Chapter 3252: Fated to Share the Same Destiny

When all the Elite Cavalry Guards immediately began working overtime to mine and produce, Ye Chen brought Song Ruoyu, under the leadership of Yin Xiaoyang, to the underground mine where thousands of death warriors and their families were imprisoned.

This underground mine had a total of three entrances; originally, the design was for two to be used for mining and transporting phosphate ore to the surface, and the other dedicated to ventilating the entire interior of the underground mine.

Now, the mine's ventilation shaft had been completely sealed off by thick iron bars as thick as arms, ensuring only ventilation could pass through, making it impossible for anyone to escape from here.

Besides that, the two mine entrances originally designed for transporting phosphate ore were all tightly sealed with heavy iron doors, with personnel from the Third Battalion of the Elite Cavalry Guards stationed here to guard them, and the control of the elevator also lay in the hands of the Elite Cavalry Guards; with the doors closed and the elevator shut down, the death warriors below had absolutely no chance of escaping.

Moreover, although the death warriors were equivalent to prisoners and the Elite Cavalry Guards to prison guards, their actual fates were not much different: the death warriors could not leave the mine without permission, while the Elite Cavalry Guards merely had a few kilometers more of activity range, bounded by the Duke Mining concession area, and they too could not freely leave this predicament.

Precisely for this reason, the death warriors would never attempt to escape, because escaping would be useless—once the antidote's time limit arrived, they would undoubtedly die.

When the three arrived at the entrance, Yin Xiaoyang directly said to the Elite Cavalry Guard guarding here: "Open the elevator; we need to go down for a trip."

The Elite Cavalry Guard obeyed him without question, naturally not daring to be slow, immediately opening the door and then supplying power to the elevator.

The lights inside the elevator turned on, and Yin Xiaoyang immediately said to Ye Chen and Song Ruoyu: "Ye Mr., Song Young Lady, please!"

Ye Chen nodded, entered the elevator first, Song Ruoyu followed closely behind, and Yin Xiaoyang entered last, then pressed a button on the signal device; upon receiving the signal, the Elite Cavalry Guard immediately activated the elevator, rapidly descending to the bottom of the mine.

During the elevator's rapid descent, Yin Xiaoyang asked Ye Chen: "Ye Mr., should I, after a while, gather all the death warriors and their families together?"

Ye Chen said: "First, gather the various level leaders of the death warriors; I will first explain the situation clearly to them, then have them gather everyone, letting them personally explain to their comrades and family members—this would be more persuasive, and moreover, I don't have time today to detoxify everyone, so I can only first detoxify the various level leaders to gain their trust, then have them organize everyone to evacuate first, and after evacuation to a safe place, detoxify the others."

After saying that, Ye Chen asked him: "When was the last time everyone took medicine?"

Yin Xiaoyang immediately said: "Replying to Ye Mr., everyone took the antidote just the day before yesterday, so there is still plenty of time."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Good, the time is sufficient."

The elevator traveled for about one minute, and upon reaching the bottom of the mine, a man immediately came forward to meet them; seeing it was Yin Xiaoyang, he immediately said respectfully: "Yin Commander, why have you personally come down?"

Yin Xiaoyang said: "There are some important matters I need to communicate with you; please trouble you to gather your Commander and all the thousand-households and banner leaders to the front hall for discussion."

That death warrior immediately said: "Yin Commander, please proceed to the front hall; I will immediately go notify the Commander!"

Passing through the mine's tunnels, the three arrived at the front hall of the death warriors' garrison; this place was originally a working face of the phosphate ore mining area, and after the Broken Clear Society took over, they renovated it, transforming this working face into the necessary passage to enter the garrison interior, reinforcing and strengthening it.

Now, this place had become the venue for the death warriors' meetings, and also where the Elite Cavalry Guards assigned tasks to the death warriors.

At this moment, the front hall was brightly lit, its spacious design resembling an ancient government office, with a flat, open space in the center and three grand master's chairs placed facing forward.

At this time, two death warriors were guarding the front hall; seeing Yin Xiaoyang arrive, they immediately stepped forward and said respectfully: "Your subordinate pays respects to Yin Commander!"

Yin Xiaoyang nodded and said to them: "I have summoned your Commander and all level leaders for a meeting; you may now withdraw."

The two immediately replied in unison: "Your subordinate obeys!"

After speaking, they immediately turned and retreated.

Ye Chen saw that these death warriors held Yin Xiaoyang in genuine respect, and their eyes were full of reverence rather than fear, so he curiously asked him: "Do you have a good relationship with these death warriors?"

Yin Xiaoyang introduced to Ye Chen: "Replying to Ye Mr., we Elite Cavalry Guards indeed have a very good relationship with the death warriors; although we are ordered to guard them here, I have repeatedly emphasized to all my Elite Cavalry Guard brothers that no one may oppress, bully, or make things difficult for the death warriors and their families, after all, we are all bound by the same fate and should mutually sympathize; these death warriors also understand our situation, and we do our best to provide them with help and convenience, so we get along very well."

Ye Chen nodded and sighed: "In the outside society, the classes have long formed a food chain, exploitation and oppression are often passed down layer by layer; many who suffer injustice from above then take it out doubly on those below; you here are able to realize that death warriors and Elite Cavalry Guards share the same fate and help each other—this is already truly not easy."

Hearing Ye Chen's words, Song Ruoyu's face involuntarily flushed.

She realized that she herself was one of the "many people" Ye Chen spoke of; the Song family had been controlled by the Broken Clear Society for hundreds of years, oppressed by it, but since coming to Duke Mining, she had shown no sympathy or compassion toward these Elite Cavalry Guards, instead treating them more harshly, even engaging in the slaughter of innocents; now thinking back, she felt utterly ashamed.

Soon, from the passage behind the front hall came the sound of neat, uniform running footsteps.

A middle-aged, sturdy man with a full beard led over twenty people running quickly over.

These people were mostly of Asian appearance, though there were also a few of other ethnicities; these other ethnicities had also been captured by the Broken Clear Society many years ago and forced to become death warriors, so their descendants also became death warriors and received unified Han education.

The group quickly came before the three; the leader, somewhat surprised, looked at Ye Chen, then loudly said: "Your subordinate Qian Wuwu pays respects to the Vice Envoy, my lord, and to the Commander, my lord!"

Ye Chen looked at Song Ruoyu and asked her: "Have you come down here before?"

Song Ruoyu nodded and said truthfully: "Replying to Ye Mr., I, your subordinate, came down the day before yesterday to distribute antidotes to them."

After saying that, she further explained: "Originally, this task should have been done by the Envoy, but this time I came to supervise the great blood replacement, so I did not let the Envoy come."

Ye Chen lightly nodded; at this moment, Yin Xiaoyang beside him looked at Ye Chen and asked: "Ye Mr., do you think it would be appropriate for me, your subordinate, to introduce you to these brothers?"

Ye Chen said: "Good, you introduce."

Seeing that Song Ruoyu and Yin Xiaoyang both treated the young man beside them with utmost respect, the death warriors also became somewhat nervous for a moment.

Originally, they could see at most the Envoy as the highest official here; being able to see the Vice Envoy two days ago had already made them feel something was off, and they did not expect that two days later another person would come who could make the Vice Envoy treat him with utmost respect; some even wondered if Ye Chen might be a Deputy Commander, or even a Grand Commander, of the Broken Clear Society.

At this moment, Yin Xiaoyang said: "Gentlemen, this Ye Mr. beside me brings you an opportunity to completely free yourselves and your families from the Broken Clear Society; I do not know whether you are willing to accept it?"