Immortal Destiny

Immortal Destiny Chapter 3

2021-05-03

Chapter 3 Miners' Life

On the second day, Xiao Lin got up from the bed, dressed in sackcloth and gray. He put on his clothes, carried the bamboo basket on his back, and then picked up the iron pick at the door and went out.

When he came to the square, he saw a lot of people standing there, and some people were coming out of the mine with bamboo baskets on their backs, Xiao Lin knew at a glance that these people were originally here Miners should come out to pay for the ore.

On the other side of the square, there is also a tent. The Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple below is collecting ore. Each piece of ore is not big. , Some of those miners were elated, but there were also a few with pale faces, their heads downcast, with deep fear in their eyes, and Xiao Lin murmured inwardly as they watched.

Soon, it was the turn of a pale-looking miner to pay the ore. The Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple, who collected the ore, glanced at the ore in the bamboo basket, and his face suddenly darkened.

Seeing the face of the Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple, the miner suddenly became full of fear, and kept bowing to the Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple, as if begging.

But soon, two Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple rushed out from behind, dragged the miner away without saying a word, and tied his hands to two stakes, one of which was Hundred Refinements. Hall Disciple picked up a thumb-sized leather whip from the stake, a sneer on his face.

The miner's face was exactly facing Xiao Lin and the newcomers. Seeing the desperate expression on the miner's face, everyone showed expressions of horror.

"Pa slap." Despite the distance of dozens of meters, the sound of each whip clearly entered everyone's ears.

Xiao Lin could even clearly see the blood on the whip. After ten whips, the miner passed out with black lips, but the Hundred Refinements Hall Disciple showed no mercy, and still He swung the whip and continued to beat.

"Don't look at it, if you can't complete your monthly tasks, he will be your end." A cold voice came, attracting everyone's attention.

Sun Fang came to the front of them and jumped on a table, he held up a dark red ore in his hand.

"This ore is called hematite, from which we can extract hematite for forging inferior weapons. The mines here mainly produce this kind of hematite. Every month you Pay at least 50 catties of hematite ore. If you lose one catty, you will be whipped once. If you come out empty-handed, you will be whipped 50 times. Oh, by the way, let me tell you, the average healthy man can endure at most. Twenty strokes of the cane."

Sun Fang's words caused a commotion below, and many people had dissatisfaction on their faces, and there was fear in this dissatisfaction, after all, yesterday Sun Fang killed Jian Zhuang The scene of the man is still vivid in his mind, and no one wants to jump out of courting death.

Sun Fang glanced at everyone coldly, paused, and took out a piece of pitch-black ore the size of a soybean from the palm of his hand.

"This ore is called Mysterious Iron Ore. It is an extremely rare ore in the ore veins. It can be extracted into Mysterious Iron for forging high-grade weapons. Since the quantity is extremely rare, I want to dig this ore. , not only requires hard work, but also requires a lot of luck. Of course, as long as you can dig such a large piece of mysterious iron ore, it is enough to meet your monthly tasks, and you can do it without paying for hematite.”

Sun Fang had someone give the hematite and the black iron ore to the miner at the front, and asked them to take a closer look.

As of now, everyone has put out their thoughts of running away and completely accepted their fate. Everyone carefully looked at the two ores that were passed over. After all, it was related to whether they could complete the monthly The task, in other words, is more related to one's own life.

Soon, two pieces of ore passed into Xiao Lin's hands, he felt a sinking feeling when he took it in his hand, and a surprised expression appeared on his face, that piece of black iron ore the size of a soybean was actually the same as that piece of ore. A piece of hematite the size of an egg weighs about the same.

He stared at the two ores, wishing to carve them into his brain, until the person behind him urged him, he reluctantly passed the two ores to the person behind him.

There is a full one hour, and everyone has read it.

The ore was handed back to Sun Fang. He looked at everyone with satisfaction, with a strange expression on his face, and said, "By the way, let me mention to you, all black in the mine, no daylight, and there are not many ore, so it is not easy to dig out 50 catties of hematite in a month. The ore is used to complete the monthly tasks, so you have to be careful of the miners around you. Of course, you don’t see that there are only a dozen or more entrances to the mine, but there are many holes in it, and there are countless branch holes. It's an easy thing, okay, I've said what I have to say, and the rest is up to your luck. There is a canteen over there. You can come out to get food and water every day, or you can get food and water for several days at a time. Water, it's up to you, there are no restrictions."

After finishing speaking, Sun Fang waved his hand, indicating that everyone can go get food and water, and then enter the mine.

Now Xiao Lin finally understands that not only mining in the mine, but also guarding the mine friends around him, which makes him a little speechless, but looking at the drooping head again, he has fainted The whipped miner, Xiao Lin seems to be able to understand again.

When people face life and death, good and evil seem to have become less important.

Xiao Lin looked around, but couldn't find Xiao Shi, and even if they met, so what? Can dig some more.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lin went to the cafeteria. He received food and water for ten days at a time, which was basically the maximum amount he could bring. The reason why he brought so much food and water was mainly He wanted to save time on the road, and he knew very well that with his small body, he was definitely at the bottom of all miners. The idea is simple, bring as much food and water as possible, and then find a slightly biased mine, as deep as possible, which should reduce the chance of encountering the rest of the miners.

After receiving the food, everyone entered the mine one after another. Xiao Lin came to the foot of the mountain, looked at a dozen dark caves, took a deep breath, and chose one of them. One of them went in.

The mine inside is as Sun Fang said, extending in all directions. With the kerosene lamp in his hand, Xiao Lin silently moved towards it. hour, there was no one by his side. There were so many branch holes in the mine. If there was a white-painted arrow indicating the direction every three-four hundred meters, he would definitely get lost in the mine.

The further you go in, the narrower the mine is. The mine tunnel Xiao Lin walks is only over one meter high. He is also small, so an adult would have to bend over to pass through, but Xiao Lin obviously did not. He didn't plan to stop and start mining, but continued to walk inside. Every hundred meters he walked, he would stop, carefully identify the direction, and clearly imprint every hole he passed through in his mind.

He stopped and walked like this, and after walking for more than an hour, Xiao Lin stopped. He looked thoughtful at the fork in front of him. After a while, he suddenly used an iron pick to cut the fork. The white paint arrow pointing the direction was pried off, and then walked into an unremarkable small hole on the right side.

After prying off seven or eight white paint arrows along the way, Xiao Lin turned into a small branch hole again. This branch hole is not very deep. Now, the walls all around are very damp. The bottom of the mine is red mud mixed with some crushed stones, which are piled aside. Xiao Lin dug a small hole with an iron pick at the highest point of the mine, and put the kerosene lamp. up.

He looked at the red mud at the bottom of the mine with a thoughtful expression on his face.

In Xiao Lin's opinion, this is already the deepest part of the mine, although he has pried off seven or eight white-painted arrows along the way, unless it is himself, if someone else wants Come in, really have some luck.

But Xiao Lin obviously doesn't feel that he is completely safe now. After thinking for a while, a firm expression appeared on his face, and then he took the iron pick and was more than ten meters away from the bottom of the cave. place, dug up from the bottom of the wall.

The soil of the mine is very wet red mud, and occasionally some gravel is dug out of it. After one hour of digging, an oblate cave about one chi size is dug out. Looking at this Even the small hole he was going to enter on his stomach, Xiao Lin showed a satisfied expression on his face.

He lay down in the small hole and started to expand the cave with an iron pick. It didn't stop and continued to expand until he could easily stand and swing the iron pick. He stopped and thought for a moment. The orientation of the cave, and the direction when you came, so as not to dig the wrong direction and dig into the rest of the branch caves. Although all the mine caves are curved, the final general direction is moved towards the inside of the mountain range. That is, in the west direction, after a while, Xiao Lin began to dig.

After digging for two hours, Xiao Lin looked at the only thumb-sized crimson ore in the bamboo basket, and his face became a little ugly. After digging for so long, he only found a small piece of hematite. Mine, if it goes on like this, the task will definitely not be completed in a month. Thinking about the miner who was whipped, Xiao Lin's face turned pale.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Lin continued to dig. Now he can only do his best to dig. If it is really close to a month and the number of tasks is still far away, then he has to run if he doesn't run. Well, after all, there is still a glimmer of hope in the primitive forest to escape from the wild beast's mouth, but if you are whipped dozens of times, you will definitely die.

In the silent mine, there is only the sound of iron picks digging and Xiao Lin's breathing. After digging for two hours, he stopped gasping for breath.

Seeing that there was still a thumb-sized piece of hematite in the bamboo basket, he looked at the head with a wry smile. He sat on a stone beside him, took out a steamed bun, and ate it with water. It seemed to him that even though mining was hard, he could at least have enough to eat, which made him feel very satisfied. If he wasn't worried about his father and younger sister, as long as he could complete his monthly tasks without being whipped, he would be willing to Keep going here.

(end of this chapter)