Chapter 558: Inside the Mine, Your Final Outcome Isn't Looking Too Good

Walking up the gentle slope, one could soon smell the fresh air.

It was afternoon, and the ground outside the Mine had been baked by the sun all day, making it hot and scorching, but the few Villagers laden with Mineral Ore could not care about the burning heat under their feet and rushed urgently to the place where the ore was weighed.

"Hmm? You lot are quite efficient today? Where did you get so much Mineral Ore?" a Soldier asked with a questioning tone as he watched them dump the Mineral Ore that filled the Wooden Box into the weighing basket.

"Uh, this? Well..."

The few Villagers looked at each other, not knowing whether they should speak.

Seeing their hesitant appearance, this Defeated Soldier pulled a long face and said sternly: "Although we don't care where you got the Mineral Ore—whether you dug it yourselves, stole it from others, or snatched it—if it causes trouble and lowers the output of Mineral Ore in the Mine, don't blame us for punishing you."

"Confess honestly! Otherwise, you'll get the whip!"

Jier had been standing in the shadows at the entrance of the Mine and now had no choice but to step out.

He walked over and loudly answered on behalf of the few Villagers: "We took advantage of the time when those alien Beast hunted a deer and everyone went to eat meat to sneak into the territory previously controlled by the alien Beast to dig for Mineral Ore. To be honest, that place has plenty of Mineral Ore, but it has always been occupied by the alien Beast; don't you care about that?"

"Ha, care? Who cares? You? Or me? What a joke. You'd better not provoke those aliens; they are just little Monster that don't understand human speech. Let them occupy whatever part of the Mine they want. Anyway, since you can all still hand over enough Mineral Ore, I see the situation isn't much worse."

This Defeated Soldier said mockingly.

"You lot are quite clever, daring to risk going to the territory of those alien Beast to mine. Haha, be careful not to get caught by them; once discovered, those little Monster will surely kick up a fuss again."

"So, this little trick of yours is for this time only; don't keep causing me trouble, understand? Go dig for Mineral Ore in your own mine shafts."

After speaking, this Soldier waved his hand, letting other Soldiers weigh the Mineral Ore, and then took out a small bag of grain and tossed it to the Villager who had done the weighing.

"Take the grain and get lost! Remember, don't cause trouble!"

"This is a critical period, don't cause me trouble!"

After warning them twice in a row, the Soldier finally led his men to continue weighing the Mineral Ore of the others.

Jier retreated back into the shadows of the Mine, observing these Defeated Soldier who looked relaxed but were actually quite nervous; it seemed that his long-distance exchange with that Magic Creation at noon had already been noticed by these Soldiers, making them feel nervous and afraid.

How could they not be afraid? That Magic Creation shaped like a wooden house could, with just a single strike, release a Magic missile that could level this Jiedian to the ground and kill everyone completely.

And Jier had the ability to kill all the Defeated Soldier in the entire Yingdi by himself.

Therefore, Jier was not afraid of these Defeated Soldier at all; in his view, these Defeated Soldier were already dead men.

Jier beckoned, calling back the four Villagers who had received the grain, and the group walked together into the Mine.

"By the way, Jier. Are you going to the Furnace later to work with the young people captured from Lanse-Qingting Cunzi? Or are you going down to dig for Mineral Ore?" the middle-aged Villager asked the young and tall Jier cautiously.

Jier scraped the slight stubble on his chin with his hand, thought for a moment, and said: "No, I choose neither."

"Hmm?"

"What do you mean?"

"People have to eat, after all. If you don't work, where will you get the grain to fill your stomach?"

The others all spoke up one after another; they did not understand how a young man like Jier could fail to grasp such a simple truth.

Jier snorted: "If I'm not mistaken, the grain these Soldiers distributed was originally the grain from your Changmai Cunzi, right? It was yours to begin with, yet you have to rely on hard labor to trade for grain that was already yours? That's not right, is it?"

Hearing Jier's naive words, the few Villagers smiled bitterly: "Who's to say it isn't? But they conquered the Cunzi, held swords in their hands, and forced everyone to do this; who has the means to resist? Who dares to say no?"

"At first, some people wanted to resist the Soldiers' ideas, but after being betrayed and captured and beheaded by the Soldiers, no one else intended to oppose them."

Jier sighed: "But haven't you thought about it more?"

"Think about what?"

"Sigh, just living every day is exhausting enough; how could we think about anything else."

The Villagers said one after another.

Jier said in a hollow tone: "Haven't you thought about these Soldiers who appeared from nowhere? They raided the Cunzi, enslaved innocent Villagers, captured people to mine, and this mine doesn't look like it was dug by you, right? It was already there when you arrived? This mine is so close to your Changmai Cunzi, do you know that?"

Jier's words left the few Villagers stunned; they looked at each other and then turned their heads in unison to look at Jier, intending to hear what he wanted to say.

But they vaguely guessed from Jier's words and expression some things they had previously been unwilling to think about.

"A remote, secret mine that appeared out of nowhere, with illegally captured Villagers thrown in to dig. Hey, have you really never thought about what the final outcome for you Villagers will be?"

The few Villagers widened their eyes, their mouths agape; many had already thought of something, but dared not speak the answer.

"Hmph, I'll spell it out for you. When the grain is eaten up, and those Soldiers have obtained a large amount of Metal Ingot that can be exchanged for money, you will be useless. Moreover, as witnesses who can point out the crimes of those Soldiers, there is only one result awaiting you."

Jier said finally in a grim tone: "That is to be all buried alive in this remote and deep Mine!"

Waving his hands, Jier incited them with emotion: "You yourselves, your parents, your wives, and even your children—regardless of age or gender—as long as you are people who were captured, whether you are from Changmai Cunzi or Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, you will all be killed one by one by those Soldiers and thrown into this Mine."

"They captured people without ever intending to let you go from the very beginning! When I was captured and passed through Changmai Cunzi, they actually set fire to one-third of the Cunzi, and they tossed the other houses around at will. I even heard that some female Villagers specifically left in the Cunzi were tortured to death by those Soldiers. Your fate will likely be the same."

"If you don't resist, this is what will happen: being used by others until you die, and before you die, you still think they might let you go? Put yourself in their shoes: if you were those Soldiers without any morality or constraints, who could use violence at will, how would you treat the Villagers you could bully and ravage as you pleased?"

The few Villagers were shocked and angry; some even had their teeth chattering due to their intense emotions.

Jier added at the end: "Of course, it would be just as I said: using words and violence to coerce, forcing those Villagers to mine and smelt metal, and once they get their hands on a large amount of valuable Metal Ingot, they kill everyone involved, run far away with the wealth, and change their identities. When they reappear, no one will know what they did during this time."

"How could it be..."

"They promised that they would let us go after the mining was finished..."

Jier mocked: "That kind of talk is only good for fooling children; you actually believe such words?"

The others were terrified and helpless, jumping around in agitation, their words incoherent. The middle-aged Villager, having more life experience, forcibly steadied his emotions, looked at the calm Jier, and asked: "So what about you? You are the same as us, captured and locked up here; the final outcome is naturally just as tragic. So, what do you intend to do?"

"Are you resigning yourself to fate?"

"Or do you have some way?"

Jier crossed his arms, putting on a confident look, and looked around: "This is not the place to talk. Take me to where you live, and we'll talk there."

"That's right, that's right." The few Villagers came to their senses and walked quickly, leading Jier toward the location where their families were. Even though they were already exhausted, their steps were fast due to their emotional state.

The group walked downward, passing two forks in the road. The lighting here was sparse again, with only Torches and fire basins providing illumination at key spots. And where there was light, dozens of Villager families were basically gathered.

Everyone used the few soft things they could find to pad the ground so they could barely lie down and sleep. At the same time, everyone laid out some scattered Stone they had dug up on the ground to level out the sloped areas, making it convenient for people to rest and live.

"This way, walk this way."

The middle-aged Villager led the way, occasionally casting envious glances at the Villagers who could live and rest in the main mine shaft. The air there was better and less stifling, making it more comfortable to stay. As for family groups like theirs with fewer people and less strength, they could only live in the mine shafts where the Mineral Ore had been exhausted.

Although the space was large, the air in these places did not circulate well, making it very stifling for people to stay, and they could only barely survive.

When passing through these places, many among the fellow Villagers stared greedily at the Grain Bags held by a few Villagers, whispering privately and acting restlessly.

But Jier stood out and glared fiercely at those few restless young people; upon being glared at by Jier, those people felt their skin tighten all over and retreated.

Although Jier was only one person, he was tall and sturdy, young and strong; wanting to snatch the Grain Bags from the Villagers behind Jier clearly required defeating him first.

But this was not worth it, because if one got injured in a brawl, there was neither medicine nor a Priest from the church here; getting injured and thus affecting one's future Mineral Ore mining harvest was simply not worth the cost.

So even though many people saw that Jier's group was small and seemed to be carrying a lot of grain, no one came over to cause trouble.

"Hmph, what a bunch of weaklings. Is there not even a single guy who uses violent means?" Jier was instead even more dissatisfied; these Villagers, presumably the bravest and most rebellious ones, had all died during the Soldiers' attack on Changmai Cunzi and the subsequent resistance, leaving behind only Villagers who dared not resist.

Or perhaps, it was not that the Villagers did not know how to resist, but that they lacked someone who had survived to lead them in resistance.

"Don't say that, it's hard enough for everyone to stay alive."

"Who would dare resist those Soldiers? They are too fierce; they wave their weapons at the slightest provocation, and they really will beat us if they take action."

Jier was noncommittal, simply following the few people to a lower level where their families currently lived.

This was a branch of a branch of a metal vein inside the Mine; there was not much ore here, and it had long since been abandoned after being mined out. Therefore, the families of these four Villagers were able to gather here with few people.

"They're back! Father is back!"

At the entrance of the mine tunnel, several half-grown boys and girls were keeping watch; seeing their family members return carrying large bags of grain, their eyes lit up one after another, and they ran inside with hoarse voices, cheering for this harvest.

Inside were some elders in poor health with stiff limbs, as well as pregnant women; as for the others who could still work, they had gone together to a lower level to mine collectively.

Several Villagers held their grain harvest from this trip high up, temporarily putting aside the unease in their hearts, and excitedly poured out the small half-bags of grain one by one to show their families.

"Heavens! Where did you get so much grain?"

"Ever since the easy-to-mine Mineral Ore was all dug up, how long has it been since everyone saw so much grain at once?"

"You did well, you did well. I just hope this grain wasn't obtained by hurting others; otherwise, the little order and balance remaining in the Mine will soon be broken, and many people will die when that happens."

The young people only cared about wanting this grain to fill their stomachs, while the older ones saw more and further.

The few Villagers responsible for mining recounted what had happened earlier, and only then did everyone look at Jier, the outsider, with new eyes. Although everyone was surprised that Jier had followed these few Villagers back, they said nothing, because the addition of a young and strong person like Jier was clearly a good thing for everyone.

But upon hearing that it was Jier alone who quickly helped them mine the Mineral Ore in the territory of the Beast, everyone then spoke up one after another to welcome Jier.

Jier smiled and waved his hand, not saying much, only asking everyone to call back the manpower who had gone out to the lower levels to mine.

"Right, right, right. With so much grain, we must first let the young people who do the work eat their fill."

"Only when they are full will they have the strength to mine more Mineral Ore; if there is still time, it would be best to take the opportunity to get some more Mineral Ore from the territory of those Beast."

But this was not Jier's plan, though he did not refute it either.

Soon, young people ran out to notify other family members and friends who were working to come back and eat a rare, full meal.

There was no shortage of wood fuel in the Jiedian, but because air was precious inside the Mine, apart from the Torches and fire basins for lighting, the Villagers did not dare to directly start fires to cook, even if they had small iron pots that the Soldiers had not snatched away in the places where they gathered.

Because a fire consumes far more air than a normal person's breathing, in some mine tunnels where air does not circulate easily, one could not even light a Torch for illumination, and the Villagers living there could only rest in the dark.

After a while, since the area of the Mine was limited, although it was divided into multiple levels, with hundreds of Villagers put inside and over a hundred Mao Mao also inside, the Mine was still very crowded.

After all the manpower of these families returned, Jier helped everyone carry their valuable items on their backs while speaking of his previous words.

Hearing Jier speak of the outcome that everyone in the Mine would die later, the elders sighed, as if they had already known, while the young people were all filled with indignation.

The women seemed terrified, unable to believe that they had been bullied to this extent, and that those heartless Soldiers still wanted to kill them all in the end.

"What else? You don't really think they will keep their promise and let you go, do you? The actions of those Soldiers, no matter where they are placed, are capital crimes, grave crimes. If they don't kill all the relevant witnesses, how can they escape potential future accountability?"

Jier's words finally shattered the tiny bit of hope in the hearts of some people.

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