Chapter 852: Kamirate (6)

Kamirate, Third Mining Zone, early the next morning.

Tuoke jolted awake from a brief, shallow sleep; it was less of a waking and more of being roused by the bone-chilling cold inside his body.

The effects of the Xiaoyao Agent had long since faded, leaving behind only a dull, hollowed-out ache.

He struggled to sit up, every joint in his body radiating pain.

His throat was dry and burning with a searing, fiery pain.

He subconsciously looked toward the water bucket in the corner, only to remember that the last bit of water had been dumped out by that bastard soldier last night.

Despair filled his chest, bit by bit.

He fumbled to pick up the grey-green synthetic Nutrient Paste from the bedside, which emitted a pungent, strange odor of moss mixed with chemical additives.

This was his breakfast for today, and quite possibly his only meal.

He laboriously gnawed at it with his few remaining teeth; the paste scraped against his throat as he swallowed with difficulty, each swallow bringing a wave of burning pain because there was no water to wash it down.

After finishing the tasteless ration block, Tuoke felt a heaviness in his stomach, but the burning sensation in his throat had not eased in the slightest.

He needed water.

Tuoke looked toward the corner, where only an empty bucket sat.

It was time for work.

Tuoke habitually reached toward the wall, but his hand met only empty air.

After a moment of stunned silence, he remembered that the orange work uniform, stained with dust and... other things, had been thrown into the trash heap outside last night.

A cold chill pierced through his limbs.

Without a work uniform, he did not even have the qualifications to enter the mining zone.

The foreman Bulake would never allow anyone not wearing a standard work uniform to approach the mine shaft; it would be seen as a challenge to the rules, and he might even be labeled a "potential dangerous element."

He was left only with the thin, patched, coarse-cloth undergarments he was wearing, which were completely incapable of resisting the chill and the flying rock debris in the mining zone tunnels.

Trembling, he searched his entire cramped room, eventually finding only an old smock that was almost rotted into a mesh and could barely be called "clothing"; it had been discarded many years ago, but it could barely be pulled over his body to shield him from a bit of the wind and cold.

Just like that, wearing the tattered smock, his hands bare—his gloves were also in the pockets of the work uniform, discarded in the trash heap—he walked out the door, merged into the crowd in Silence, and headed toward the entrance of the mining zone.

Sure enough, he was stopped at the checkpoint at the entrance of the mining zone.

Foreman Bulake's rat-like eyes scanned Tuoke up and down, his face revealing disgust and mockery.

"Yo-ho! Where did this beggar come from? Tuoke, where is your work uniform? What do you think this place is? A charity shelter?"

Bulake's voice drew the attention of several garrison soldiers nearby.

Tuoke kept his head lowered; his throat was too dry to produce a clear sound, so he could only explain hoarsely.

"Of... officer... the uniform... it was ruined... I threw it away..."

"Ruined? Threw it away?"

Bulake raised his voice.

"Do you think that's toilet paper? You just throw it away whenever you want? That is Star Alliance property! You old piece of trash!"

Just then, a voice that made Tuoke's bone marrow turn cold rang out.

"What's going on? What are you making noise about?"

Carlson swayed over, his face carrying the puffiness of an unsobered hangover and his usual nasty expression.

He clearly remembered Tuoke as well.

Bulake immediately put on a fawning face.

"Officer Carlson, look at this old guy, he doesn't even have a work uniform, and he still wants to enter the mine pit in this state!"

Carlson's gaze landed on Tuoke's tattered smock, then saw his empty, calloused, and cracked hands, a trace of cruel amusement appearing on his face.

"Oh? It's you, old man."

Carlson stepped closer, his breath, reeking of alcohol and cheap tobacco, spraying onto Tuoke's face.

"No work uniform? I think you're deliberately destroying Star Alliance property, aren't you? What, are you dissatisfied with yesterday's punishment?"

Tuoke shrank back in fear, shaking his head repeatedly.

"No... I wouldn't dare... officer... it... it was ruined..."

"Ruined?"

Carlson walked around Tuoke with a mocking smile, looking him up and down.

"Looking at you like this, you can't do any delicate work anyway. As for the work uniform... since it's gone, then don't bother with it."

A faint glimmer of hope had just risen in Tuoke's heart, thinking that perhaps Carlson might show some "kindness" today.

But the next second, Carlson's words cast him into an ice cellar.

"However, the ore still needs to be mined. How about this: I see that over at B Qu Qi Hao Duan, the rubble and waste cleared from yesterday's collapse haven't been hauled away yet. You, go there today and use your hands to move those broken rocks onto the waste cart over there for me! You don't get off work until you've finished moving them! Of course, without a work uniform, there are no gloves, and today's protective ration... hmph, is naturally waived as well."

Use his hands? Move rubble? B Qu Qi Hao Duan? That was exactly where Ake and the others had been buried yesterday!

The edges of the rocks there were as sharp as knives, and the dust concentration was extremely high!

Without the protection of a work uniform and without gloves, this meant Tuoke's hands and his thin clothing would soon be shredded, and a large amount of dust would be inhaled directly into his lungs, accelerating his already severe pneumoconiosis!

This was meant to kill him! In a slow and painful way!

The miners around them all heard it, but no one dared to speak up.

They only buried their heads lower and left this place of trouble faster, fearing they would be implicated.

Tuoke wanted to beg for mercy, but looking at Carlson's eyes, which were full of mockery, he swallowed the words of supplication back down.

"Yes... yes, officer..."

At the collapse site of B Qu Qi Hao Duan, piles of rubble and mine tailings had not yet been cleared, the air was filled with dense dust, and one could even smell a nauseating odor.

A rusted waste cart sat to one side, and Tuoke began his "work."

He squatted down and, with those unprotected hands, picked up a rock with sharp, jagged edges.

The sharp edge of the stone cut the skin on his palm, and fresh blood seeped out, mixed with black ash.

Tuoke could not feel the pain; he just moved them mechanically.

With every breath, the air, saturated with metal dust, would drill into his trachea and lung lobes, triggering a fit of coughing.

Sweat seeped from his forehead, mixed with the black ash and blood streaks on his face, and flowed into his dry, stinging eyes.

He was thirsty, thirsty to the point of madness, feeling as if his throat and tongue had stuck together, and every breath carried the scent of blood.

He did not know how much time had passed.

Tuoke's consciousness began to blur; in his ears, there was only the sound of his own heavy wheezing and the beating of his heart.

Carlson would occasionally wander over, arms crossed, admiring Tuoke's performance with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Old man, didn't you eat? Hurry up and move them!"

"Tsk, blood is everywhere, how disgusting. Be careful not to contaminate the slag!"

"Looks like the Xiaoyao Agent didn't give you much extra strength after all!"

Tuoke's movements grew slower and slower, and his body began to sway.

Finally, while unloading, Tuoke picked up a slightly larger stone, his legs went weak, and everything went black before his eyes.

"Thump!"

He fell face-down, crashing heavily onto the ground covered in sharp, broken stones.

Several sharp stone shards pierced his cheeks and chest.

The world became silent in his ears.

The coughing stopped, and the sensation of thirst began to fade away.

He could not feel pain; he only felt his body becoming lighter and lighter, colder and colder.

Carlson frowned and cursed.

"Damn it, useless! You're down already?"

He walked up and kicked Tuoke's side with his heavy military boots.

"Hey! Old thing! Don't play dead! Get up!"

Tuoke's body rolled over from the kick, without any reaction.

Carlson kicked him twice more with increased force, cursing with foul language.

"Waste! Trash! Even if you die, don't die here and be an eyesore!"

Tuoke remained motionless.

His breathing became extremely faint, his pupils began to slowly dilate, and life was flowing out of his aged, broken body.

On the final edge of consciousness, Tuoke felt a kind of unprecedented... peace and relief.

That endless labor, thirst, hunger, humiliation, cold... were finally about to leave him.

He seemed to smell the fragrance of green grass in a hallucination again, saw his wife's warm smile, and heard his son Xiao Kai's crisp call... home... finally... I can go home...

His dilated pupils looked powerlessly up at the eternally dim yellow sky of Kamirate.

Right against that dim yellow backdrop, suddenly, several bright, scorching rays of light tore through the thick clouds of dust!

Those were not the familiar trajectories of transport ships, nor were they any Star Alliance aircraft he had ever seen.

They were more dazzling, carrying a destructive momentum, dragging long, scorching white exhaust trails, slashing across the sky, flying toward the earth, toward this mining area!

That scorching light, for the last time, reflected into old Tuoke's pupils, which had already lost the luster of life.

Like an insignificant speck of dust, before finally falling into the darkness, it accidentally reflected the lightning of a storm about to sweep through.

He was dead.

Without a sound.

Just like the countless consumables who had died in this mining field.

Carlson cursed at Tuoke's corpse again, turned around sullenly, and prepared to find the cleanup crew to deal with this pile of "trash."

He did not even notice the anomaly in the sky.

And that meteor slashing across the sky was becoming clearer and clearer.

The mining area's alarm rang out through the clouds the very next moment.