Tòumíng entered the mining cart, the familiar metal cage that would take him down into the earth. The mechanical grinding of gears and cables filled the air as it descended, passing floor one, then floor two, finally stopping at floor three with a jarring clunk.
He stepped out into the dimly lit tunnel, the overhead lights casting shadows across the rocky walls. The air was thick with dust and the smell of disturbed earth, the temperature already several degrees warmer than the surface.
And there were people. Way too many people.
At least seven miners scattered across the accessible sections of floor three, their headlamps creating moving pools of light as they worked their pickaxes against the walls. The sound of metal striking stone echoed through the chamber in an irregular rhythm that made concentration difficult.
Tòumíng groaned internally. He'd been hoping for relative solitude, for the chance to use his Ore Sense ability to locate valuable deposits quickly and efficiently. But with this many witnesses around, that wasn't going to happen.
He started walking toward a relatively empty section, mentally preparing to activate Ore Sense anyway—maybe he could be subtle about it, maybe no one would notice—
"Don't," Cupid's voice cut through his thoughts sharply. "Don't even think about using Ore Sense right now."
"What's the big deal?" Tòumíng whispered under his breath, quiet enough that the other miners wouldn't hear over their own work. "It's just a visual thing. I'll be quick."
"Ore Sense literally makes your eyes glow blue."
Tòumíng paused mid-step. "What?"
"When you activate it, your eyes emit a bright blue light. Like, phone screen brightness level. Your brown eyes turn into glowing blue beacons that can be seen from across the chamber."
"You never mentioned this before!"
"You've only used it in dark, isolated sections where there was no one around to notice! But right now? With seven miners working within visual range? Someone's going to see your eyes turn into LED flashlights and ask some very uncomfortable questions!"
"Fuck." Tòumíng looked around at the other miners, all of them too close, all of them potential witnesses to supernatural weirdness he definitely couldn't explain.
"I could just go to the bottom floors," he muttered. "Floor five or six. Barely anyone works down there."
"And show up on your first day back from medical leave by immediately going to the most dangerous, least supervised levels of the mine? That won't raise any suspicions at all."
Cupid had a point. Tòumíng was supposed to be a model employee, someone who followed rules and worked assigned sections. Immediately deviating from that would draw attention he didn't need.
"Fine," he sighed. "I'll tough it out."
He grabbed his pickaxe from the equipment station and walked to an empty section of wall, positioning himself far enough from the other miners to have some privacy but not so far that it looked suspicious.
Then he started mining. Blindly. Randomly. Without any supernatural guidance whatsoever.
It was deeply, profoundly boring.
The pickaxe rose and fell in mechanical repetition, striking rock that might contain valuable minerals or might just be worthless stone. Without Ore Sense, there was no way to know. He was literally just hitting walls and hoping something good would eventually appear.
This was what normal miners did. This was what Tòumíng used to do before he died and got supernatural abilities. And it sucked.
One hour passed. Then two. Then three. The monotony was mind-numbing, the physical exertion minimal since his enhanced physique from the metabolic healing made swinging a pickaxe feel like almost no effort at all.
Around him, the other miners continued their work, completely oblivious to how much Tòumíng wanted them to leave. They chatted occasionally, took water breaks, complained about the heat and the dust and their aching backs.
Tòumíng just kept swinging, creating a growing pile of rubble at his feet that contained nothing valuable. Just rock. Worthless, ordinary rock.
Four hours into his shift, the other miners started packing up. The early shift crew, apparently, their work day ending as the late shift would begin filtering in soon.
"Good haul today," one of them said to his companion, hoisting a bag that looked heavy. "Found some decent quartz deposits."
"Lucky bastard. I got nothing but limestone."
They filed toward the cart, their headlamps disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel, their voices fading as they ascended back to the surface.
Twenty minutes later, the chamber was finally empty. Just Tòumíng, alone in the dim lighting, surrounded by his pile of worthless rubble.
"FINALLY!" He dropped the pickaxe and immediately activated Ore Sense.
His vision shifted, the world taking on that familiar X-ray quality that let him see through solid rock. Blue light emanated from his eyes, casting an eerie glow across the immediate area that would have absolutely gotten him caught if anyone had still been around.
He turned slowly, scanning the walls, the ceiling, the floor, searching for any indication of valuable mineral deposits within his ten-foot range.
There. Behind him. In the complete opposite direction from where he'd been mining for the past four hours.
"You've got to be FUCKING kidding me," Tòumíng groaned.
The deposit was massive. Azurite—a deep blue copper carbonate mineral, A-grade quality based on the density and purity he could see through the rock. The formation was unusual, shaped like a disk rather than the typical cluster or vein. Ten feet wide, but only about three inches tall, like someone had pressed a giant blue coin into the stone.
Tòumíng stared at it, at all the work he'd wasted in the wrong direction, at the fortune that had been sitting literally behind his back the entire time.
"Don't say it," Cupid warned.
"I'm saying it. This is bullshit."
"You didn't have a choice. Better to miss it temporarily than get caught with glowing blue eyes."
"Still bullshit."
But complaining wouldn't change anything. He grabbed his pickaxe and started mining in the correct direction, carving through rock toward the azurite deposit with renewed purpose.
The work went faster now that he had a specific target. Ten feet of solid stone between him and a disk of A-grade azurite. Each swing brought him closer, the anticipation building with every chunk of removed rock.
Ten feet wasn't that far when you had supernatural and endurance. Thirty minutes of focused work brought him to the edge of the deposit.
Then he broke through.
Deep, dark blue gemstone revealed itself in the dim light, the color rich and vibrant even in the poor lighting conditions. The disk was exactly as Ore Sense had shown—wide and flat, embedded in the surrounding rock like a giant mineral pancake.
Beautiful. Valuable. And way too fucking big to smuggle out.
Five hundred forty pounds of azurite wasn't something you could hide in your pockets or backpack. This required a different approach.
Tòumíng activated Condense Purity, feeling the skill engage as it had with the amethyst geode. Energy flowed from him into the azurite disk, the molecular structure compressing, density increasing, size decreasing while purity improved.
The massive disk began to shrink. Slowly at first, then faster, the edges pulling inward, the thickness reducing, the whole formation condensing into itself like a time-lapse video of evaporation.
Five minutes later, the 540-pound disk had become a pebble. A very dense, very valuable pebble that fit comfortably in Tòumíng's palm, no bigger than a marble but significantly heavier due to the compressed mineral content.
He activated True Price, focusing on the compressed azurite.
The information appeared in his vision, clear and precise:
ITEM: Azurite (Compressed)
Purity: 98.92%
Weight: 309.4 grams
Market Price per gram: ¥5,006
Total Market Value: ¥1,548,856.40
Tòumíng stared at the numbers.
Read them again.
And again.
One million, five hundred forty-eight thousand, eight hundred fifty-six yuan.
Million.
MILLION.
"Holy shit," he whispered.
His hands started shaking, the pebble nearly slipping from his grip. He caught it, closed his fist around it, felt the weight of condensed mineral and compressed wealth.
"HOLY SHIT!" Louder now, his voice echoing through the empty chamber.
"I'M A FUCKING MILLIONAIRE!"