One could imagine that regardless of the reason, as long as the blasting caps and explosives were detonated, there would absolutely be no one left alive in that entire hollow!
And once everyone was dead, there would be virtually no one left who knew that there was gold in the small lake.
Even if one or two people who knew the situation survived, it wouldn't actually matter.
Because humans are greedy; with a secret like gold in a lake, they would do their utmost to keep their mouths shut, hoping to find a way to claim all the gold for themselves.
Thus, those blasting caps and explosives were left out in the open—partly for convenience of use, but primarily for the purpose of silencing witnesses.
Of course, even if the secret of the gold were discovered by others, there were still landmines there guarding it.
Though, as expected, there was likely a safe path to retrieve the gold from the lake, but the number of people who knew of this path was certainly a very small minority.
Therefore, knowing the secret of the gold was useless. For instance, these paupers guarding the laborers definitely knew there was gold in the lake, but they could only watch from the sidelines.
Because once landmines are buried in the soil, completely clearing them is by no means a simple task.
Furthermore, it was highly likely that these paupers kept each other in check, and it was uncertain whether there was another group of monitors among the laborers themselves.
In summary, one could tell how formidable the person who designed this plan to hide the gold in the lake was; they were practically a genius.
Unfortunately, he ran into someone like Wang An, who didn't play by the rules. Most importantly, Wang An and his group had a large quantity of grenades!
The reason Wang An wanted everyone to prepare their grenades was that he intended to use brute force to overcome technique—using grenades to detonate the landmines, thereby forcibly removing all the hidden threats.
The ultimate goal was to take all the gold.
Once the group understood the plan, they began looking around, searching for suitable spots to throw the grenades.
While the theoretical effective kill radius of a grenade is 6 meters, the shrapnel flying out can still injure someone even 20 meters away.
Therefore, the throwing point became a critical factor; they couldn't exactly blow themselves up while throwing the grenades!
However, before the group could find their positions, Wang An continued
"Let's wait a bit before throwing the grenades. We need to find a way to drain the water from the lake first; otherwise, we'll be groping around forever."
Hearing this, the group felt Wang An's point was reasonable, and they turned their gaze toward the lake's outlet.
After a brief observation, they picked up the iron shovels and pickaxes previously used by the laborers and walked toward the outlet.
Fearing the presence of landmines, a few grenades were tossed ahead first.
It had to be said that the only thing capable of defeating a landmine was likely a grenade.
Just as the sounds of several grenade explosions rang out, the sounds of two landmine detonations followed.
A few more grenades were thrown, but they only triggered one more landmine.
It was clear that while there were landmines at the outlet, they weren't numerous.
After clearing the mines, the group followed the path where the grenades and mines had exploded, curving around to reach the outlet.
They did this because the areas already blasted provided the highest certainty that no more landmines remained.
Soon, the group began digging to the left and right of the outlet.
Although there was strength in numbers and the digging speed was fast, Wang An still felt the water was draining too slowly. After thinking it over, he told the group
"Let's stop digging like this; it's too slow. Each of you just dig a narrow pit about a shovel-handle deep. Keep the distance between pits under one meter. Once we're done, we'll just throw grenades into the pits—it'll be much easier."
It had to be said that Wang An's idea was actually quite good.
After all, the power of a grenade is limited; if a grenade explodes on the surface, the damage to the ground is minimal. Even if it creates a hole, the hole isn't very large.
But if a grenade explodes in a deep pit—and more importantly, in a narrow pit—the effect is completely different. It would be no less effective than drilling holes into ore to plant blasting caps and explosives during mining.
Moreover, since the pits were close together, blasting them one after another would quickly turn the area into a deep trench.
Once Wang An finished speaking, the group grasped the key point, and praises for Wang An began to ring out.
Zhang Shuya praised him, saying, "Not bad, little brother! This is a great method. Big sister will credit you with a merit, hahaha!"
Wang An smiled modestly upon hearing this and didn't engage further with Zhang Shuya's comment.
Wang Shuai followed up with a chuckle, "Alright, Xiao An! As expected of my brother from another mother. Your brain really works; you're much better than me, your big brother, hahaha..."
Wu Dong also laughed, "I have to say, Xiao An is too excellent as the Gold Gang leader; he can think steps ahead of everything."
By this time, Feng Chengmin had mostly recovered. Although he didn't speak, he looked at Wang An and nodded with satisfaction.
Clearly, Feng Chengmin held a very high opinion of his nephew-in-law, Wang An.
He Liang and Ma Guoqiang also chimed in: "Xiao An is capable, very capable!"
Mu Xueli and Wang Li didn't have much of a reaction; mainly because in their eyes, Wang An was omnipotent. No matter what high-level feat he accomplished, it was considered normal.
Only Sun Nian looked at the group and Wang An with a beaming smile, her thoughts unknown.
Hearing everyone's words, Wang An spoke with a modesty that was actually quite boastful
"Of course. When you're with me, your only responsibility is to get rich."
"Hahahahaha!"
As soon as Wang An finished, everyone burst into laughter.
Fortunately, what Wang An said was a fact, so no one uttered a word of contradiction.
After the laughter subsided, the group began chatting again, and the topic was entirely about the gold that had yet to appear in the lake.
Just like that, the previous oppressive atmosphere completely vanished amidst the talking and laughing.
It was evident that at this moment, everyone's minds were filled with gold; as for the bloody water and shredded flesh in the lake, they were simply ignored.
It had to be said that gold is the true source of all happiness; as long as the gold is there, any negative emotion ceases to exist!
(End of Chapter)