you giving senseless orders?"

"If it weren't for Boss Qin asking us, we wouldn't have come to prospect for you this quickly. It was all for the face of our old client, Boss Qin."

...

Yang Xiao, Old Nine, and Qin Lu looked at each other.

"Captain Guo, let me offer a compromise. See if it's feasible. Tomorrow, adjust the detection parameters according to our suggestions and continue detecting for two more days. Even if it's messing around, if nothing is detected, I'll double your payment to ten million crystal coins a day. How about that?"

"You?"

Guo Lang paused for a moment, looking at Yang Xiao.

"Young Master Yang, are you serious?"

"Of course, do I look like I'm joking? We've invested several billion; how could we give up halfway? We're totally serious."

Guo Lang hesitated for a moment, then said loudly:

"Alright, since you insist on messing around like this, then I'll also make it clear. We'll adjust the detection parameters according to your method, and the moment the two days are up, we're leaving immediately. Don't come looking for us in the future; find another prospecting team.

Also, if we find an ore vein, I won't charge an additional fee for the ore vein detection."

According to the rules, detecting an ore vein would cost a hundred million crystal coins.

(One more chapter to come)