A scorching sun slowly rose from the long yellow sand plains east of Libya, and the whole world was suddenly enveloped in dazzling and intense sunlight; The temperature in the air rises rapidly, from a cold temperature of almost zero degrees Celsius to a level of heat that is on par with the temperature of the human body in less than two hours.

Kate stripped off her thick gown and walked out of the barracks with a wide sunhat full of pain; Several teammates were busy unloading drilling equipment from trucks at the barracks gate and dumping fuel into the diesel generators that powered it. He raised his hand to take the bundles of wires thrown by a sturdy man, and said with a tired tone in his voice, "Rui, this is our third exploration site, right?" ”

The sturdy man called Rui nodded, and said angrily, "This is our last exploration point, and we can go back after 20 days of working in this area." There's no one here to supervise it, but the rules of our goblin exploration team can't be broken; What's more, we will have to submit a detailed survey report to Mr. Rudolf after returning to Hamburg, so I hope you will stick to this last minute. ”

Hearing her old friend's reminder of herself, Kate responded listlessly; In addition to the fact that the climate here has long made his body and mind seriously uncomfortable, the more important thing is that he is afraid of the bitterness and resentment in his heart about his trip. Counting the days, I have been in this damn desert Gobi Desert for more than a month, and I have traveled more than 200 kilometers on the way, living like a savage in two places where life is almost extinct, like an outcast of God. Now I have come to another hell that seems to not exist in human civilization. As far as the eye can see, you can only see an endless stretch of light white sand, except for a few tropical plants like hairballs tenaciously dotted among them, and the whole world is actually left with only a few of their lives.

"Why, that damn Jonas would have us come to these places and give us such detailed latitude and longitude coordinates? Is he really crazy? Kate leaned down and lay wires on the hot sand where she could bake eggs, and wailed in her heart with grief. He couldn't understand the other party's purpose in driving him so much, and the futility of the first two coordinates also made his already hopeless heart even more depressed and depressed. Kate, who had set up the line, silently removed her small machine for shallow drilling from the truck, and several direct contact with metal on the way burned his teeth; When he finally unloaded it from the truck and inspected the machine itself, Rui, who was not far away, started the diesel generator, and Kate began the routine work with her teammates who had been in various places.

With the sharp hissing of the electric drill machine, Kate, who was originally full of resentment, suddenly realized that something was wrong; The geological structure here seems to be quite loose, and its sampling efficiency has been improved to a considerable extent compared to the previous two sites. After more than three hours, he snapped the stop button, then put on his gloves and slowly pulled out a large rock sample from the hot ground that the machine had just processed. Different from the gray-white hard rock that can be seen everywhere on the surface in front of you, this rock sample has a complex color but layered veins, which is quite a masterpiece of ghostly craftsmanship. Kate set her gaze on it, and soon the nonchalance in his eyes dissipated, replaced by an incredulous look of surprise and solemnity.

"Rui! Matthew! Dhoni! You're all coming and seeing! Kate suddenly spoke loudly, calling out the names of several members of the team in a row; The crowd who was sampling separately was startled, and quickly turned off the machinery and walked over quickly. Kate, who had glasses on the bridge of her nose, didn't speak immediately, but just stretched out her arm in front of her teammates who were rushing separately and pointed at the rock formation sample next to her, and when everyone saw the blue-gray stripes at the bottom, their hearts were all shocked. After a few moments, they reached out and vigorously rubbed some crumbs down the line; Sniffing with the wind, everyone's faces showed a shocking meaning that was beyond words.

Kate's face was solemn and she said slowly: "In my opinion, this is almost certainly the Paleocene carbonate series, and it is the best caprock for oil formed by decaying marine organisms in the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. On this sample, which is only a few meters deep, I can clearly smell a trace of hydrocarbons that are not part of the carbonate formation, which means that there are more than 70% possible organisms under this land! I mean, let's go and take more samples, and it's better to dig deeper; If all the samples fit this profile, our trip won't be in vain! You probably won't have any objections, right? ”

The sturdy man Rui said hesitantly: "Even you, Kate, don't complain about the hardships, what else do we have to say?" May we find something in this forsaken land! The crowd nodded their heads in response, and hurried back to their place of work as fast as they had come; And Kate also started the portable drilling machine again after pouring two mouthfuls of water, and there was no longer the previous depression and pain between her eyebrows.

The roar of machinery echoed in this ancient and desolate desert the sound of modern industrial civilization, and the blazing red sun slowly climbed to the highest sky, and then gradually turned westward, as if its heat and light had never changed. Exhausted, Kate sat on a small wooden stool with weak thermal conductivity, but her slightly dark and thin face showed a smile of joy that she had never seen before, because she and her teammates had collected several samples, and the situation shown by them was very similar to her original sample. This means that there must be some organism buried under this land, either natural gas or oil!

"Maybe we should send a telegram to Tripoli and ask them to bring over that big drilling rig that has been useless!" Kate said with an excited expression. At this moment, he no longer had the initial dissatisfaction and resentment towards Fang Yan, who was far away in Italy, but was full of embarrassment, admiration, and a little doubt. As a veteran geological prospector, Kate understands the variables and difficulties all too well; How did the other party conclude that there would be a harvest here through some incomplete investigation reports?

"There's finally a harvest in the Siirt Basin." After receiving an enthusiastic telegram from Kate, Fang Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Of the three duty stations he proposed to the exploration team in his telegram, the last was the site of the Shalala oil field, the largest oil-producing hub in history in Libya. And the reason why Fang Yan ranked this location last was precisely to minimize his impact on the whole thing; If he had been like an exploration team pointing out where there was oil in the first place, I am afraid that even everyone would have been incredibly suspicious of him!

The rest can be done by his cheap daddy Rudolph. According to Fang Yan's memory, the total reserves of this oil field are more than 1 billion tons, and its daily production accounts for a quarter of the whole of Libya. Even if the explorers hired by Rudolph only found a fraction of the total reserves, it would be enough to make all powerful investors rush to it. In this case, it is obviously the most ideal choice to hand over the control of oil exploration in this area to the Italian government behind the elder Ciano; In this way, it can not only ensure the exploitation of oil here, but also obtain enough benefits by virtue of the first work and its own relationship.

A few days later, when Fang Yan and Sylvia returned to the mansion at close to 11 o'clock in the evening, as usual, they suddenly found that the old Ciano's car had been parked in the courtyard. Fang Yan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the expression on his face became nervous, and Sylvia looked even more panicked, like a frightened pigeon. They walked into the main hall with a hard head, and saw old Ciano sitting on the sofa with an angry face, seeing that the situation was not good, and Sylvia, who was a thief, could only go to pull the corner of her father's clothes; The delicate and beautiful face exudes a sweet smile that flatters and coquettishness, as if she is a filial little padded jacket who is extremely deferential to her father.

"I heard all about it from the housekeeper. You go back to your room first, and I'll come back to you later." Regarding his daughter's flattery, old Ziano's face did not change, and he said in a slightly harsh tone. Sylvia smiled stiffly, then looked at the young man beside her with hesitation and worry; She was about to say something more, but was glared at by old Chiano, and finally had to stomp her foot, turn around and leave step by step.

The chandelier hangs with brilliance. Seeing that Sylvia's shadow finally disappeared at the door, old Ciano said lightly: "Jonas, you still have a long way to go in the future, and you shouldn't be in a hurry to get along this month and a half." Although I have agreed to your relationship, this must not affect Sylvia's normal life. ”

"I see, Uncle Ziano." Fang Yan replied respectfully, secretly relieved in his heart. Fortunately, he has always adhered to the bottom line in his relationship with Sylvia, and has never agreed to some of the girl's overly intimate requests, otherwise it will be difficult for the old Ziano, who loves young girls very much, to let go of himself easily today. Old Ziano paused, and then said: "I came back from Rome briefly ahead of schedule this time, mainly for two things. In the Navy's just-concluded tender for new ships, Ansaldo Shipyard won an absolute victory over other competitors with the design innovation brought by Brom Foss; The main orders for 2 10,000-ton cruisers and 4 destroyers were all taken by our side. Under the terms of the agreement, Brom-FOSS will receive 8% of the royalties of the contract amount; And most of it belongs to you, and I don't have to bother Mr. Rudolph any more. ”