PAT...
Wu Dao was just about to turn back and risk trying to fish up another "fish" when footsteps suddenly echoed from the cave entrance.
The footsteps were heavy.
It was as if an iron man was walking, the sound of gravel being crushed underfoot clearly audible.
Most Mining Slaves had weak, unsteady legs.
It was impossible for them to have such Leg Strength!
A thought flashed through Wu Dao's mind. He suppressed the greed in his eyes, his expression returning to one of numb listlessness. He relaxed his muscles and lowered his head, doing his best to appear harmless and weak.
CLICK-CLACK...
Accompanied by the sound of metal on stone, the newcomer's figure came into view.
He had a fair, clean-shaven face with delicate, almost feminine features. His eyes were slender like willow leaves, and a long, lean frame was draped in green brocade robes.
He toyed with two black Iron Pills in his hand, the corners of his mouth turned up in a faint, leisurely smile. He looked like a handsome young master from a troubled world.
Meng Qingshuang!
The man in charge of the Red Fire Mine, the fourth adopted son of the Four Seas Gang's Gang Leader.
He held absolute authority in the mine; a single word from him could decide anyone's life or death. Even the most vicious Supervisor had to be as docile as a kitten before him.
It wasn't just because of his status.
More importantly, it was his strength!
A month ago,
Wu Dao had seen it with his own eyes.
Over a trivial matter, Meng Qingshuang had used one of the Iron Pills in his hand to pierce through a Supervisor's skull from seven or eight meters away.
He had killed an Expert, whose Physique was comparable to a champion boxer from Earth, in a single blow.
This was just a glimpse of how powerful he truly was.
From the Supervisors' discussions,
Wu Dao learned that Meng Qingshuang cultivated this world's Martial Dao and had already reached the Realm of Divine Power, the peak of Foundation Establishment.
His strength was like a mammoth's, his skin like cowhide and organs like a horse's. His perception and endurance were superhuman. He was comparable to a humanoid Fierce Beast, capable of easily slaughtering a hundred armed thugs with his bare hands!
That kind of combat power
was not something the current Wu Dao, who had only achieved 35% Potential Release and had yet to break his first human limit, could possibly fight.
Therefore,
as Meng Qingshuang sized him up with a gaze that hid a dagger behind a smile,
Wu Dao cooperatively began to tremble uncontrollably. His breathing grew ragged, like a little rabbit awaiting judgment from a predator.
CLICK.
The Iron Pills in his right palm stopped clacking together.
Meng Qingshuang glanced at Wu Dao—whose face was hidden by filthy hair, whose clothes reeked, and whose exposed skin was caked with crusted dirt—and chuckled as if reminding a lost traveler, "Not leaving? You can't stay here for long."
His voice was hoarse and effeminate.
It was full of goodwill, but upon closer consideration, it was like a venomous snake hissing by one's ear—you never knew when it would strike, making one's blood run cold.
Wu Dao, who had weathered countless storms in his life, felt nothing stir within him. On the surface, however, he trembled violently and stammered, looking utterly terrified, "Th-thank you, my lord."
The words had barely left his mouth
when he gathered all his focus, broke into a hurried pace, and shuffled past Meng Qingshuang with his body hunched over.
As he passed,
Meng Qingshuang's slender, willow-like eyes never completely left Wu Dao, as if a thunderous blow would descend the instant he showed the slightest hint of abnormality.
Fortunately,
Wu Dao made it all the way to the cave entrance without Meng Qingshuang moving a muscle. It seemed he had only been watching out of a momentary flicker of interest, or perhaps due to his suspicious nature.
After Wu Dao left the mine tunnel,
Meng Qingshuang finally let the gentle smile fall from his face. He licked his lips with a scarlet tongue, his eyes glinting with the greed of a starving beast. "Such a fine aroma... seeing all this meat every day but not being able to eat it. Tsk. But it'll be soon."
With that said,
he resumed clicking his Iron Pills together. Ignoring the cold air in the cave and the ghostly wails carried on the wind, he walked to the edge of the pitch-black Earth Abyss and stared down into its depths.
A terrifying scene unfolded—
As Meng Qingshuang stared into the depths of the Earth Abyss,
his two distinct black-and-white eyeballs suddenly rolled up and vanished, replaced by a pair of scarlet, cold-blooded vertical pupils.
To be precise, they were a snake's pupils!
As the snake pupils opened, his world turned blood-red. The depths of the dark mire, which the scorching sunlight could not penetrate, became clearly visible.
Within the inky swamp,
maggot-like and worm-like black shadows writhed and coiled, occasionally revealing tormented human faces of various descriptions. The sight was utterly nauseating and unnerving.
After observing for a moment,
"Not bad. It's almost time."
Meng Qingshuang nodded in satisfaction, like the owner of a fish farm about to reap a bountiful harvest.
"Cough, cough..."
But immediately after, he broke into a violent coughing fit. His face turned as pale as gilt paper, making him look terminally ill and not long for this world.
He opened his palm.
The blood in his palm was black as ink, and within it, small, earthworm-sized snakes wriggled.
SPLAT!
Meng Qingshuang crushed the small snakes in his hand, his gaze icy. "We have a symbiotic relationship, not one of master and servant. Without me, would you be where you are today? Behave yourself!"
As his voice fell,
Meng Qingshuang's complexion quickly returned to a healthy ruddy color. The coldness in his eyes instantly melted into gentleness, and he spoke patiently, as if placating a disobedient child:
"Don't worry. Dali is already a complete mess. No one will interfere with the Four Seas Gang's plans anymore."
"The quota of Demon Seeds for the Red Fire Mine will be delivered tomorrow."
"Once it's done, so what if we don't have a Dantian? The members of my Four Seas Gang will still undergo a complete Rebirth, and every one of them will be like a dragon!"
"When that time comes, you and I will naturally benefit endlessly. It won't be impossible for us to become masters revered for generations!"
DRIP...
As he spoke, saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. He looked like a great serpent choosing its prey, his eyes filled with a frenzied longing.
...
Outside,
after getting far away from Mine Tunnel #1,
Wu Dao's expression returned to one of indifference. He narrowed his eyes, contemplating Meng Qingshuang's purpose in going to Mine Tunnel #1.
If not for the strange incident that had just occurred, he might not have given it much thought.
But for Meng Qingshuang to show up right after a "specter" appeared in Mine Tunnel #1... it was hard not to wonder if the two were connected, and if some conspiracy was hidden behind it all.
But unfortunately...
limited by his lack of inherited memories, his understanding of this world's Extraordinary aspects was too limited to figure anything out.
'What a pity...'
In the end,
Wu Dao could only shake his head and sigh with regret.
An anomalous creature, suspected to be a "specter," could provide him with 0.1 units of Teleportation Points.
'If I could stay in Mine Tunnel #1 for a long time...'
"Heh, a man's heart is never satisfied, just as a snake tries to swallow an elephant."
But on second thought, Wu Dao gave a self-deprecating laugh. He felt his earlier risky idea had been a bit impulsive.
As the saying goes,
when you find one cockroach, it means there's already a whole nest in the house.
With his current strength,
a single specter was enough to push him to his limits and leave him in a sorry state. If he stirred up a whole nest and they came at him one after another,
the consequences would be unimaginable.
'My strength is inferior, so I'm constrained at every turn. I have to leave the Red Fire Mine as soon as possible.'
The specter he had just encountered, along with the activation of his attribute panel, had thoroughly ignited Wu Dao's curiosity about the unknown world beyond the high walls.
Because he knew,
the path forward for his Essence Devouring Art had been found.
He couldn't wait to see just how powerful the human body could become after breaking through 100% Potential Release!
However...
reality rarely goes according to plan!
An event that occurred the next evening
was like a bucket of ice water poured from the sky, instantly extinguishing the fiery yearning for the outside world in Wu Dao's heart.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
At dusk, the wind and sand obscured the fading light.
The incessant banging of a bronze gong echoed through the Red Fire Mine.
Wu Dao, having just come up from the mine tunnels, knew it was time for a meal.
Two meals a day.
Each meal consisted of one stinking, tooth-chippingly hard black tuber, with plenty of dirty water to wash it down.
This was the food for the Mining Slaves of the Red Fire Mine. Out in the world, not even a dog would eat it, but here it was the life-sustaining medicine that allowed the slaves to barely cling to life.
But today seemed a little different.
Even before reaching the mess hall, the rich aroma of meat wafted through the air, instantly making his stomach churn and his mouth water.
Wu Dao took a deep breath of the long-absent smell of meat. His expression remained unchanged, but his heart was cold. He guessed the Supervisors must have come up with some new way to torture the Mining Slaves for their own amusement.
It wasn't that he was paranoid.
It was because there was precedent—
The Supervisors would throw out a piece of meat and make the Mining Slaves kill each other for it, betting on the fights for entertainment!
Huh?
'What's he doing here?'
But when Wu Dao saw Meng Qingshuang standing out from the crowd of Supervisors like a crane among chickens, his brow furrowed.
Although Meng Qingshuang was the man in charge of the Red Fire Mine, he usually stayed within his private residence deep inside the compound and rarely appeared in the mining area.
Yet today, he had uncharacteristically shown himself twice.
Connecting this to the strange events in Mine Tunnel #1,
Wu Dao couldn't help but grind his teeth. A sense of unease grew within him.
Before the open-air mess hall,
more than three hundred Mining Slaves stood silent as cicadas in winter before the vicious Supervisors. It was deathly quiet, their gazes fixed on the roughly fifty bowls of fragrant braised pork on the tables, unable to stop swallowing their saliva.
'What's going on?'
Wu Dao also stared at the fifty large bowls filled with braised pork, equally bewildered. He couldn't quite figure out what the Four Seas Gang was planning.
'A sudden burst of charity?'
'No!'
'Even death row inmates get a good final meal before their execution.'
At this thought,
Wu Dao nonchalantly scanned the high walls surrounding them, and his face grew completely grim.
He didn't know when it happened,
but the number of Four Seas Gang guards on the high walls around the mine had suddenly multiplied several times over!
In every direction, there were at least a hundred vigorous, formidable guards armed with sabers and spears, sealing off the entire mine!
The winds foretold a coming storm; a great disaster was imminent!
The Heart Lake Alarm Bell in Wu Dao's mind rang wildly. His lowered eyes were filled with violent rage, but he had no way to break the deadlock!
Weak!
Too weak!
His current strength gave him no chance of breaking through the blockade. He would probably be shot into a hornet's nest by crossbows the moment he reached the wall!
Not to mention,
Meng Qingshuang, whose true strength was unfathomable, was overseeing it all. Even if Wu Dao staked everything and used his Essence Devouring Art, he had little confidence of success!
Huuu...
The powerful will he had forged in his past life allowed Wu Dao to forcibly suppress the unease and agitation in his heart and calm down.
'They are the knife and cutting board; I am the fish and meat.'
'Panicking is useless!'
'If I wait and see, and face this calmly, I might still be able to jump off the chopping block!'
"Begin,"
Meng Qingshuang said coolly to a one-eyed Supervisor beside him, just as Wu Dao's thoughts were in turmoil.
"Yes!"
The one-eyed Supervisor immediately nodded respectfully. He and a dozen other Supervisors walked into the crowd, meeting the terrified gazes of the Mining Slaves as they sized up each one like they were selecting goods.
"You, get lost!"
"You, stay!"
In a short while, most of the original three hundred Mining Slaves had been sent to the back, leaving only fifty standing before the mess hall.
Wu Dao happened to be among them.
He glanced around.
He noticed that the fifty Mining Slaves who remained were all those with relatively abundant Essence, Qi, and Spirit, possessing physiques that were the most robust of the lot.
The ones who weren't chosen were all skin and bones, like withered yellow bean sprouts.
This bizarre situation,
coupled with the sudden multiplication of Four Seas Gang guards,
inexplicably reminded Wu Dao of a scene where a suicide squad was being selected. 'Could the Four Seas Gang be preparing to attack an enemy, fattening us up before sending us to the front lines to die?'
But,
the one-eyed Supervisor's next words immediately overturned Wu Dao's speculation.
"Ahem."
The one-eyed Supervisor cleared his throat and beamed at the fifty anxious Mining Slaves. "Fellow workers, joyous news!
"In five days, it will be the auspicious occasion of our Four Seas Gang's Gang Leader's 80th birthday! The Gang Leader is a man of chivalry and compassion, with the heart of a Bodhisattva. He cares for every member of the Four Seas Gang and cannot bear to see our meritorious mining brothers suffer. Therefore, he has decided to reward you based on your contributions..."
As he spoke,
he pointed to the bowls of fragrant meat on the table and said, "Starting today, for the next ten days, your daily workload in the mine will be halved. Furthermore, you'll have meat for every meal, morning and night, to share in the happy occasion and build up your bodies."
"..."
Silence.
Including Wu Dao,
all fifty Mining Slaves were deathly silent.
'Are you even listening to yourself?'
'Aren't you from the Four Seas Gang the motherfucking reason we're in this goddamn state?'
'The heart of a Bodhisattva? You've got some nerve saying that.'
If they weren't so outmatched, every Mining Slave would have loved to viciously poke out the one-eyed Supervisor's remaining eye. It was blind to their suffering anyway, so what was the point of keeping it?
"Eat! What are you all looking at me for?"
Seeing that all the Mining Slaves were just staring at the ground motionlessly, the one-eyed Supervisor's expression darkened, feeling that he had lost face in front of Meng Qingshuang.
However,
faced with his savage roar,
although the crowd of Mining Slaves trembled instinctively, they kept their heads down. Not a single one was willing to take a step forward.
The people who treat you like livestock all day and are always ready to beat or kill you suddenly offer you good food and drink.
Would you dare to eat it?
Only a fool would!
"Eat! None of you goddamn want to eat? You're afraid it's poisoned, is that it?"
When no one stepped forward for a long time,
the one-eyed Supervisor completely lost his temper. He started cursing loudly, raising his whip to lash the Mining Slaves in the front row.