Chapter 850: Kamirate (4)

Kamirate · Third Mining Zone · Zhongyang Kongzhita

Marcus Thorne's office is located on the top floor of the Zhongyang Kongzhita, featuring a massive wall of reinforced glass windows that overlook the mining zone below.

Looking from here, those enormous excavators, winding conveyor belts, and bottomless mine entrances all become like miniature models.

The dim yellow sky remains the same, but separated by a layer of high-efficiency air filtration systems, the room contains only the faint sound of circulating air and a hint of the clean scent of disinfectant, completely isolating the smell of rust and dust that is ubiquitous outside.

Thorne wears a well-tailored gray uniform, with shoulder patches marking his rank in the Feng Qi Xing Alliance Resource Extraction Department—Supervisor of the Third Mining Zone.

He holds a steaming refreshing beverage, sipping it unhurriedly, his gaze sweeping across the several holographic screens floating before him.

The screens display real-time production reports, equipment operating status, energy consumption indices, miner team attendance rates, ore purity analysis…

Suddenly, the edge of one screen flashes with a glaring red, accompanied by a short, sharp alarm sound.

【Warning: Severe geological tremors detected in Section 7 of B Zone; acoustic characteristics consistent with a cave-in. Structural integrity: Lost.

Life signal monitoring: 2 miner signals lost. Pressure and vibration sensors offline.

Estimated impact: Transport passage B-7a interrupted, operations at mining faces No. 17 and No. 18 suspended.】

Thorne's brows knit together, not because of the words "signals lost," but because of "operations suspended" and "transport passage interrupted." He places his beverage cup on the desktop.

"Damn it!"

He curses in a low voice, pulling up the detailed structural diagram and real-time monitoring for Section 7 of B Zone.

Several miners still visible at the edge of the frame are fleeing in a panic.

"Just causing trouble!"

His voice is filled with impatience.

A cave-in means production plans are disrupted, means the investment of maintenance resources, means the damn progress bar will stagnate or even regress!

This directly affects the reports he submits to the Star Alliance Resource Department every month, affecting his performance rating and bonus!

He immediately connects to the internal communication.

"Control Center, this is Thorne. What is the situation in Section 7 of B Zone? Detailed report!"

The nervous voice of a technician comes from the other end of the line.

"Mr. Supervisor, garrison soldier Carlson reports a cave-in has occurred, two miners are buried. According to the latest sensor data and Carlson's description, the scale of the cave-in is medium, completely blocking the main B-7a passage, and has also affected…"

"I don't need the process, I only need the results and the solution!"

Thorne interrupts him impatiently.

"Estimated cleanup time? How long until production can be restored at the earliest?"

"Uh… preliminary assessment, clearing the cave-in debris will take at least… at least six standard hours. But the surrounding area needs to be reinforced first to prevent a secondary cave-in, which might take…"

"Too slow!"

Thorne's fingers tap on the desktop.

"Draft the nearest cleanup team over there! Tell them, they must clear the B-7a passage within four standard hours! I don't care what method they use! If necessary, they can use small-scale blasting to clear the obstruction, but they must ensure it doesn't trigger a larger-scale collapse!"

"Yes! Mr. Supervisor!"

"Also,"

Thorne adds.

"Immediately dispatch new miners from the reserve team to fill the operational vacancies at faces No. 17 and No. 18. The production quota cannot change; the amount missing today must be made up double from tomorrow's quota!"

"Understood!"

Closing the communication, Thorne's residual anger remains.

He pulls up the mining zone's human resources interface and finds the IDs of the two miners with "signals lost": Ake and his apprentice.

He changes their status from "Active" to "Attrition-Accidental Loss," then submits a new miner request in the resource application column, with the note "Urgent replacement, prioritize processing."

After finishing all this, his attention returns to the other data still scrolling by.

The deaths of two people cannot even stir a ripple in this massive data stream.

The lives of miners? Here, they are just a part of cost accounting.

The cost of training a new miner is far lower than the expense of equipping existing miners with safer equipment.

The Star Alliance's calculation model proved this point long ago. As long as the accidental loss rate is controlled within the standard range, it is completely acceptable.

His personal terminal rings again; it is an encrypted message from planetary headquarters.

He clicks it open; it is a follow-up notice regarding recent "interstellar energy flow interference," requiring all mining zones to increase vigilance, ensure communication remains clear, and report any abnormal situations, while once again emphasizing that the ore delivery volume for this production cycle must not have any shortages.

Thorne sneers. Abnormal situations? Those big shots sitting in air-conditioned rooms at headquarters only know how to issue orders.

Is there any day on Kamirate without "abnormalities"? Energy interference? Aside from causing that damn gladiator channel to cut out, making those garrison troops below complain endlessly—oh right, didn't the report just mention that idiot Carlson was causing trouble because he lost a bet? —what other impact could it have? Could it possibly interfere with a mine pit hundreds of meters underground?

He casually replies with a template message saying "Third Mining Zone operating normally, production quotas guaranteed to be met," and tosses the matter to the back of his mind.

Whatever energy interference there is, it is far less important than his production reports.

He switches screens to check the rationing management system.

The system shows that today's synthetic nutrient paste distribution is the lowest grade "Moss No. 7" flavor, and the purified water ration is also maintained at the baseline.

Very good, cost control is appropriate.

It's good enough that those miners have something to eat; do they still want to taste "Fungal Protein No. 3" or "Algae Concentrate No. 5"?

Regarding entertainment, the interruption of the gladiator channel did indeed cause some small-scale complaints, but it is not a big problem.

He has already ordered an increase in the ration of "Xiaoyao Agent"; that cheap chemical sedative and hallucinogen can effectively numb the workers' nerves, letting them forget the misery of reality in a brief, illusory pleasure, which is more practical than any gladiator recording.

Medical reports show that the accident rate due to pneumoconiosis and fatigue-related operations has risen slightly recently.

Thorne frowns; this means a potential decline in work efficiency and consumption of medical resources.

He approves: "Strengthen ventilation system inspections (low-cost plan), strictly investigate idling behavior, and if necessary, take incentive measures (such as a micro-increase in rations) to stimulate production efficiency."

As for more effective protective equipment? Not under consideration; the cost is too high.

The security report is the same as always, just trivial matters.

A certain miner attempted to hide a small piece of ore (already dealt with by the garrison), and a small-scale brawl occurred at a residential point (already suppressed).

The garrison Commander routinely requested a replenishment of non-lethal ammunition for suppression purposes.

Suo En took a rough look and approved most of them.

Maintaining suppression capability is necessary; although he believed these miners had long been tamed like livestock, necessary deterrence could not be lacking.

The armed forces on this planet were never meant for external use, but for internal use, ensuring this extraction system could continue to operate without resistance.

Under his management, the Third Mining Zone invested minimal resources and countless replaceable "human units," while producing precious Spirit Element Ore, which was continuously shipped to the other side of the starry sky, supporting the glory and power of the Feng Qi Xing Alliance.

As for those people living beneath the gears of this machine?

They were not "people," but "resources," "consumables," and insignificant costs necessary to keep the machine running.

Time passed quietly amidst the refreshing of data streams.

Four standard hours later, the Control Console prompted: Passage B-7a clearance complete, mining faces 17 and 18 have resumed operations.

After passing through a small trough, the production curve climbed upward again tenaciously.

Suo En looked at the progress bar that had turned green again and nodded with satisfaction.

A small crisis was thus resolved, and the system returned to "normal."