Chapter 978: Battle for the Tower (13)

Batman did not know what Wei En's true profession was, but he knew it certainly wouldn't be anything good.

Batman had gradually noticed Wei En's abnormality. Wei En was no longer as weak as he had been at the beginning; on the contrary, he had started to become somewhat agitated. Judging by the manifestations of his soul form, his soul was becoming increasingly active.

This was not a good sign. Batman knew that whether Wei En was weak or agitated, it did not mean he was healthy and normal. When his spirit was weak, he would become even more insane, and when his spirit was agitated, he might commit even more insane acts.

Beyond completing the task of linking the shadow monsters, Batman knew he had to keep an eye on Wei En to prevent him from undergoing any terrifying changes and causing a massive disaster after leaving Hell and returning to the human world.

After the meeting ended, Batman returned to the dormitory where he was staying. At this time, Liu Jiao was not yet asleep, so the two of them started chatting again.

Liu Jiao was somewhat rambling, and the logic of his language was also a bit chaotic. To Batman, he sounded more like a child whose intellectual development was incomplete, making him exceptionally easy to extract information from.

In the subsequent conversation, Batman learned that Liu Jiao was indeed a newborn. He had been awake for less than 100 years, and relative to the lifespans of the races in Hell, he was still an infant.

But perhaps it was the previous act of revenge that had stimulated him, keeping his spirit in a state of high agitation. He revealed many secrets of the mines to Batman.

No one understood these mines better than the shadow vines that had survived here for thousands of years. Liu Jiao told Batman that the continental shelf of the entire Barren Continent was built upon magma. Beneath the mines, there was a sea of molten lava, which was extremely dangerous.

The sea of molten lava would ebb, and the exposed ore was called lava stone. Those who committed mistakes in the mines would be sent to carry lava stones.

The lava stones that had just erupted had an extremely high temperature, even hotter than the magma itself. The vast majority of races in Hell could not endure such temperatures, including the lava demons born from the magma.

Additionally, Liu Jiao used a tone of great fear to describe to Batman the execution scenes he had seen. The overseers would use whips to drive the mining slaves who had made mistakes up to a cliff at the very bottom of the central mine, then push them into the sea of molten lava to be burned to ashes.

Batman would occasionally pose his own questions. There were some questions Liu Jiao did not know the answers to, but Batman would infer possible conclusions from his reactions.

Just like that, throughout the second half of the night, Batman emptied out all the knowledge Liu Jiao possessed. It actually wasn't much, because this little monster, born not long ago, had never left the Qishan Mine.

When the next day began, Batman clearly felt that the atmosphere in the mine had changed; everyone was extremely nervous.

Before Batman had even fully woken up, the overseers rudely pushed open the gate, dragged all the mining slaves out of the cells, and brought them to the plaza outside.

Once all the slaves were huddled together in a row, an overseer cleared his throat and said, "I want to tell you all, starting today, we have a major task to undertake!"

"Just this morning, the great Your Majesty Belial declared war on Astro!"

"The army has already reached the border, and the endless stream of armor and weapons from the rear will become the magic weapon for our soldiers to achieve victory!"

"General Fuxin, who rules the Qishan Mine, has already guaranteed to Your Majesty that although the Qishan Mine is the second-largest mine under Your Majesty's command, it must strive to achieve the highest production!"

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"Starting from today, all break times are cancelled, and meal times are cancelled as well. You must work in the mines day and night until the mission objectives are met. Before the target output is achieved, no one is allowed to leave the mine!"

"I know that some demons with weak power cannot survive without consuming food, but you must know that if you cannot complete the task, your fate will be even more miserable than starving to death!"

"In order to supervise your work efficiency, General Fuxin has borrowed many Beholders from his own kin. They will be watching you from everywhere in the mine..."

The demon overseer snorted coldly. Following that, Batman saw a giant eyeball float from the center of the mine into mid-air.

Many smaller eyeballs flew out from behind it, flying to every corner of the mine. They were connected by purple nerves, and it looked as though everything those small eyeballs saw would be transmitted back to the giant eyeball.

"General Fuxin is in the palace above the giant Beholder, watching every one of you. Whoever dares to slack off..."

Instantly, all the mining slaves trembled with fear, but they were more afraid of the fate of death mentioned by the overseer, and they did not have a sufficient expectation of what they were about to experience. However, Batman had already anticipated it.

Sure enough, after entering the mine tunnel, there were eyeball demons everywhere, staring fixedly at everyone who entered the mine tunnel.

And many demons who hadn't reacted yet, just like usual, picked up their pickaxes and started working. But not long after, a team of overseers burst in.

"You! And you!" The overseer leader held a whip, pointing at two small demons, and said fiercely, "The Eye Demon saw you two slacking off! You walked past twice carrying empty baskets. Come with us!"

These two overseers were both humanoid demons, one with blue skin and one with red skin. The red-skinned demon was very tall, and when he picked up the small demons, those two tiny demons couldn't even struggle.

"Where are they taking him? What happened to him?"

"Why can't we carry empty baskets? What are we supposed to do now? What on earth happened?"

The chattering discussion arose, but when the Beholders' gaze swept over again, everyone shut their mouths and worked in silence.

The overseers came several times, each time taking away one or two slaves. It wasn't until the rest time was almost up, and everyone was taken to the lowest level of the mine and saw that group of demons hanging in a net, that they realized what General Fuxin was actually going to do.

The lowest level of the mine was a huge hollow space, with only a small piece of ground at the entrance available for standing. Opposite it was a cliff, and behind the cliff was a cave entrance; clearly, there was another path leading there.

At this time, on the edge of the cliff stood a tall pillar with a crossbar on it, extending toward the sea of molten lava in front. At the end of the crossbar hung a large net, and inside the net were the miners who had been taken away during the day.

From Batman's perspective, there were at least dozens of various demons in the large net. They were all constantly struggling and calling out, clearly having foreseen their own fate.

Almost all the slaves were brought here, driven by the overseers to gather in a group to watch this execution ceremony.

After a while, General Fuxin made his appearance. He slowly walked to the edge of the cliff, appearing very imposing against the backdrop of the firelight from the sea of molten lava.

That was a humanoid demon with dark green skin. According to Liu Jiao's description, he should belong to a type of ancient demon, possessing a tall body, thick limbs, and a head that looked like a fly's.

And the reason he was called General Fuxin was because there was a fluorescent green pattern on his chest that bloomed from the inside out, looking as if it had been mutated by radiation from something.

He held a weapon that looked like a harpoon in his hand. When he spoke, that hoarse and rough voice made people's eardrums ache.

"Look at this group of scum! Fools who slack off at work! Sinners who dare to defy my orders, they will—"

General Fuxin deliberately dragged out a long tone, then raised his voice and said, "They will be submerged into the molten lava and scalded to death alive!"

"Watch closely, if you cause me to fail the mission, this will be your fate!"

After speaking, he controlled the large net, slowly lowering it until it reached the space above the sea of molten lava. The skin of the demons at the very bottom almost touched the molten lava, causing them to scream in pain as they were scalded, while the demons above them kept grabbing the mesh of the large net, trying to climb upward, emitting heart-wrenching, miserable screams.

Batman saw Wei En's figure among the crowd. But at this moment, the professor's face showed a look of disgust, as if he felt the demons' screams were too piercing. However, Batman felt that Wei En might be repulsed by General Fuxin's method, which lacked any aesthetic sense.

After dealing with this group of lunatics for a long time, Batman discovered that he could also judge whether a certain matter conformed to their values from their perspective.

This type of lunatic hated slaughter very much; they felt it was a waste of precious life. They did not take pleasure in slaughtering their own kind in large numbers. On the contrary, they hated this kind of thing, calling it "repetitive, boring assembly line work" or "more suitable for butchers slaughtering chickens and cows," feeling that such behavior had neither aesthetic sense nor enough artistry.

However, General Fuxin was completely unaware. His goal of killing the chicken to scare the monkey had been achieved. Now, the vast majority of the slave miners were kneeling or lying down, constantly crying and begging the overseers and the general to spare them.

The fear of death among intelligent beings is unavoidable. In the face of death, whether it is humans, demons, or angels, all life is equal, and fear is also equal.

And General Fuxin seemed to want to deliberately torture this group of demons being executed. He used a bow and arrow to shoot at the rope hanging the large net, but deliberately missed, letting the arrow graze and break the edge of the rope, causing the entire net to sway.

The crying and screaming blended together. In such an environment, Batman finally felt that this place had some semblance of Hell.

And amidst the chaotic sounds, only General Fuxin's loud laughter pierced through the mountain body, echoing in the sky of Hell, where there was no sun, only the molten lava flowing and gurgling for ten thousand years.

Accompanied by a "thud" sound, the large net ultimately fell into the magma. The dying screams of the demons were carved into the heart of every demon, so much so that when they returned to that dark mine tunnel, everyone was a bit dazed.

Batman knew that such a dramatic execution provided him with the best opportunity. These slaves, drowning in panic, were in need of someone who could soothe them and lead them.

Just as Batman was selecting his target, another team of overseers walked in. This time, they pulled in two empty mine cart carriages along the tracks. The leading overseer spoke:

"Before tomorrow morning, I hope to see you fill these two carriages, otherwise, you will all be thrown into the magma!"

Hearing this, all the miners were stunned. Looking at those two huge transport carriages, many people started to cry.

"How is this possible?! This is absolutely impossible! This is the workload of seven or eight days, how can it be completed in one night??!!"

"There isn't that much ore here at all. We don't have time to excavate the rock layers, we don't have piercing demons or tail-exploding demons, we can't dig the rock layers, and even if we could, it would collapse!"

"Who can save me! I don't want to fall into the magma and be scalded to death!"

Just at this moment, Batman saw a small demon, crying until he was somewhat delirious, bump into his leg. He lowered his head, picked up the small demon, and then asked him:

"Is it really impossible to dig up so much ore in one night?"

"Of course it's impossible! Of course! This is an impossible thing!!!"

Batman scanned the scene in the mine tunnel, silently estimated the quantity of surface minerals in his heart, then shook his head and said in a low voice:

"Perhaps not necessarily." ===== CHAPTER 979 =====