The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 360 The Secret of the Pine Coal Mine

Ravington looked at Thomas and asked:

"You know a lot about the Pine Tree Mine?"

Thomas patted his thin chest and said:

"Don't think that I'm only twelve years old now. I've been going down into the mines with my father since I was six and a half years old. I spend at least fourteen hours in the mines every day. I'm very familiar with that place."

He lowered his voice and said to the two of them:
"The deeper the mine, the narrower the tunnel. Adults need to crawl forward, so it will be much easier for us to move around."

"When I was a kid, I was shorter than my peers, so it was easy for me to move around in the mines. I was often responsible for delivering messages to different mines."

"Dear gentlemen, I am not bragging, but most miners only work in specific mines. There are not many who know all the mines like me."

Wu Chang looked at Thomas in surprise. Thomas was only about 1.2 meters tall and had a thin frame. He always thought that he was only seven or eight years old, but he didn't expect that Thomas was already twelve years old.

In his reality, before he entered the Abyss Game, the twelve-year-old boy from his neighbor's house was much taller than him, almost 1.85 meters tall, with shoulders one and a half times wider than his.

But it makes sense. During the developmental period, children can only grow rapidly if they eat plenty of meat, eggs and milk and supplement with enough protein and calcium.

In the slums of Grimland, it was not easy to have two meals of black bread and mashed potatoes a day. Meat, eggs and milk were privileges that only the middle class could enjoy. It was understandable that Thomas was so thin.

Compared to Wu Chang, Raventon knew more about the mine. When he heard Thomas' self-introduction, his eyes lit up.

He took out a sovereign note, laid it before Thomas, and said:

"If you can provide enough useful information, it's yours."

Thomas swallowed, his eyes filled with desire for money. When he tried to steal Reventon's wallet before, the fact that there was this banknote in the wallet was enough to make him never return to Stiland in his lifetime.

But facing the banknotes, he still turned his hands behind his back and shook his head:

"No, sir, you saved my sister's life, I can't accept this money."

Wu Chang said: "Saving your sister was God's will, and providing information about the Songshu Coal Mine was for me. There is no connection between the two things."

Seeing Wu Chang say this, Thomas said carefully:

"Sir, I will provide you with the information you need first. If it is really useful, I will charge you."

Wu Chang nodded and said, "Okay."

Raventon opened his pocket watch and looked at the time, then said:

"We are running out of time. Can you come with us to the Pine Tree Mine?"

Thomas said, “Of course!”

Back inside the house, Thomas and Grey said they were going out for a while and would probably be back late tonight.

Gray was a little worried, but she didn't stop him or ask the reason. She just told him to be careful on the road.

Outside the room, Irene also finished today's treatment.

Upon learning that Irene was leaving, the slum residents spontaneously cleared the road, creating a clear lane in the crowded and chaotic slum.

Some things can be acted out, but some things cannot be faked.

Most of the people living in slums are lower-class people. They lack knowledge, but they are not uncommon to see the fickleness of human nature.

When Irene was treating them, she was not at all condescending. She treated everyone equally and gave equal care to all those in need.

Even if they were just onlookers, they could feel from Irene that the other party treated them as equal lives, not cheap consumables or dirty parasites.

Not to mention the noble gentlemen and ladies in the upper class, even the factory managers, the policemen on the roadside, and even the biological parents of many people did not treat them with this attitude.

Some people even woke up from their numbness temporarily after meeting Irene, and realized that they were also human beings, the same as the residents outside the slums.

Anyone who witnessed Irene's actions was impressed by her personal charm. Even though it was the first day they heard about the Eternal Light Sect and they had no idea what the sect was, they still became devout believers of the Eternal Light Sect.

The reason is simple. If even the saint-like Miss Irene can believe it, then there must be nothing wrong with the Yongguang Sect.

When Ravington drove the carriage out of the slums, the miracle tree on the open space had grown to a height of one person. If Irene did it two or three more times, it might be connected to a large kingdom of God.

The carriage followed the Hills River eastward. They left the city of Grimland and drove along the muddy dirt road in the suburbs for another twenty or thirty minutes. A town began to appear at the end of their sight.

Wu Chang asked in confusion: "Is that the Songshu Coal Mine?"

Thomas replied: "Sir, that is the Pine Mine Village, where the miners rest. The coal mine is further east. If there hadn't been an explosion, I would have lived here normally."

"But after the explosion, the police department blocked the entire coal mine, and the workers went to the city to protest, and large-scale violent clashes broke out."

"I was supposed to join the protest, but they thought I was too small and skinny, so they sent me home and only did some work as a messenger for them."

Raventon said to Wu Chang:

"Remember the document on your desk? The event mentioned in the document is the workers' movement."

The document that Ravington mentioned was the document that Ron was reading on his desk when he was assassinated.

"That protest was ineffective and led to large-scale violent clashes, with more than 50 people killed and injured."

Thomas said:
"Yes, many of the people who went to protest were locked up, and the rest mixed with other workers and joined some kind of election campaign."

Ravington prompted, "Charter Movement."

Thomas said, "Yes, it's the Charter Movement. They asked me to deliver letters before."

"After the protest movement, Songshu Mining Village was frequently harassed, so everyone temporarily moved out of the village and waited until the mine reopened before returning."

As they were talking, the carriage had already arrived near the mining village.

Pine Tree Coal Mine is the largest coal mine in Stirland, with more than 0.3 miners. The annual output of the mine alone accounts for % of the country's total output.

Most of the three thousand coal miners and their families live in Songshu Mining Village.

In the town-sized mining village, only scattered lights were on at this moment, and the whole place was dead silent.

If we temporarily look for people from the mining village, we may not be able to find suitable helpers.

The carriage stopped one thousand meters away from the Songshu Mine. Although there was an explosion in the Songshu Coal Mine, only a part of the mine tunnel was destroyed.

Grimmland Police placed the Pine Tree Mine under protective lockdown, fearing that the frenzied miners might blow up the rest of the mine.

If you go any further, you'll run into the police who are blocking the coal mine.

Stopping the carriage, Ravington told Thomas the purpose of their trip, to investigate the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion.

Raventon gave Thomas two options, one was to help them investigate the truth of the bombing.

The second option is to stay in the carriage and pretend nothing happened tonight.

When Thomas heard that they were investigating the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion, he was startled at first, but he quickly adjusted himself.

He rubbed his hands nervously and asked:

"Dear Sir and Miss, I am willing to help you. I do know some things, but I don't know what you want to investigate."

Wu Chang and Raventon looked at each other. They could tell from Thomas' reaction that this guy actually knew some inside information about the coal mine explosion.

Thomas was called along before just to have an extra underground guide when entering the mine. If Thomas can provide important information, it would be a pleasant surprise.

Wu Chang gave Raventon a look, indicating that Raventon should continue the investigation according to his plan.

Raventon paused for a moment and said:

"Thomas, do you know where the mine owner's office is?"

Thomas nodded and said, "I know. I can take you there!"

The four of them tiptoed towards the mine.

Relying on his powerful inspiration, Wu Chang easily led a few people to find a loophole in the blockade and get into the mine office area.

When passing by a dozing policeman, Ravington quietly approached him, and when he saw him not making any movement, he took off a bunch of keys from the policeman's waist.

Not a sound was made during the entire process, and the half-asleep police officer did not notice anything unusual.

His smooth movements and concealed and steady techniques showed Thomas what excellent theft skills are.

Thomas' eyes were twinkling with admiration, while Wu Chang had a strange look on his face, thinking that this guy must have some side job.

Returning to the crowd, Raventon said to Wu Chang in a low voice:
"Don't look at me like a suspect. This is just a necessary skill for detectives when conducting investigations."

The four followed Thomas' instructions and soon arrived at an inconspicuous office.

Raventon took out a steel wire from the inside of the hat and inserted it into the keyhole expertly, feeling the internal structure.

Then he looked at the keychain and selected a key. He inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it gently, and the office door opened.

"This is also an essential skill for a detective." He opened the office door and gestured to several people to come in.

Entering the office, Wu Chang said, "This is the first time I know that being a detective is a profession that allows people to do all kinds of evil."

Ravington looked around and said, "That shows you don't know enough about detectives."

Wu Chang asked: "Will things change after understanding?"

Ravington shrugged. "No, I mean, if you knew the detective well enough, you wouldn't be saying that now."

In the Steam Phantom copy, information can only be recorded by handwriting in paper ledgers.

In order to safely preserve the ledger, the ledger is usually kept in the place that the mine owner considers to be the safest.

Ravington knocked around and soon found a secret compartment on the cabinet against the wall of the office.

Open the secret compartment and you will find a heavy safe inside.

He pulled out a small tool kit from his arms and said, "Wait a minute, it will take a while to open it."

Wu Chang shook his head, came to the safe, and asked, "Is it an ordinary safe?"

Raventon nodded. "It's a normal safe. It doesn't contain any extraordinary technology."

"But this kind of safe is very tricky. It contains gunpowder. Once the lock is forced open and the mechanism is triggered, the internal materials will be damaged."

Wu Chang said: "I didn't say I can't open ordinary locks."

Raventon looked at Wu Chang in surprise. He pushed the tool kit in his hand forward and asked:

"You mean, you're good at opening safes? I heard that the safes in the New World are made extra strong because of the abundance of gold, but I remember that you were doing a serious business there."

Wu Chang did not take over the toolkit, but pretended to say:
"Almighty Eternal Light, your loyal believer is in trouble. I need you to show your divine power and help me open the safe door in front of me."

The Tree of Miracles had already taken root in the slums, allowing him to activate the power of the Tree of Miracles without having to take out the Tree itself.

You know, before the Miracle Tree became the pillar of the Kingdom of God, as a false miracle, its greatest function was to satisfy the power of the user.

With a faint light, the safe in front of him opened.

Ravington's mouth opened wide, his eyes wide.

No, can we ask God for help to open the safe?
He can perform miracles to heal the poor and help believers open safes. If you didn’t tell me, I would have thought he was some chivalrous thief.

He folded the tool kit in his hand, stuffed it back into his chest, and murmured:
"Now we have no choice but to believe in the light of eternal purity."

Where Raventon couldn't see, Irene pinched Wu Chang, and was very dissatisfied with him for ruining her reputation.

She asked Wu Chang through spiritual communication: "It's all your fault. What should I do if one day I receive a prayer from a believer to open the safe?"

Wu Chang showed a flattering smile and said, "Then you can severely punish the gods, which will be regarded as eliminating harm for the people."

Just as Ravington thought, there were two account books in the safe. He opened the account books, took a few glances, and said with interest:

"A coal mine not only uses a safe that could self-destruct, but also uses encryption for its ledgers. Interesting."

Wu Chang came over and said, "Can you untie it?"

Ravington shuddered and asked, "Your Majesty, the Eternal Light, can you even help decipher the account book?"

Wu Chang shook his head. The Light of Eternal Purity was not working because the Miracle skill was on cooldown.

Ravington said thankfully, "That's good. It looks like the detective won't be replaced for the time being."

"It's easy to decipher the account book. I investigated the mine owner. He's a typical businessman, not a very smart guy."

"In order to ensure the stability of the decryption, he will definitely keep the decryption clues with him."

Ravington raised his index finger and moved it across the bookshelf one by one, finally stopping at a book called "Application and Maintenance of Steam Engines in Coal Mines".

Pine Tree Coal Mine is the largest coal mine in Stirland. The owner of the coal mine frequently travels back and forth for social activities and entertainments, and he does not spend much time at the mine. The bookshelves in the office are more for decoration.

But on the decorative bookshelf, this book looks older.

"A manager who could cause a historic explosion in a mine would not spend so much time on such basic knowledge."

He pulled out the book, opened one of the pages, and sure enough, he could see some strange markings on it.

"Just as I thought, with this, it won't take long to crack the ledger."

Wu Chang praised: "You are worthy of being the number one detective in Grimland. We are waiting for your good news."

Fortunately, Raventon spoke quickly enough, otherwise he would have taken action.

Although the Light of Eternal Purity cannot decipher the account books now, the Omniscient Crystal can.

Raventon cracked the code very quickly. It took him only a dozen minutes to find the abnormality in the account book.

He flipped through the account book and said:
"I have only cracked part of the account book, but one thing I can confirm is that the profits of the Pine Tree Mine are not right."

Wu Chang asked: "What's the problem?"

Reventon said:
"In the account books of Songshu Coal Mine, the profits of shallow coal and deep coal are calculated separately. Among them, the profit of shallow coal is not much different from that of other coal mines."

"But in the deep coal sector, the profit is not only higher than that of shallow coal, but even several times higher. This is definitely a problem."

Meeting Wu Chang's confused eyes, Raventon shook his head. Knowing that his captain didn't understand, he began to explain.

Deep coal mining is difficult, digging mines is even more difficult, and the cost is high.

Someone has done the calculations and found that to mine one ton of deep coal, the steam engine alone will consume 0.6 to 0.8 tons of coal.

In comparison, shallow coal mining is less difficult, and every ton of shallow coal requires less than 0.1 ton of coal.

This only takes into account energy consumption, not longer labor costs and higher maintenance costs.

Compared with shallow coal, deep coal does not make any money at all.

If the profit from deep coal is to exceed that from shallow coal, more than 90% of the miners in Songshu Coal Mine need to ignore the shallow coal and move into the deep coal mines, which is obviously unreasonable.

Ravington looked at Thomas and said:
"As far as I know, the shallow coal content of Songshu Coal Mine is huge and is far from being exhausted. I think the personnel allocation of Songshu Coal Mine should not be in this mode."

Thomas lowered his head slightly and whispered:

"Sir, as you said, most of us miners stay in shallow mines."

Raventon nodded slightly and said:

"That's right. According to the information displayed to the public, Songshu Coal Mine is only cooperating with the University of Grimmland to study deep coal mining technology to pave the way for future transformation, rather than turning its attention to deep coal mining."

"In this case, the profit of deep coal is higher than that of shallow coal. There is only one possibility, that is, they dug up something else in the deep coal mine."

"Can you tell me what they found, Thomas?"

Thomas's face showed nervousness, and he was hesitant about whether to tell the truth.

Wu Chang said: "Don't worry, we are not from the police department, and we don't care about anything other than the bombing, let alone what you did in it."

When Thomas saw Wu Chang speak, he relaxed. He took a deep breath, went to the desk of the coal mine owner, disassembled the brass sun ornament on the desk, and took down the brass sphere representing the sun.

He twisted open the brass sphere and pulled out a piece of black mineral, the surface of the mineral shimmering with a colorful black.

"Sir, what they found in the deep is jet."

After hearing this, Ravington showed no surprise on his face, but instead an expression of "as expected".

"I knew that Songshu Coal Mine could cause such a big incident. There must be something wrong."

Wu Chang was confused by what he heard. He did not ask directly what happened, but took the black mineral from Thomas.

The minerals feel light in the hand, lighter than ordinary coal mines. There is no sense of extraordinary energy inside, and there is no pop-up window for props in the Abyss game.

It is not the first time that important things are not prompted in the Steam Phantom copy.

He put on the king's badge and indeed saw unusual information on the mineral.

「Item Name: Jet Spirit」 (Unlocked by King Badge)

「Item type: Special」

"Item Description: Jet contains special energy that can greatly increase thermal efficiency. It is one of the most suitable energy sources for extraordinary steam engines."

"Note: This coal essence is concentrated and purified by the extraordinary refiner. The extraordinary refiner is made with Stilan's unique mineral purification technology and is the shining pearl in the crown of industry."

(End of this chapter)