Quake coughed lightly, "The extra reward Points are distributed as follows: Qianlong receives 1000 Points, Aina 600, and Jones 400. Next, all teams will head to your area for resource mining. Fatty Fish will arrive at coordinates 451, 726 in 4 hours."
Aina replied calmly, "Okay."
One thousand Points may seem like a lot, but Qianlong knew very well that it was just a few extra meals.
After the communication ended, Aina spoke up.
"Prepare for operations, follow me."
Aina led the way in a certain direction, with three Harvesters moving steadily toward their destination.
According to the feedback from the Collector, the final analysis indicated that the Titanium Chrome Ore was located in the area Qianlong was exploring.
Upon reaching the designated area, the three of them waited in their Harvesters.
One by one, Harvesters from other directions approached.
"Hey, isn't this Aina? You guys are really lucky."
A team of Harvesters that came over teased them.
Aina ignored them, and Qianlong suddenly felt that the camaraderie among colleagues wasn't as harmonious as he had imagined.
"I've been ignored."
The other Harvesters in the team laughed.
"Shut up, you guys," Jones said.
"This isn't your business."
"You looking for trouble?" Jones showed no signs of backing down.
"Oh, so you want to be a hero? Fatty Fish hasn't arrived yet, how about a one-on-one?" The leading Harvester mocked.
"Zhang Gai, if you want to fight, then come on," Jones said, not backing down.
At this moment, Aina spoke up, "Jones, stop it."
Zhang Gai took a few steps forward, while the other two Harvesters retreated.
"If you're scared, you can back off."
Jones snorted coldly and drove his Harvester forward.
Qianlong was somewhat confused; can they really fight like this? He remembered that the rules stated clearly on the third day of class that private fights were strictly prohibited, and the consequences were severe. If a Harvester was damaged as a result, the repair costs could bankrupt someone, not to mention the responsibility that would be pursued, and it was normal to end up in prison.
Aina drove her Harvester directly in front of Jones.
"That's enough."
Seeing that Aina was genuinely angry, Jones fell silent.
Then Aina turned to the others and said, "If you continue to stir up trouble, I'll report it."
Zhang Gai showed a mocking smile. "We were just joking."
What was about to escalate into a provocation finally calmed down.
At this moment, other Harvesters appeared in the distance, indicating that everyone had arrived.
After a while, a huge rumbling sound came from the sky, and Fatty Fish appeared above everyone.
"Prepare to deploy the operational tools."
Everyone received the notification from Fatty Fish.
Then the bottom of Fatty Fish opened its hatch, and huge metal boxes were dropped one by one.
Like cannonballs, they landed at the designated spots.
"Task Two: Within three days, set up simple mining drilling at the designated three coordinates."
Excluding the three teams that lost contact, a total of five teams gathered. Aina's team was assigned to install on-site, while the other four teams were grouped into pairs to head to the nearby two coordinates for setup.
It seemed that Aina's team's task had become significantly heavier, but in reality, it was a favor, as the dividends from the mined resources would at least double. This was an unspoken rule, but no one spoke up.
Everyone knew that Quake had a good relationship with Aina's team.
After the task was assigned, the other teams moved aside.
Aina drove the Harvester over, opened the dropped boxes, which contained some supplies and some machine parts, and began to take out half-assembled machines.
Qianlong and Jones also didn't stand idle and went over to help.
Assembly was a tedious and monotonous task. Qianlong still hadn't fully understood how to assemble it, but fortunately, Aina provided clear instructions, and Phantom assisted from the side, making the process relatively smooth.
The three of them worked until nightfall, and staying up late was unavoidable because no one knew if another storm would come. If it did, these instruments would definitely be scrapped.
Three days later, aside from necessary rest, the three of them had not stopped.
Jones couldn't help but glance at Qianlong and said, "Kid, not bad. It's rare to see such an outstanding newcomer."
"Thank you." Qianlong didn't know how to respond.
"Just too rigid," Jones sighed.
Aina said lightly, "If you have time to chat, hurry up and work."
Jones couldn't help but shake his head, "Aina, why are you so boring?"
"How many people do you think can operate a Harvester like you, who often flirts with girls?" Aina bluntly pointed out.
"Alright, no more chatting," Jones lamented.
The setup work went very smoothly, and a huge drilling rig was assembled by the three of them.
Jones went up and directly punched the switch button.
"Manual?" Qianlong was also very surprised.
The huge probe began to rotate and then slowly drilled into the ground.
"Is this how we extract it?" Qianlong asked uncertainly.
Phantom provided the answer, "To be precise, this is just a rough breakdown."
"Breakdown?" Qianlong muttered to himself.
"Kid, don't be dazed. You think this is the end?" Jones shouted.
Hearing Jones's words, Qianlong turned to look at him.
He saw Jones push over the previously loaded metal box, and irregular powdery fragments began to flow out from the tail exit of the drilling rig.
"Is this Titanium Chrome Ore?" Qianlong asked.
Jones yawned, looking tired, "Yes, we always choose the most resource-rich areas for mining. In about three days, we'll need to move this rig to another spot. Although it damages the resources a bit, it's the most efficient method."
"Is this stuff expensive?"
"Pretty valuable," Jones replied.
"Then the one percent commission should be quite high," Qianlong said, feeling good.
"You think too much. A newcomer is just a newcomer. That one percent dividend will go towards your medical insurance and the extra maintenance costs for the Harvester, etc. What ends up in your pocket won't be as much as you imagine."
Qianlong was taken aback, "Isn't this fraud?"
Aina walked over and said, "There's no fraud. The input and output are always proportional. There are people on Hyberian doing much worse jobs, earning less than our leftovers. A lot of the public resources we enjoy are free. This world doesn't have absolute fairness."
Jones replied with a smile, "Are you educating the newcomer? That's rare."
Aina turned her Harvester around and said, "If you have time to think so much, you might as well speed up and work. Get through three years, and as long as you don't squander, the Points you earn will be enough for you to live a lifetime."
Qianlong said nothing; he just looked up as a Guardian mech flew overhead, likely on
a routine patrol.
The number of Guardians assigned to Fatty Fish was not many, but that couldn't be helped. It wasn't that there weren't extra Guardians on Hyberian, but rather to reduce expenses.
(End of Chapter)