Chapter 76: Shattering Their Faith

Looking at the others who supposedly were forced to sacrifice the women of their families, Liu Mu curled the corner of her mouth, revealing a white-toothed grin, "What about you all? Are you willing to stay and continue mining?"

She asked this, yet gave no second option.

"I'm willing," Cai Zhenlong's father raised his hand first, "Boss Liu, I know the people in town well; I can definitely help. It's just..."

"Hmm?" Liu Mu hadn't expected him to dare raise a question at this moment.

"It's just, could we stop the sacrifices? There were constant accidents back then. My son and the others asked experts about it outside—yes, that university professor of Xi Zai's kid. They said it was because the mining technology back then wasn't good enough and the geology wasn't surveyed clearly. Maybe we shouldn't..."

"You can rest assured about that. I'm someone who values my life—my own life, and the lives of my people," Liu Mu pointed to the several corpses strewn across the ground, "If there really were a mountain ghost that liked eating human flesh, these would be enough to choke it to death!"

"Everyone get your contracts signed. It's not forced; those who don't want to sign can leave now."

Liu Mu suddenly said this, but with Liu Gang holding a gun inside the door and a military dog guarding outside, whose wishes was this respecting?

As for those few from out of town, they had long since taken on the role of helpers, their weapons aimed at the few signing the contracts, desperately demonstrating that they stood on Liu Mu's side.

As for the so-called contract, the only benefit was likely the provision of basic living conditions, and even these basic conditions would be restricted to different levels based on how much they mined.

It was no better than slavery; among these people, only Cai Hongfa, who had been chosen as a foreman, had a look of joy on his face.

Not yet knowing where his son Cai Zhenlong had gone, Cai Hongfa cursed the brat inwardly for causing trouble; otherwise, he could have snagged a small foreman position on the spot.

These people were temporarily placed under Cai Hongfa's management. Liu Mu had them distribute food, then turned to consult with Liu Fugui and Li Gang.

"I'm going to take these corpses to the Mining Tunnel in a moment to see if I can fish out the so-called thing inside."

Li Gang was a bit worried, "Boss, I'll go with you!"

"No," Liu Mu shook her head, "If it really is an abnormal creature, you'll just be throwing your lives away if you go. Don't worry, I've already found a new helper. Once that thing is dealt with, more than half of the work here will be finished."

Liu Fugui's complexion was poor, and his appetite was worse, "Damn it, these animals—just drag them all into the Mining Tunnel and let them taste what it's like to be a sacrifice!"

"Uncle Fugui!" Liu Mu patted his shoulder, knowing this uncle had been severely rattled today, "Relax. Killing people—you get used to it the more you do it."

"Boss, you..." Liu Fugui's middle-aged heart was feeling quite heavy, "Before the disaster, you weren't from some special department like Gangzi, were you?"

"Don't overthink it, I'm just a scrap collector," Liu Mu explained sincerely, "I just happened to see more evil people growing up than the average person. What do you think of that Zheng Tian?"

"He's incredibly weak," Li Gang looked at the people leaning in a row against the wall, gnawing on dry bread. There weren't enough people to begin with, and now mining would be even harder.

"Who asked you about his physical condition? Do you think they can be used?" Liu Mu shot Li Gang a sideways glance. This man didn't doubt her methods in the slightest; he probably hadn't done little killing himself in the past.

"Oh, just ordinary laborers," Li Gang thought for a moment, but felt that summary was too simple, so he asked Liu Fugui, "Uncle Fugui, what do you say?"

Liu Fugui was just about to share his observations and immediately said, "They will definitely want to go out and take a look; otherwise, they won't give up. If we want to keep them, besides the current favor, we'll need to use profit as an incentive later. As for loyalty, that's unlikely for now."

"The world is bustling, all for profit," Liu Mu naturally understood the principle and couldn't help but quote a bit of literature, "Sigh, I'm craving the meat sandwich the eldest sister makes."

The two men, also gnawing on hard bread, were stunned for a moment. No, why was the topic jumping so far?

But... craving a meat sandwich +1.

After the food, Liu Mu rode the military dog, taking all the uninjured people toward the mountain mines.

The remaining injured stayed where they were, while Liu Fugui, following Liu Mu's instructions, went to find Cai Zhenlong and the others to sign contracts, while also delivering some supplies and medicine.

It was mainly for those women; after so long, who knew how they had managed to survive.

Although Liu Mu herself was female, she didn't feel she was weaker than men, but that didn't mean she thought all women could be like her. In the end, the majority were still the vulnerable ones.

She had the intention to let these women become self-reliant, but she couldn't spare the hands to train them right now.

As for whether they would refuse? What a joke, their lives were hers!

The Mining Mountain.

After raining for several days, the sky actually brightened up a bit today.

Liu Mu had those few people carrying the corpses follow behind her, followed by the other townspeople, and they entered the Mining Tunnel.

They were naturally afraid in their hearts; even during the days they were hiding from the disaster, they hadn't dared to enter the depths of the Mining Tunnel.

That was the territory of the mountain ghost and could be considered a forbidden area by everyone's tacit agreement.

But this time, Liu Mu's purpose was laid out clearly on the table: she was going to shatter their faith.

Or rather, what she was about to do was more like a mockery directed at two generations of their entire town.

The batch of townspeople who managed to survive the disaster, apart from those who were particularly shrewd and knew how to handle things, the rest were the high-level figures and ruthless people who had stayed on the 'right side' until the end.

These were the people currently carrying the corpses, following closely behind Liu Mu.

Behind them were the townspeople from the 'left side'.

Even with no one guarding the rear, no one dared to fall behind at this moment, let alone run away halfway.

Boss Liu and her dog would be the nightmare for all of them for a long time to come.

Recent malnutrition and the Black Rain outside made those carrying the corpses walk very slowly. But no matter how slow, they still arrived.

Four High-Intensity Flashlights were jammed into the four walls of the cave, illuminating the deep underground pool used for sacrifices, yet making the deep pool appear all the more dark and intimidating.

"Boss Liu, Boss Liu!"

The few who still had a shred of courage left in town now had their strength exhausted, and not a bit of their nerve remained.

Seeing the deep pool, they collapsed to the ground, weak and limp, begging Liu Mu for mercy, "We won't do it again, we really won't. Please, don't throw us to the mountain ghost."

Liu Mu stood with her arms crossed by the edge of the large rock used as an altar, her expression indifferent, "Why would I throw you down? You are all my employees."

Her voice was clearly not loud, yet it echoed eerily in the silent space. Not only those few townspeople, but the others also turned pale.

"Good!"

Liu Mu suddenly changed her tone and shouted loudly, scaring the timid townspeople so much they almost fainted, "Now, throw them down one by one!"

As she spoke, she drew her Dog-leg Knife, its cold light flowing, her gaze like two dancing flames in the white light of the Flashlights.

The townspeople who had carried the corpses in scrambled up and, as Liu Mu said, threw the corpses into the deep pool one by one.

The deep underground pool was bitingly cold. They had been able to escape the high temperatures of the 'Ten-Day Burning', so it stood to reason they relied on this cold pool to lower the temperature of the Mining Tunnel and the coal seams.

Liu Mu had been here before, but hadn't seen any bones, so she hadn't paid attention. Now that she thought about it, there were likely many wronged souls in this deep pool.

"The mountain ghost will come out, Boss Liu. Let's just leave after we throw them in; it will come out to eat the corpses..."

The townspeople didn't dare speak loudly, only able to keep muttering in low voices, hoping to be allowed to leave first.

"What's the rush," as expected, just as they had anticipated, Liu Mu really was going to deal with the Mountain Ghost, "all of you, keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully."