Chapter 63: Obtaining Miners * 50

The outside of the mining tunnel is all rock; some has fallen away, but it is still passable if you shift it.

Walking a short distance inside, she discovered the tracks were also still usable.

This was undoubtedly excellent news, and since there was no smell of burning in the air, it meant the coal seam underground had not been ignited.

The mining tunnel was not large; Niu Boyi was left outside by her to keep watch, and she entered alone, not intending to go too deep.

And indeed, she had not gone too deep when she heard the movements of living things.

Liu Mu held her breath and listened carefully; surprisingly, it was people talking.

She frowned slightly, wondering if the people from the Mining Town had fled into the Mining Tunnel to escape the disaster.

This possibility was extremely high, so she followed the tracks downward. After walking less than a hundred meters, she saw moving human silhouettes.

There were not many people, and fortunately, the dialect here was not too different from theirs, so she could understand they were arguing.

The main content of the argument was food shortages and the inability to treat the wounded.

Liu Mu smeared some coal dust on her face, her approaching footsteps making almost no sound.

Someone was begging, "Boss Ma, I beg you, just give my son some medicine. He is still young; as long as he is saved, he can work for you in the future."

Then someone mocked, "Have you seen what the situation is like outside? Black Rain is falling from the sky, everyone is dead, and you're talking about working? What can you lot even do now?"

"Please, Boss Ma, as long as you save him, our whole family will be your beasts of burden. This child is diligent and will surely remember your life-saving grace."

Words without any practical benefit like this immediately invited a round of abuse.

"It's better that you all die; nobody has anything to eat. While he's still fresh, eat his son! Hahahaha, I've lived half my life and eaten everything, but I've never eaten human flesh!"

Once these words were out, hungry people immediately gathered around, their eyes practically glowing with a green light.

There were nearly sixty or seventy people in the area, standing in three distinct groups.

Among them, the group belonging to Boss Ma, who had a face full of fat and possessed a light source, was the largest, and they were mostly young and strong thugs.

The half that was begging for help mostly wore ordinary clothes and appeared to be town residents and some miners. Many of them were injured, and the boy whose father was begging for medicine was leaning against a tunnel wall, already on the verge of death.

The rest were almost all miners; they had neither submitted to Boss Ma's side nor intended to help these townspeople. Judging by their accents, they were likely migrant workers.

Seeing that the plea for help was fruitless, the man revealed a fierce look, and as he stood up, he felt for the iron pry bar behind him.

"You surnamed Ma, no matter how rich you are, this is the territory of us Yang Family people. If you refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, don't blame us for fighting you to the death!"

Someone behind him immediately chimed in, "That's right, the Mine is also ours. So what if you invested money? Let's kill him and everyone can split his food and medicine!"

Once this proposal was made, the group of migrant workers nearby also began to stir.

They had some food, but compared to Boss Ma, there was still a big difference.

Moreover, what they had brought in was just the rough stuff from the Mine canteen, while Boss Ma had Meat Canned Food and Compressed Biscuits, and had even been drinking Maotai two days ago.

Damn it, he usually exploited them, so now was the perfect time to kill him in the chaos.

Ma Dayou saw the situation was wrong and immediately stood out to say,

"If you kill me, who will you work for in the future, and who will settle your previous wages? The natural disaster is temporary; the government and the big brother I cooperate with will soon send people to rescue me, and none of you will be able to escape when that happens!"

Liu Mu curled her lip; this Boss was truly stupid, not even understanding the principle of knowing when to yield and when to stand tall while alive.

At a time like this, instead of using benefits to win over those migrant workers, he actually started threatening them.

In a place like this, if a few people were killed, one could even claim they slipped and fell in the tunnel, and it would pass.

Of course, it was already impossible for anyone to come and rescue him.

Sure enough, the migrant miners who had been exploited for a long time did not buy his act at all.

A man with a face full of coal dust, over one meter eighty tall, wearing miner's clothes and a yellow hard hat, stood out.

"Heh, one of you is a boss, the other is a local with a share of the profits; we can't figure out who's in charge. Why don't you tell us what benefits you can offer now, and we'll consider who to help."

"Brother Tian is right, that turtle's egg is usually so arrogant, but he has times when he has to beg us too!"

Ma Dayou clearly had never thought that the miners who were like dogs in front of him would dare to be so arrogant, "Beg? I need to beg a bunch of poor ghosts like you? Believe it or not, I'll kill you all right now, and I won't even have to step into a Police Station!"

If these words were said in normal times, they would be true, but everyone had been trapped in the Mining Tunnel for so long that all his past prestige was useless.

Zheng Tian sneered and immediately asked the father who was begging for medicine if he wanted to help kill Boss Ma; the latter's eyes rolled, and he was the first to charge forward.

His wife and parents had all died in the disaster, and now he only had this one son; if his son died too, there would be no point in him living.

Liu Mu watched the two sides fight quietly; the lamp providing light was knocked over, and just when she thought the fight would stop, who knew the migrant miners actually still had headlamps.

Soon, their side gained the upper hand, suppressing Ma Dayou and his thugs and killing several of them.

Only then did Ma Dayou realize the severity of the situation, immediately begging for mercy and saying that the food and medicine he had could be shared with them, if only they would not kill him.

But the winning side was busy rummaging through Boss Ma's supplies and did not notice the vicious murderous intent in his eyes.

The people suppressing him were distracted by a shout of "There's still Meat Canned Food," and Boss Ma took the opportunity to reach into his coat with one hand, pulling out a Handgun.

"Watch out!"

Liu Mu's warning came too late; Ma Dayou aimed at the leader, Zheng Tian, and fired a shot, then at several of the capable workers, and finally at the father who was begging for medicine.

The crowd immediately fell into chaos, dodging and fleeing, colliding with each other, people trampling on people.

It had to be said that Boss Ma's marksmanship was decent; in this kind of light, he had fired several times without a single shot missing.

Those few people were nine-to-ten likely not going to survive.

Liu Mu thought for a moment, took out her High-Intensity Flashlight, shone it toward that side, and pulled out the Loudspeaker she used for collecting scrap.

"Personnel below, listen up: you have been surrounded. Immediately throw your weapons to the front and squat down with your hands on your heads, otherwise we will shoot to kill."

Firing two shots into the ceiling, the chaotic crowd quieted down.

"Do as I say!"

With Boss Ma having just killed people, Liu Mu's actions directly intimidated this group.

Once the people below had placed the tools they were using as weapons in front of them and consciously moved away to squat down, Liu Mu's gaze swept over them one by one.

That Boss Ma was gone; it seemed he had escaped during the chaos.

But Liu Mu did not intend to chase him for the time being; there were several forks in the tunnel, but there was only one exit.

Niu Boyi must have heard the commotion inside just now; Ma Dayou ran out and fell straight into the dog's mouth.

"You, you, and you, go count the people and check their injuries."

Liu Mu hit several people with broken charcoal chunks, and they immediately did as she said.

Five minutes later, the results were obtained.

There were fifty-three survivors in total, with four seriously injured and twenty lightly injured, all thanks to the slaughter just now.

Those seriously injured were precisely Zheng Tian and his three fellow workers.

As for the others who were shot, they were already dead. Several also died in the brawl...

Liu Mu strode down the tunnel and stood in front of the crowd.

"I am the Director of the Haicheng Barrier Resource Collection Office; have you elected someone who can speak to report to me what happened?"