Chapter 317: Mining in mine shafts
"...You're right, we really should get down there quickly."
Neil gave Lin Ye a surprised look.
"I'll speed up then."
Lin Ye had originally thought the gradually thinning spiritual energy above ground was something the organization had created, and that the spiritual energy would gradually increase deeper in the mine shaft. But after entering the mine shaft, he discovered that the deeper they went, the lower the spiritual energy concentration in the environment became. Now, he could barely sense any spiritual energy at all.
In this spiritual energy-free environment, no matter how high Lin Ye's mental energy was, it was meaningless—at best, he was just slightly more sensitive than an ordinary person.
The mine cart carried the four of them deep underground. The angle of the tracks kept changing, but under Lin Ye's control, the cart moved both swiftly and steadily.
Lin Ye remained focused, carefully observing their surroundings. He feared something might jump out and attack the mine cart. In his current state, if he were thrown from the speeding cart, he'd be severely injured at best, if not killed.
The mine shaft wasn't just a single passage. There were many deep, dark mine shafts leading to unknown areas near the tracks, and occasional shadows moved deep within those shafts.
The things hiding deep in those mine shafts didn't attack the cart, and Lin Ye couldn't clearly see what they were.
The mine cart traveled downward for a full hour before reaching the mining area. The tracks leveled out, and the sounds of mining could be heard not far away. "There are actually people here?"
Neil said in surprise.
"It seems we're not the first miners the organization has sent in."
Old Arthur picked up his mining pickaxe. He didn't think the scum here would reason with him, because he was that kind of person too.
"How do we get back up after we finish mining? Am I the only one concerned about this?"
Leo looked back at the tracks leading upward and spoke with some despair.
"The organization definitely won't make you carry the ores back up running. That's not what we need to worry about right now."
Lin Ye got out of the cart with his mining pickaxe. The difficulty of this mission didn't seem particularly high, and if possible, he didn't want to waste time here.
The four of them followed the tracks deeper into the mining area and soon encountered an older guy mining in a side shaft. He wore the same prisoner uniform as Lin Ye and the others, clearly one of their peers.
The mining older guy noticed them too. His eyes lit up, and he ran over with his mining pickaxe.
"Newcomers?"
the old miner asked excitedly.
"Yeah, we just came down. Can you tell us about the situation here?"
Neil showed a friendly smile as he spoke.
"Of course, but you don't expect me to tell you for free, do you? All the information here was gained by testing with human lives, bit by bit."
The old miner wanted to get some benefits from these newcomers. Once these newcomers went further inside, these benefits would have nothing to do with him anymore.
"What do you want?"
Neil could roughly guess the other's demands—nothing more than exchanging pickaxes and miner's helmets, since they didn't have anything else.
"I want that young pretty boy. Just give him to me, and I'll tell you everything I know."
The old miner licked his lips, looking excitedly at Leo.
"...That doesn't seem entirely impossible. What do you guys think?"
Neil really wanted to use this bastard who wouldn't speak a word of truth to exchange for information.
"I have no objections."
Old Arthur didn't like this newcomer either.
"You can't do this! We're companions who came down together, and I really didn't commit any crime!"
Leo took a step back, ready to dash into a nearby mine shaft at any moment.
"Don't rush. What he says isn't necessarily true, and even if it is, there's no need to make the trade immediately. We can go further in and look around first."
Lin Ye didn't like trading companions, even if this companion seemed quite problematic.
"True, there might be better trading partners further ahead."
Neil's expression shifted slightly. There seemed to be quite a few miners here—what did these people usually eat?
The four of them bypassed the old miner and continued deeper into the mining area. The old miner didn't stop them, just silently watched as the ducks that had fallen into his hands flew toward the depths of the mining area.
Deep in the mining area was a vast underground space where many miners in prisoner uniforms were mining nearby. Some miners noticed them but didn't come over to talk.
"What do we do now?"
Old Arthur felt the movements of those miners were somewhat strange.
"We'll go mining too, but it's best not to get close to those miners."
Lin Ye also noticed that those miners seemed somewhat abnormal, but that had nothing to do with him. He was just here to mine, not to resolve abnormal incidents.
"Shouldn't we find someone to ask about the information here?"
Neil was the cautious type and wasn't quite adapted to Lin Ye's pace.
"Can you be sure those miners are still human? Even if they are still human, can you be sure the information they give is true? What if they want to improve their meals?"
Lin Ye would never trust the information provided by those miners.
"He's right. We should quickly mine ten white ores and then leave this place."
Old Arthur strongly agreed with Lin Ye's plan.
Leo felt the same—he didn't want to be traded to those people.
The minority yielded to the majority, so Neil could only go deeper into the mine shaft with the others.
The four of them randomly found an unoccupied mine shaft. They didn't go deep inside, instead starting to swing their mining pickaxes near the entrance.
The constant clinking sounds of striking filled the air. This wasn't Lin Ye's first time entering a mining area, but it was his first time actually mining.
Mining wasn't an easy task. The mine shaft was full of a certain kind of gray-white hard rock. The white ores the squad leader mentioned were clearly not this type, otherwise those people should have already mined them all out.
Lin Ye continuously practiced his mining techniques—like how to strike most efficiently, which parts of the ore were most fragile, the rhythm of striking, and so on.
Before long, he started getting the hang of it.
"There's nothing here at all!"
Leo struck for a while but didn't see any trace of white ores.
"If the organization has been continuously sending people here to mine, then these locations closer to the main mining area should have already been mined out."
Neil also stopped mining. He didn't want to waste effort here.
"I want to practice my mining skills here first, then go to more distant areas to mine later."
Lin Ye definitely didn't want to practice mining techniques after entering dangerous areas.
"I also think we shouldn't rush. Even if you desperately mine white ores in distant areas, the miners here won't just watch you take them away. I've even considered whether we should seize white ores from other miners, let alone the other miners trapped here."
Old Arthur clearly understood what would happen after mining white ores, so it was best if they could get ten white ores at once and then leave this place immediately.
"You're right."
Neil also started practicing mining techniques.
Only Leo didn't participate—he didn't want to waste energy here.
"By the way, what about food and water?"
Neil thought of another problem.
"There must be a way to obtain food and water here. Don't worry, we can ask someone later."
Lin Ye smoothly struck off a relatively complete piece of gray-white ore.