My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 32 Evil Sect
When Zhou Jingming was in the Great Northern Wilderness, he had also used tractors. He had no problem driving tractors and knew a little about simple repairs.

He took the crank from Wang Youping and tried to start it three times, but failed each time. He checked the fuel tank and the pipeline with a flashlight, but couldn't find the problem.

Wang Youping opened the toolbox and asked Zhou Jingming to help him shine a flashlight. He tugged and twisted here and there, crawling and kneeling, even crawling under the front of the car to check. He almost disassembled the engine. After a while, he tried to start it twice, but still couldn't succeed.

Peng Yuanchao couldn't wait any longer and jumped out of the car: "Is it cold? How about we make a fire to warm ourselves up?"

Zhou Jingming frowned: "It's only been a short time since the engine was turned off, and the water in the tank is still boiling hot. It can't be because it's cold."

Then, he looked at Wu Yang with some expectation: "Brother, do you understand this?"

Wu Yang shook his head: "I haven't even touched it!"

The rest of the people had been sitting in the car for quite some time, and were stiff and cold all over. Since they couldn't move for the time being, they simply jumped off the car and moved their hands and feet around the car. They also took the opportunity to smoke a cigarette to refresh themselves, and some even unbuckled their belts to urinate on the road.

There was also a man from Yuzhou who ran away into the distance with a flashlight.

Upon seeing this, Peng Yuanchao immediately shouted, "Why are you running around like that?"

"Take a dump!" the man replied.

Peng Yuanchao warned, "Don't go too far. If you get carried away by wolves, I can't take care of you."

Wang Youping checked again, but still couldn't start it. He looked around thoughtfully, then turned around and took out a flashlight that could hold four batteries from the iron box under the seat. He turned it on and scanned the surrounding mountains and fields.

The others didn't understand what he was looking at, but they subconsciously followed his gaze.

Finally, the beam of Wang Youping's flashlight landed on a hilltop high on the barren slope, at the edge of the fir forest.

Immediately, someone noticed what was on the hill: "Holy crap, what's that?"

These are the grassland stone figures found in Altay, Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, and Russia, but due to their wide distribution, their numbers are scarce, and outsiders who come to Altay for the first time don't know much about them.

What's unusual is that the stones used to depict those crooked stone figures are black.

Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao had seen it from afar when they went into the mountains to scout the location, and they didn't find anything strange about it.

Moreover, Zhou Jingming had seen these stone figures more than once.

In his past life, he had heard that someone had taken an interest in these stone figures, pushed them down from the grassy slope, rolled them onto the road, and then transported them away by vehicle.

Seeing the man's startled reaction, Peng Yuanchao shouted again in annoyance, "What's all the fuss about? They're just a few stone figures with human faces and clothes carved into them, what's the big deal!"

"what……"

No sooner had he finished speaking than another scream came from the side of the road behind him, causing several flashlights to be shone back in that direction.

The man who had just gone out to relieve himself came running back, pulling up his pants and staggering. He tripped over his own feet and fell, but got up and ran back towards the group as if he had seen a ghost.

He was already in a bad mood, waiting in the cold, desolate wilderness. Someone had just startled him, and now this guy was yelling like a ghost. He was furious. He went up to the guy, grabbed him by the collar, and shoved him around a few times: "What are you yelling about?"

"There are...there are dead people!"

The man's tongue was tied in knots.

Upon hearing this, Peng Yuanchao paused for a moment, then pushed him aside: "If you don't have one, come back later and see how I deal with you... Where are you?"

The man pointed tremblingly into the river: "It's...it's...it's in the river!"

Peng Yuanchao immediately turned on his flashlight and walked back along the road. Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang followed him, looking around as they went.

Soon, the three of them saw a ragged corpse floating in the shallow water by the riverbank.

The three exchanged glances, went down to the riverbank, stared at it for a while, and then used their flashlights to scan the river upstream and downstream.

Two of the slightly bolder team members also came over to take a look, but upon seeing a real body, they retreated in fright. Peng Yuanchao lowered his voice: "The throat was slit and the body was thrown into the water. It must have been washed down from upstream. Judging by the appearance, it hasn't been long! Brother, what do you think is going on?"

The weather has been sunny for the past few days, which has accelerated the melting of snow and ice on the mountains. The meltwater has flowed into the river, making the water level much higher and more turbid.

Zhou Jingming examined the corpse: "Look at his hair and beard, so long and unkempt, like he hasn't groomed himself for months. And look at the skin on his face, there are frostbite and a lot of cracks, probably because he stayed in the mountains during the winter."

They're either watching over the mines, or they're washing ore in the mountains during the winter..."

Peng Yuanchao nodded: "That's what I think too!"

Wu Yang was a little confused: "Brother Zhou, I don't understand!"

“Some gold mine owners or foremen discovered rich mines last year, but they didn’t finish mining them. They were reluctant to give up, and they didn’t want the mine to be occupied by someone else next year. So they wanted to continue mining and arranged for people to guard it.”

Furthermore, people have been mining in these mountains since ancient times, leaving behind many mine shafts. There are still unmined gold deposits inside, which are also the locations of gold veins. These mines are usually guarded by state-owned mines and are not allowed to be disturbed on weekdays. However, in winter, only a few people guard the state-owned mines, which gives many people the opportunity to do so.

Mining gold from lodestone is much faster than panning for gold in rivers, so some people dig in winter or even use explosives to wash the ore.

Zhou Jingming explained in a low voice: "Those mine shafts have been in disrepair for many years and are most prone to collapse. Every year, many people lose their lives inside them."

Furthermore, the black market is most short of gold in early spring, and the price is also the highest. People risk freezing to death or being trapped in the mountains during the winter to mine gold, hoping to sell it at a high price in the spring and make more money.

But precisely because of this, some teams often fight amongst themselves for the gold just before they leave the mountain, and some people even specialize in intercepting it…

Wu Yang nodded: "Understood... What should we do with the body?"

"It's better to avoid trouble... We can't control everything, so let's just mind our own business!"

Zhou Jingming got up and started walking back.

Peng Yuanchao and Wu Yang did not linger on the riverbank. They returned to the tractor and heard a group of people talking about a dead person. Their faces were full of panic.

"Look at you all, so spineless! It's just a dead man, we've all seen it before... Stop talking nonsense, you're just scaring yourselves!"

Peng Yuanchao shouted at the group, trying to quell the panic spreading through the ranks.

Someone asked in a low voice, "Boss, what's going on?"

Peng Yuanchao glared at him: "You're asking me... who the hell am I supposed to ask?"

The newbies immediately dared not ask any more questions.

Just then, Wang Youping, who was at a loss with his tractor, hesitated for a moment, then took out some things from the iron box under the seat and laid them out by the roadside.

Wu Yang was somewhat bewildered when he saw that he had laid out incense, candles, and yellow paper: "What's this for? The car won't start, will burning incense and paper money help? Why are you doing this?"

Wang Youping glanced back at Wu Yang: "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand..."

Zhou Jingming also gently tugged at Wu Yang's sleeve, signaling him to be quiet.

Wang Youping lit incense and candles, offered two steamed buns as a sacrifice, and chanted incantations while burning paper money.

After fiddling around for several minutes, once the yellow paper he had taken out had burned, he bowed to the four directions, then returned to the truck, took out an oil drum from the truck bed, and added some oil to it.

This time, he cranked the handle, and the tractor miraculously started up, chugging and puffing out plumes of black smoke.

Everyone was stunned. Peng Yuanchao couldn't help but exclaim, "This is weird!"

The only one who seemed relatively calm was Zhou Jingming.

(End of this chapter)