Overpowered Farmer

Download <Overpowered Farmer> for free!

DOWNLOAD

Chapter 3

Jack stared at the golden dot of light and froze for two seconds.

Rare minerals. There were actually rare minerals beneath this wasteland.

His heart started pounding. His first thought wasn't about getting rich — it was that no one could ever find out about this.

He had no idea what was happening in the livestream, or whether anyone even cared about his struggle to survive out here. But at least the production crew was watching him.

If he suddenly showed unusual interest in a particular spot, someone would get suspicious.

Jack kept his face blank, lowered his head, and kept walking with his sled. He looked like he was just wandering around looking for a place to camp.

But his direction had quietly shifted. He was now heading toward the cliff face.

The wind picked up. The snow came down harder.

The comments kept pouring in with worry.

"This weather is getting bad, find shelter already."

"Maybe there's a windbreak somewhere at the base of that cliff?"

"Probably not — that kind of terrain is prime avalanche territory."

"Stop walking, Jack! Just find somewhere out of the wind!"

Jack couldn't see any of this. He had no idea that his every move was keeping tens of thousands of people on edge.

After a while, he looked up at the sky. Since killing the wolf last night, his senses had shifted in subtle ways. The most noticeable was how sharply he could now read the weather.

Right now, for instance, Jack could clearly feel the temperature dropping off a cliff, and the wind speed was already pushing close to 60 feet per second.

A blizzard was coming. If he didn't find shelter soon, he might actually freeze to death tonight.

He picked up his pace, the sled scraping and bumping across the snow behind him.

When he reached the base of the cliff, another glowing point appeared in his mind — a small cave. About 300 feet away. A perfect place to wait out the storm.

Jack looked up at the cliff face.

It was thick with packed snow and ice, but around the 300-foot mark, there was a patch where the snow looked noticeably thinner — and it seemed to dip inward slightly.

That had to be it. Jack fixed the location in his mind and started climbing, dragging the sled behind him.

The slope was steep and slick. To keep from sliding back down, he had to drive his axe into the snow with every step, using it like an ice pick.

He also had to keep an eye on the sled. Everything he owned was on it. Losing it would make the rest of his time out here miserable.

After about ten minutes of climbing, he made it. He drove the axe into the snow first to test it — thin layer, just as he'd thought. Then he pulled on his rabbit-fur gloves and started digging.

The snow gave way quickly, and a cave entrance appeared.

It was small — barely half his height. He'd have to crouch to get inside.

But the cave went back much further than he expected. Fifteen feet, maybe more.

The walls were solid rock. The floor was dry moss and loose gravel. Most importantly, there was no snow inside — which meant even when the blizzard hit, this place would hold.

Jack unloaded the sled and used his waterproof tarp to cover half the entrance. Enough to block the wind, but not enough to cut off the air.

He dug out his firewood — dry branches he'd been collecting — and rationed it in his head. Two, maybe three days' worth if he was careful.

He sliced a few strips of wolf meat with his knife, threaded them onto sticks, and held them over the fire.

The meat sizzled. Fat dripped down into the flames and they jumped higher.

Watching Jack settle in, the viewers finally exhaled.

"Oh thank God, he found somewhere. I was freaking out."

"Nice cave — natural shelter. This guy has crazy luck."

"Cliff caves don't collapse, right?"

"No, rock caves are solid."

"Wrap up in that wolf skin and he'll sleep fine tonight."

Jack wolfed down a few strips of roasted wolf meat, then packed the rest into his hide pouch.

He spread out the animal skins he'd been using for bedding, laid them on the cave floor, and found a few flat rocks to use as a pillow. He ringed the fire with small stones to keep it contained.

Then he grabbed the torch he'd made earlier — a stick wrapped in cloth soaked in animal fat, the kind that burns longer in open air — and picked up his axe.

He held up the torch and started walking deeper into the cave, pretending to check his surroundings.

The cave went back further than he'd expected. After fifty or sixty steps, the passage started to narrow.

Still passable if he turned sideways. The walls along the passage caught the torchlight and threw back small glints of brightness.

Jack stopped. He raised the torch, angling it to block the camera, then reached out and ran his fingers along the glinting surface.

The moment he touched it, information surfaced in his mind.

【Rare mineral resource detected】

【Type: Vanadium-titanium magnetite with associated precious metals】

【Estimated reserve: Small vein】

【Estimated value: Approximately $1,200,000】

Jack's heart skipped. He moved his fingers to a plain section of rock.

【Ordinary rock detected. No practical value.】

His ability could assess the value of new materials. Jack's pulse spiked. He touched the ore again.

One point two million dollars.

He swallowed. Just this one vein — more than double the prize money.

He took a slow breath and lowered his hand. He brought the torch back down from in front of the camera.

He looked completely calm. But his mind was already running through it all.

How to mark the location out here in the middle of nowhere. How to come back after the competition ended. How to work around the production company and Alaska's land ownership laws.

None of that mattered right now. What mattered right now was making sure no one realized he knew this ore was here.

Jack stood up casually and kept walking. He couldn't turn back immediately — that would look off.

He moved forward with the torch, his expression distant and unhurried.

Back in the comments, things had gotten lively again.

"Is this guy insane? Why does he keep going deeper?"

"Did the camera get blocked just now? Is Jack in some kind of trouble?"

"Relax, it's November. What's going to threaten him out here besides snow wolves?"

The comments went back and forth. Jack kept walking — and then, without warning, a massive red signal flared in his mind.

Red meant danger.

He stopped dead.

In his awareness: a brown bear. Deeper in the cave. Less than a mile away.

At a bear's running speed, if it spotted him, he was dead.

His hand tightened around the axe without thinking. He pressed his back against the cave wall, held the torch out in front of him, and went completely still.

About ten seconds passed.

Then Jack heard it — a low, rhythmic breathing. Deep and slow. Like something enormous exhaling in its sleep.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter