Amidst the chatting and laughter, everyone finished digging a narrow pit, about the width of a shovel head and half a shovel handle deep.
Then, the group turned and followed the winding path they had come from, leaving the area and returning to the shore.
Once back at the shore, they worked together to set up simple fortifications; essentially, they filled sacks with ore powder and stacked them in front of themselves.
The reason for building fortifications this time was that this was a targeted demolition. To throw the grenades more accurately, they had to be very close to the pits.
To prevent flying shrapnel and blasted pebbles from injuring anyone, this precaution was necessary.
Once everything was ready, everyone pulled the pins from their grenades, aimed at the narrow pits they had dug, and threw them one after another.
Of course, even at such a short distance, throwing a grenade into a specific pit was not actually a simple task.
Fortunately, Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the other four had undergone professional throwing training. As for Feng Chengmin, Wang An, and the other two, although they were self-taught, they were quite accurate when it came to throwing grenades.
Consequently, except for two or three grenades—thrown by someone unknown—that missed their marks, the rest landed right in the pits.
Naturally, this was to be expected.
After a series of loud explosions, the water level in the small lake began to drop at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It had to be said that when it came to digging holes, grenades were the professional choice.
As time passed, the water in the small lake quickly became very shallow.
To be precise, the lake had vanished, leaving only a stream of water flowing through the depression.
Once the water receded, the center of the former lake was revealed before their eyes.
A layer of stagnant water remained at the center of the lake, and through that thin surface, everyone could clearly see what lay beneath.
It had to be admitted that this visual effect was absolutely captivating.
Thus, except for Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li, who showed little reaction, the other seven—including Feng Chengmin—immediately developed bloodshot eyes and rapid breathing upon seeing the scene.
Furthermore, these seven subconsciously lifted a foot, though they all forced themselves to endure the urge and did not step forward.
At this moment, it was estimated that even a "virtuous bald donkey" who spoke only of "Yuan" and not of money would likely throw away his prayer beads and shout at the top of his lungs
"Amitabha! A monk should not be greedy, but the more the better—it's all fucking mine!"
To be honest, if such a "virtuous bald donkey" had actually done so, it wouldn't have been surprising.
Mainly because the scene was just too fucking spectacular; it was absolutely more than a common mortal could bear.
In the center of the lake, across an area of about three to four square meters, there were "golden eggs" that looked like river pebbles.
It was impossible to determine exactly how many there were, simply because there were too many—a dense, crowded mass of "golden eggs."
The size and shape of the golden eggs were similar to the piece the tailless fox had dug up for Wang An—the piece of gold with a bullet embedded in it.
From this, it was evident that the gold in Wang An's hand had likely come from here; more accurately, it had been moved before entering this lake.
Because this lake gave off the impression of being a place one could enter but never leave.
However, the person moving the gold must have been discovered and was forced to hide it, only for it to be found by the tailless fox and eventually benefit Wang An.
Noticing the lifted feet of the group, Wang An immediately joked with a smile
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you all doing? Do you have a death wish? Hahaha!"
Wang An's shout made everyone feel a bit ashamed, so they collectively turned their gaze toward him and gave him a fierce glare.
Seeing this reaction, Mu Xueli and Wang Li subconsciously chuckled, but the two were clever and quickly lowered their heads to avoid being noticed.
In truth, the reason Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li could remain so calm was simply that each of them had already harvested a large amount of gold bricks and bars back in the stone mountain.
After enduring the unfriendly glares, Wang An didn't mind. Instead, his expression suddenly became serious as he spoke to the group
"We should throw the grenades more densely this time. I feel like there are bound to be mines around these golden eggs."
Hearing this, Wu Dong nodded.
"Yeah. Everyone just keep one grenade for self-defense; throw the rest over there."
Wang Shuai immediately added
"The gold is right there for the taking. Let's play it safe."
After Wang Shuai spoke, the others chimed in with a few words of agreement, and the group returned to their fortifications.
Once prepared again, the grenades in their hands were thrown one by one.
What followed was a succession of explosions.
It had to be admitted that whoever designed this method of hiding gold was a truly ruthless character.
Because in this place, there were not only many mines along the shore, but there were actually mines present in the now-dry lakebed as well.
Furthermore, as they threw the grenades, the group discovered that in many places, there wasn't just one mine, but two or even three buried one above the other.
The most impressive part was that many mines, after being hit by a grenade, would not explode immediately, but would go off a few seconds later.
And the most impressive of all were the mines that had been blasted out of the ground but still didn't fucking explode!
They just sat there steadily, staring at the group as if mocking their incompetence.
The reason for saying the mines were "sitting" there was that the mines before them looked very much like the Type 59 iron-shell mines, which were clones of the old Russian ones.
Of course, it was obvious from the appearance of these unexploded mines that they were privately made.
This was also evident from the blast radius of the previous explosions; the largest radius was only about four meters, while the smallest was just over two meters.
The official clones of that era had a blast radius of over seven meters.
However, whether they were privately made or official clones, as long as they were mines, no one underestimated them.
Because no matter how small the power, they could easily send a person to the afterlife.
Without exaggeration, the more grenades the group threw, the more alarmed they became, and the worse their expressions grew.
Mainly because these mines were buried too densely, and they were buried in a dizzying variety of ways—it was truly fucking terrifying.
(End of Chapter)