The driver filled the water tank and drove away, but Anjie went ahead and said a few words to the workers, gave them some money, and one of the workers went into the shed and brought her a basket.
Grandma An picked up the basket and returned to Zhou Xuan's side, then pulled him toward a large pile of stones.
When Zhou Xuan saw that Aunt An's basket was full of eggs, raw eggs, he asked in surprise, "Miss An, why did you buy so many eggs?"
Grandma An smiled and said, "Don't ask, just watch. I'll cook you some eggs!"
As he spoke, he walked over to the pile of boat-shaped rocks, placed a few eggs on the rocks, and then took a ladle from the nearby trough, filled it with water, and poured it onto the rocks where the eggs had been placed.
The stone, which was originally unremarkable, suddenly started steaming and became hot when water was poured on it. Anjie added a few more ladles of water, and the heat emanating from the stone became even more intense, with a faint aura that made one's face sting.
Upon noticing the heat emanating from the stones, Zhou Xuan suddenly realized that the intense heat that had just assaulted him wasn't an attempt by someone to sabotage him, nor was it a trap set by others. Rather, these stones were limestone fired in a high-temperature furnace. Once cooled after being taken out of the furnace, these stones looked no different from ordinary stones. However, if water were sprinkled on the stones, the high temperatures contained within them would immediately be activated!
If a large amount of limestone is piled up, the heat generated can reach thousands of degrees, which is a terrifying temperature!
The heat waves and flames that Zhou Xuan had just felt were exactly the same as those limestone. Only then did he realize that those flames were just the heat of the limestone, and that the heat and flames came from the furnace thirty meters away to the left!
As Zhou Xuan used his superpower to resist the intense heat and flames, the flames seemed to return home like a prodigal son returning home, joyfully rushing into his body and combining with his superpower to further strengthen the energy within his body. However, his skin seemed to be burning and cracking from the intense heat and flames. The process of transformation, combination, and gathering within his superpower was extremely painful!
Zhou Xuan stopped and quickly used his special ability to desperately digest and devour the fiery energy rushing into his body. An Jie was grilling the eggs and did not notice Zhou Xuan's strange expression.
However, in just over ten seconds, Zhou Xuan completely absorbed the raging flame energy that had attacked him. Then, his supernatural power flowed freely through his body, making him feel extremely comfortable!
Anjie exclaimed in surprise, "Why isn't this limestone heating up? Could it be limestone that's been stored in a cellar for a long time?"
Zhou Xuan then realized that these stones were actually smelted lime. After the lime was smelted at high temperature in the kiln for a period of time, the fire was extinguished and the temperature was allowed to drop. After it came out of the kiln, it still looked almost the same as before, except that the color was slightly darker red. At this time, as long as water was poured on the limestone, the stone would evaporate the heat. After the heat in the stone completely disappeared, the stone would break into powder, which was lime.
However, if the limestone is not watered and left for too long, the heat energy inside the stone will gradually dissipate.
Limestone emits an astonishing amount of heat when watered, reaching temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius. If a large quantity of limestone is piled up and a large amount of water is poured in, the temperature can even reach thousands of degrees Celsius.
[Solution] If you put eggs or potatoes on limestone and pour water on them, the heat will cook them in a very short time.
Moreover, food grilled on limestone tastes better and is more powdery than food cooked in a pot, because limestone has a much higher calorie content than cooking in a pot. In addition, limestone contains some minerals, which are absorbed by eggs and crops and are beneficial to the human body.
Anjie had been here several times to grill eggs, and they were delicious, so she brought Zhou Xuan along. Secondly, there's a gold mining area invested in by An Guoqing here. Fengshan has eight major gold mining areas, four of which are invested in by An Guoqing. Of course, these are all joint ventures with the local government; An Guoqing provides the money and materials, while the local government provides the personnel and resources. Moreover, An Guoqing only owns half the shares; the operating rights belong to the state, and he can only collect a portion of the profits.
An Jie took Zhou Xuan for a stroll when she had nothing to do. An Guoqing had instructed her to stay close to Zhou Xuan and not leave his side for even a moment. Until he was ready, An Jie had to stay by Zhou Xuan's side. So An Jie simply brought Zhou Xuan to this mining area deep in the mountains. This place was not like the city. Zhou Xuan could not leave even if he wanted to. Without a car, he could not go anywhere.
However, while grilling the eggs, Anjie suddenly noticed that her hands and face were no longer warm. Surprised, she poured water on them a few more times, but the limestone in front of her still did not emit any heat.
Anjie immediately called out to the workers busy at the cellar, "Uncle, how long have you been working on this limestone? Why isn't it getting hot when you water it?"
The worker exclaimed in surprise, "Impossible! It's only been half a day since it came out of the cellar. Stones taken out of the cellar will not automatically turn to powder after the heat dissipates for at least a week!"
As she spoke, she walked over, grabbed a ladle, filled it with water, and poured it onto the stones. But just as Grandma An had said, the limestone stones did not emit any heat at all!
This pile is a whole cellar of limestone. It will take at least ten days for the heat to dissipate completely!
The worker was extremely surprised. He tested it with his hand and found it had no temperature. Then he took a limestone, but when he lifted the stone, it immediately crumbled into a snow-white powder.
This shape is that of limestone after being leached with water, not limestone that has been placed to automatically dissipate heat. But these stones are clearly fresh out of the kiln and have not been sprinkled with a single drop of water. How could this be?
The worker was stunned for a moment, then called over two other workers. The three of them fiddled with the pile of stones, but they were all dumbfounded!
This situation is unprecedented. No one knows what happened. All three of them are experienced masters with decades of experience, but they still don't understand!
Those eggs weren't cooked through; they weren't cooked for long enough.
Grandma An picked up an egg and gently tapped it on a stone on the ground. The eggshell cracked, and the egg white inside was only slightly cooked but still liquid, while the yolk was completely runny and flowed onto the ground.
Since the eggs weren't cooked, Anjie didn't crack any more. Seeing Zhou Xuan shrug and smile wryly, she said, "I don't know what happened. I've never seen anything like this before. Looks like you won't be able to eat the lime-baked eggs!"
Zhou Xuan shook his head and smiled slightly, "If you don't want to eat it, then don't eat it!" As he spoke, he reached out and picked up an egg. His supernatural ability allowed him to clearly see the situation inside the egg. Just like the one that Granny An had just smashed, it was nine parts raw and one part cooked.
Zhou Xuan's supernatural ability naturally generated a heat energy inside the egg, like the high temperature inside limestone. In just an instant, the egg was cooked through by the high temperature!
Zhou Xuan was taken aback, and immediately reached out and cracked the egg. The shell broke, but no egg white or yolk flowed out. Instead, it emitted a very strong, refreshing fragrance!
Zhou Xuan was somewhat familiar with this aroma. When he was a child, his mother would boil eggs at home, and after peeling them, they would have this aroma, but it was nowhere near as fragrant as the aroma that was just coming out of the eggs!
Zhou Xuan could smell it, and so could Grandma An and the other three workers. An Jie exclaimed in surprise, reached out and snatched the egg from his hand. After peeling off the shell, the egg was revealed intact.
The crystal-clear white egg white shell is as translucent as white jade, which is very cute. Anjie took a small bite. A little bit of white and a little bit of yellow melted in her mouth. Under the high temperature of limestone, the egg tastes like a tea egg that has been cooked for a long time, but it is softer and tastier than a tea egg!
After eating the egg, Grandma An said strangely, "That's really strange. Several eggs are put together, how come this one is cooked while the other is still raw? Let's look at the others!"
Zhou Xuan knew, of course, that the other eggs were still raw, so he immediately took out another one. An Jie also took one, but when she cracked it open, the clear yolk still flowed out.
Zhou Xuan realized that it must be the power of his new superpower. Since he had just obtained this new power and its combination, he did not understand its habits. The previous attack was unintentional, but now that he had taken the egg again, it was intentional.
After activating his supernatural power and placing it inside the egg, he thought of the sun's heat energy. The power immediately transformed into invisible, blazing heat, and the egg was cooked in an instant. If Zhou Xuan hadn't been intentional and hadn't withdrawn it so quickly, the egg would probably have been burned to ashes on the spot.
Even for just a moment, Zhou Xuan could feel the terrifying and intense heat of his transformation into solar thermal energy!
After a moment of stunned silence, Zhou Xuan cracked the egg, removed the shell, and ate it. Sure enough, it was just as delicious as the aroma suggested!
Anjie asked in surprise, "Yours is cooked again? That's really strange. These eggs are half cooked and half raw. Why is everything so weird today?"
The three workers also went to the lime pile and tried to test the lime by tapping and touching it, but they couldn't figure out what was going on!
Of the four grilled eggs, Zhou Xuan and An Jie each ate one, and An Jie cracked two more, leaving only the basket of raw eggs.
Zhou Xuan took another raw egg and played with it casually. An Jie didn't think much of it, assuming that Zhou Xuan was just playing with the egg.
In fact, Zhou Xuan just wanted to test it with another egg, to activate his superpower and infuse it into the egg. This time, he wasn't thinking about the sun's heat and fireworks, but about the ice energy superpower. With that thought in his mind, the superpower instantly transformed into something as cold as ten thousand years of ice, and the egg instantly became an ice well egg!
However, there was no difference from the outside. Aunt An led the way and said to Zhou Xuan as they walked, "Mr. Zhou, let's go over there. There is our company's gold mine inspection station over there. We have a car. Let's go and drive inside for a tour!"