19: Chapter 19 Oil Emerges from Saline-Alkali Land!

Lin Tian didn't know much about Edison.

He only vaguely remembered that she was the eldest daughter of the Great Inventor.

Upon asking, he learned that Anna was born in 1873 and was only nine years old this year, a year younger than Lin Tian.

Anna's biological mother was named Mary, who was Edison's first wife.

Lin Tian had an impression in his mind that this lady would soon die of a brain tumor.

Afterward, Edison would remarry and have two sons and a daughter.

From then on, Anna and her siblings would have no one to love them.

Thinking of this, Lin Tian looked at the little girl in front of him, feeling a sense of sympathy.

However, he didn't reveal a single word of it.

They had just met, and if he really started cursing her mother to die of illness and her father to marry a stepmother, he would definitely be hated.

Even if it all came true later, no one wanted to hear such gloomy talk.

Lin Tian chatted with the little girl nonchalantly.

He asked casually, "Your family is settled in New York, so why did you come to California?"

Anna explained that she and her mother had just been to the state capital, Sacramento, to lobby the Governor for women's suffrage.

Unfortunately, they were rebuffed.

Even with the title of the Great Inventor's wife, the officials in California didn't buy it at all.

They had traveled all the way from New York, covering Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but only a few places had softened their stance, and they still couldn't pass the hurdle in Congress.

"Bruce, do you think women should have the right to vote?"

After getting familiar, Anna even dropped the title of "Mr."

"Of course they should."

Lin Tian didn't even think about it. "Women's contributions to society are no less than men's. They not only manage the household and raise children but are also the strong backing for men. It is so unfair that such a great group doesn't even have the right to vote!"

Hearing Lin Tian say this, Anna's eyes lit up: "Do you really think so?"

Lin Tian nodded: "To be honest, I hope more that women all have their own careers. Relying on others for everything is often the root cause of family tragedies."

After listening, the little girl was completely stunned.

In her eyes, the handsome, courageous, and noble-character Chinese prodigy in front of her was simply flawless.

His insights and thoughts were unheard of in today's society.

Anna only felt her heart rate accelerate, and an indescribable, strange feeling arose in her heart.

After holding it in for a long time, Anna whispered: "Bruce, could you leave an address?"

"No problem."

Bruce agreed readily. He found paper and a pen, wrote down his home address, and handed it over.

Anna also hurriedly wrote one and stuffed it into Lin Tian's hand.

At this moment, the train slowly pulled into the station and stopped.

This was a small station in Isabella County, California.

Lin Tian led his people off the train.

Anna leaned against the train window, her face full of reluctance. She threw her ladylike manners to the back of her mind, waved vigorously, and shouted: "Bruce, I will definitely write to you!"

"Goodbye, Anna!"

Lin Tian waved goodbye.

"I believe that sooner or later, you will be able to surpass my father!"

"I'll try my best!"

The train sounded its whistle, spewing black smoke as it gradually moved away.

Only after the train was out of sight did Old Smith come over and tease: "Bruce, if Lin Shi were here, he would be overjoyed. You've found him a perfect daughter-in-law!"

The short, fat bodyguard, Alan, chimed in: "That's right! Her surname is Edison. If I were you, I would hop on a train and chase her to Los Angeles right now. Then you'd have both the girl and the fortune!"

The bodyguard named Blades also grinned: "God is my witness, the wealth under Mr. Edison's name is definitely a mountain of gold!"

Everyone burst into laughter after hearing this.

Lin Tian was speechless.

After the banter, the group boarded three horse-drawn carriages that had been hired in advance.

Lin Tian, Harvey, Old Smith, and Situ Meitang sat together in a carriage with a cabin.

The remaining six people split into two open-top cargo wagons.

On the way, Lin Tian took out the coin gun provided by the system again.

He installed the primer and stuffed silver coins into the barrel.

Old Smith's eyes widened, his face full of curiosity: "Is this the gun that took down the big bandit Billy just now?"

"That's right."

Lin Tian nodded: "As long as you fill the barrel with silver coins, it has a shotgun effect when fired."

Actually, Lin Tian's marksmanship was terrible.

He was too young to handle the recoil of a firearm, and he would miss the target from even a short distance.

But this gun was different.

Although the recoil was fierce, it was no problem as long as he held it firmly with both hands.

The most important thing was that this thing didn't need aiming.

Once the trigger was pulled, dozens of silver coins would spray out in a fan-shaped net of projectiles.

There was nowhere to hide; it could instantly turn the target into pulp.

The downside was that it could only fire once at a time, and it was a bit expensive.

After filling it with coins, Lin Tian thought to himself, and the short gun was instantly stored into the system space.

All system prizes could be stored and retrieved at any time.

But in Old Smith's eyes, this was a miraculous trick of concealing a gun.

He hadn't seen where Lin Tian hid the gun at all.

The carriage bumped along all the way to the foot of Signal Hill.

The group dismissed the coachman, shouldered their luggage, and walked toward Boston Town.

The mountain road of dozens of kilometers was quite difficult to walk.

After trudging for more than three hours, they finally reached the vicinity of the oil field coordinates.

"Is this the land?"

The mining expert who came along, Plainview, was covered in sweat.

He squatted down, pinched a small amount of soil, put it in his mouth, and tasted it.

"It's alkaline land, and there's a hint of sulfur in the soil. There really might be oil buried underground!"

Hearing the expert speak, Old Smith was shocked: "Mr. Plainview, can what Bruce said really come true?"

In fact, before coming here, Old Smith had been nervous.

Neither he nor Lin Shi had ever dealt with oil, and he couldn't figure out how Lin Tian was able to predict the future.

Old Smith had come along entirely out of blind trust in Lin Tian, with three parts doubt and seven parts expectation.

Now that he heard the expert nod, his spirits were immediately lifted.

Plainview brushed the dirt off his hands and nodded affirmatively: "The probability of oil here is very high, but we still need to carefully survey it before we can be certain!"

...

The group passed by a dilapidated church and arrived at a small farm nearby.

The farmers were a young couple, and the man was named Mark.

Seeing more than a dozen people carrying luggage walking over in a grand procession, Mark looked guarded: "Good evening, who are you looking for?"

The sun was about to set.

Following the lie they had fabricated beforehand, Old Smith walked forward with a smile: "I am John Smith, and this is my son Harvey. We are hunters here to hunt quail nearby!"

"Hunting quail?"

Mark was stunned.

The USA was vast and sparsely populated, with wild animals everywhere.

It was normal for cowboys to hunt wolves, foxes, or even quail.

But for a dozen people to be fully armed and hunting quail together, with a child in the mix, was a scene rarely seen.

If not for their friendly attitude, Mark would have almost mistaken them for robbers.

"Would you all like some goat milk?" Mark asked.

Boston Town was simply too far from the railway, and usually, they couldn't even see an outsider, let alone get rare goods like coffee.

"Let's have some goat milk to moisten our throats."

Old Smith nodded in agreement.

Mark turned and walked into the dilapidated wooden house, carrying out a wooden jar filled with goat milk.

Lin Tian took the bowl and gulped down a few mouthfuls, and his chapped lips finally felt a bit of moisture.

Harvey was usually pampered, and after walking the whole way, he was tired, his face flushed, and he was panting heavily.

The few bodyguards were unfazed.

After resting for a while, it grew completely dark.

Mark and his wife invited everyone to stay for dinner.

The food was very simple: a pot of stewed potatoes with a few small fried fish, not a drop of oil to be seen.

Although they were both farmers, Mark's life was worlds apart from Old Smith's.

The surrounding area was all alkaline land where crops wouldn't grow, and they were dirt poor.

They made do for the night at Mark's house.

At daybreak the next day.

The group packed their luggage, carried their hunting rifles, and went out, pretending to go hunting.

Lin Tian took the lead, guiding the team up a small hill.

Last night, Mark had mentioned in passing that there had been a micro-earthquake here half a month ago.

When they reached the hillside, Lin Tian searched around according to the system coordinates.

Finally, in a crack, he discovered a dark, viscous liquid that looked like asphalt.

Seeing the black water, Lin Tian was overjoyed: "Found it, this is the place!"

The mining expert, Plainview, hurriedly walked forward, broke off a branch, and stirred it into the black water.

When he pulled it out, the branch was covered in sticky black liquid.

The bodyguard, Blades, who was on the side, was quick-witted; he struck a match and brought it over.

As soon as the flame touched the black water, with a whoosh, the branch ignited violently.

Looking at the dancing flames, everyone's faces were filled with wild joy.

They were rich!

There was definitely oil buried underneath!

Plainview was flushed and made a direct assertion: Any place where oil could erupt to the surface was definitely a rich oil zone! There must be a super-large oil field hidden within dozens of kilometers!