Huang Mao rubbed his coal-stained hands and walked towards them, wanting to inquire about the situation.
But before Huang Mao could get close, those people simultaneously clutched their backpacks, stood up with a 'swish,' and hastily shuffled several steps to the side, instantly putting a great distance between themselves and Huang Mao.
Only Huang Mao was left standing awkwardly in place, his hand, extended to greet them, frozen in mid-air, looking particularly comical.
The agent who brought Huang Mao here, seeing this scene, shook his head: it seemed he had really brought an idiot.
He called out to Huang Mao, "Come over here."
Fortunately, Huang Mao was thick-skinned; he acted as if nothing had happened and scurried back to the agent's side.
The agent said, "This isn't some formal place. You're new here, yet you go around trying to greet people. I don't know what you're thinking."
Huang Mao scratched his head, "I just wanted to see if they had dug up anything."
The agent loudly complained, "Then you shouldn't have asked, right?!"
"Oh, I see..." Huang Mao pondered for a moment and felt that the agent made sense; his behavior was indeed impolite.
Dong Gang, standing nearby, burst into laughter instead.
The agent was sure these two were idiots, but since he had taken their money, he might as well say a few more words.
He pointed near the cave entrance, "Consider those tools over there lent to you. Remember to bring your own next time.
Then find a spot to dig, try to stay away from others to avoid disputes."
"Oh! Thank you!"
Huang Mao and the other person both stepped forward, picked out a pickaxe and a shovel, and each took a headlamp, then eagerly went into the cave.
The few people at the cave entrance, disturbed by Huang Mao, lost their desire to rest, packed up their backpacks, and left.
The dim yellow light cast mottled shadows on the ground. No one noticed that in the forest not far behind them, another person, with a Murkrow perched on his shoulder, had stealthily followed them there.
This person was Lao Tian from the poaching team. He happily stroked Murkrow's feathers:
"This is great. When you're sleepy, a pillow appears."
Their team's hiding place was conveniently near this fossil pit. He had sneaked out while his boss was drunk, and who knew, he just happened to encounter the agent bringing Huang Mao and his companion here.
He sent Murkrow to eavesdrop on and track Huang Mao and his companion, and who knew, there was such an unexpected discovery.
Since this was an unsupervised place, he simply walked out openly, casually picked up a few tools at the cave entrance, and went inside.
The cave entrance was quite large, but the further one went in, the lower the cave's height became. After just a few steps, one had to bend over.
Not long after entering the mine, darkness completely engulfed them, as if they had entered a world cut off from the outside. They couldn't see their hands in front of their faces, and every step felt like treading on an unknown abyss.
Fortunately, they had headlamps. A dim yellow light pierced the darkness, but it could only illuminate a small area directly in front of them.
The cave walls were rough and uneven, with traces of past mining still remaining in the hollows. The headlamp's light shone on them, reflecting a strange glow, like countless eyes peering from the darkness.
Water droplets occasionally fell from the cave ceiling, the "drip, drop" sound echoing in the silent mine, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
The ground was uneven, covered with rocks of varying sizes and accumulated water. Every step had to be taken carefully, for fear of accidentally slipping.
And there were several forks in the cave, like a huge and complex labyrinth map.
Some of the Fork in the Road emitted faint electric light and the echo of striking stones, while several other Fork in the Road were hidden in darkness, like unknown fates beckoning. As far as the light reached, only the deep entrances to the Fork in the Road could be seen, but what was hidden inside remained unknown.
Dong Gang wished him good luck and chose an unoccupied fork to enter.
Huang Mao responded with a thumbs-up, "I wish you good luck in digging up your desired fossil too, Master Dong!"
After speaking, he also found a fork and went inside.
He bent at the waist, moving with difficulty through the narrow and dimly lit mine, finally reaching the end of a fork.
Thick dust permeated the air, and the headlamp's light scattered within it, making the visibility even blurrier.
He didn't think much of it, but he swung the tool in his hand with force, striking the ore.
With a "clank," the sound echoed in the mine, as if countless echoes were responding. Each swing of the tool required him to exert all his strength, because the mine space was small, he couldn't stretch his body, and his movements were restricted, making mining particularly difficult.
Fortunately, Huang Mao had two reliable Pokemon, Dwebble and Geodude.
Huang Mao and his Pokemon exchanged glances, their eyes conveying determination and tacit agreement.
The two of them dug hard together, which gave Huang Mao even more motivation to dig!
The "clinking and clanking" sounds echoed in the mine, intertwining into a powerful symphony.
They had a clear division of labor: Huang Mao and Dwebble were responsible for digging with force, and Geodude was responsible for clearing away the fallen gravel.
Sweat drenched Huang Mao's clothes, and dust covered their faces, but no one, human or Pokemon, cried out in exhaustion.
However, the fossils they had hoped for never appeared.
The cave walls were covered with dense chisel marks, like the imprints of their tired yet stubborn efforts.
Despite this, the long period of unproductivity did not discourage Huang Mao, Dwebble, or Geodude.
Friendship transformed into a flame in their hearts, making them believe that hope was just ahead.
As time passed, Huang Mao didn't know what time it was, but they hadn't eaten much since noon, so he decided to take a break.
"You've worked hard. Let's rest for a bit."
He took out two packets of biscuits and shared them with Dwebble and Geodude. These were biscuits specially made for Rock-type Pokemon, rich in minerals and energy.
These biscuits were quite expensive, and Huang Mao usually only gave them to his Pokemon occasionally, but for this Zigong trip, Huang Mao had used up all his Huabei credit to buy many biscuits.
In this small cave, they sat together, eating biscuits by the dim light of the headlamp.
The biscuits didn't taste delicious, but in this harsh environment, they seemed like the most delicious food in the world.
Everyone chewed on their biscuits and talked softly, sharing their thoughts and their hopes of digging up fossils in the future.
Huang Mao asked with a smile, "What kind of fossil do you think we'll dig up?"
Dwebble raised its Claw:
"Dwebble!" (Maybe we'll dig up my ancestor!)
Huang Mao remembered:
"Claw Fossil, Anorith, that's good!"
Geodude waved its fist and said:
"Geodude!" (Maybe it'll be a big one!)
Geodude accidentally knocked off a rock from the ceiling with a swing of its fist, and it landed on its head. Fortunately, its head was hard, so it didn't feel anything.
Huang Mao smiled and helped Geodude brush off the gravel from its head.
"When you evolve later, you'll be a big one too."
And Dwebble seemed to have discovered something, excitedly calling out:
"Dwebble!" (There's a light there!)
Huang Mao looked up in the direction of Dwebble's Claw, and behind the rock that Geodude had just knocked off, there was something reflecting his headlamp.
He leaned in and carefully pried it off. Under the headlamp, he saw that it was a piece of yellow amber, with a small black dot inside the amber.
"This! Could it be!" Huang Mao roughly guessed what it was, but he wasn't sure. He planned to take it to Master Dong or Zhao Jie to ask.
But no matter if this amber could revive a Pokemon or not, he still couldn't hide his excitement. He hugged Dwebble and Geodude:
"Thanks to you two, you did great!"