Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12 - The Barbarian Continent
Lin Zhi frowned slightly and came back to his senses. Ignoring the knife-wielding man’s words, he strode forward and walked into the crowd.
The crowd was a tangled mess of chaos. Amid the clamor was a nauseating stench, and many people were barely clothed.
Some of them even bore horrifying whip marks across their bodies, as though they had suffered inhuman torture.
“What exactly are these people being used for?” Lin Zhi muttered, full of suspicion.
Very soon, as the crowd surged forward, Lin Zhi’s attention was drawn to the spacious main hall at the front of the square.
At the center of the hall stood a white hollow-carved seat. Around it were many grotesque carvings, like evil ghosts crawling out of hell with claws and fangs bared.
The seat was so large that it could hold more than a dozen people. Taken as a whole, it looked exactly like the gigantic skull of some wild beast, radiating a terrifying aura.
At the center of the seat sat a man whose body was knotted with muscles, like an immovable mountain.
A red headband was tied around his head, fluttering in the wind.
He had a full beard on his face, and a massive chopping blade hung at his waist, flashing with a cold gleam and giving off a power that made Lin Zhi’s heart tremble.
“Damn, this guy is a complete muscle monster,” Lin Zhi exclaimed inwardly, his gaze roaming over the man.
Around him sat a row of seductive women dressed in revealing clothing.
Their soft bodies were draped over him, and each held a golden wine pot, carefully pouring wine for him.
Below the seat stood a group of men in two rows, silently guarding the surroundings.
Once the crowd below had fully gathered, the muscular man suddenly threw back his head and took a huge gulp of wine, drinking like a whale swallowing the sea. Then he clenched his hand, and the wine cup instantly turned to powder.
In that instant, the crowd below fell completely silent. It was so quiet that even a needle dropping to the ground could have been heard.
The man burst into loud laughter, deafening as thunder, before standing up and walking to the front of the crowd.
The smile faded from his face as his sharp gaze swept over the people before him.
“By order of the Third Elder of the Nuk Clan, my King Kong Stronghold must provide two thousand people to work in the Nuk Clan’s Blackgold Mine. I, King Kong, will have to trouble you all.”
The moment the words “Blackgold Mine” were spoken, the surrounding crowd fell into a panic.
This Blackgold Mine was a treasure land that produced a type of ore that was entirely black, yet streaked with golden lines.
This kind of ore was one of the indispensable materials for forging magical treasures. On this Barbarian Continent, it could be called an extremely important strategic resource.
However, mining Blackgold Ore was extraordinarily dangerous.
That was because the Blackgold Mine caves were warm in winter and cool in summer, with a damp climate and an airtight environment. They were practically a natural prison.
As a result, all kinds of vicious spirit beasts lurked inside the caverns. The most notorious of them all were the Cave Spiders.
They were completely different from the spiders of Blue Star, enormous beyond belief. The largest among them could even reach a body length of a thousand meters. They had occupied the Blackgold Mine caves for ages, and countless people had died at their hands.
Discussion instantly broke out among the crowd, one voice rising after another until the scene descended into utter chaos.
“Why don’t you go yourselves? Why are you forcing us to mine?”
A sharp voice rang out from the crowd, like the fuse that lit an explosive. In an instant, all kinds of curses and angry mutters erupted.
Still, most people only grumbled softly and did not dare shout their questions aloud. Clearly, they feared the muscular man’s power.
The man called King Kong was none other than the chief leader of King Kong Stronghold.
When he heard the question from the crowd, his expression remained calm. His face held a mixture of contempt and disdain, completely unaffected.
Spiritual Power surged through King Kong. His muscles tightened, veins bulged, and he drew in his breath before barking back in a voice as resonant as a great bell.
“Why?”
That single word exploded among the crowd like a clap of thunder.
In an instant, the people below were shaken so hard by the dense Spiritual Power that they staggered in all directions.
As for the one who had just spoken—
that person had already been blasted into fragments, dead beyond any doubt.
“Because whoever refuses to go will die by my hand!”
His words were as cold as an icy wind, chilling everyone to the bone.
“Li… Lion’s Roar Technique?”
Lin Zhi was so shocked that he stood dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.
He had grown up for so many years, but this was the first time he had ever seen a living person explode into a pile of mangled pieces right before his eyes. The sight was too horrible to endure.
“Urgh…”
Lin Zhi felt his stomach churn violently. He retched again and again, cold sweat sliding down his forehead as his face turned pale.
As an upright young man from twenty-first century Blue Star, Lin Zhi found it almost impossible to accept such a cruel scene.
Fortunately, he had not eaten in a long time, and his stomach was empty. Even if he wanted to vomit, there was nothing to bring up.
The crowd immediately descended into turmoil.
When they looked toward King Kong again, their eyes were filled with fear and gravity, yet not a single person dared make another sound.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Lin Zhi quickly reached out and pulled up an elderly man with a head of white hair who was beside him.
The old man had been knocked to the ground by the overwhelming Spiritual Power of the King Kong Stronghold chief and was unable to stand for a moment.
Beside the old man was a little girl as thin as a bean sprout.
She wore ragged clothes, was covered in dirt, and her grimy little face was streaked with tears.
Terrified by the scene just now, she trembled as she clutched tightly at the old man’s arm.
“Thank you, young man,” the old man said solemnly after Lin Zhi helped him up.
“You are too polite, sir. It was nothing at all.”
Lin Zhi waved his hands repeatedly, then rolled his eyes and asked, “Sir, where exactly is this place?”
“And what is the Nuk Clan? What is the Blackgold Mine? Why did everyone react so strongly the moment they heard those words?”
Lin Zhi poured out all the questions in his heart in one breath.
“Young man, you are not from around here?”
The old man looked at him in astonishment when he heard the question.
“To be honest, I have lived deep in the mountains and forests since I was little. This is my first time coming out into the world.”
“I never expected to run into a band of robbers on the road. They beat me so badly that I fainted. By the time I woke up, I was already here.”
Lin Zhi casually made up an excuse.
The old man nodded. His gaze became deep and mysterious, and in that instant, his entire bearing seemed to change.
As though recalling the past, he paused for a moment before slowly explaining Lin Zhi’s questions.
“This world is called the Barbarian Continent. It is one of several small worlds ruled by the Barbarian Race. And the Nuk Clan is the unquestioned ruler of this land.”
Even though Lin Zhi had already prepared himself mentally, hearing the old man’s answer still made his eyes widen in shock.
So this really was no longer Blue Star.
In the end, he truly had transmigrated…
“And as for that Blackgold Mine, it is also called the ‘Dead Man’s Pit.’ All kinds of ferocious beasts lurk within it. Once you encounter one of them, one foot is already in the Yellow Springs. The death rate is extremely high.”
Lin Zhi said nothing more and quietly digested the news in his heart.
The crowd was driven onto a prison cart surrounded by thick round logs.
The logs were covered in sharp spikes, as though they were meant to ward off some unknown threat.
At the front of the prison cart stood a giant ferocious beast. At a glance, it looked like an enlarged rhinoceros beetle.
Its whole body was oval-shaped, and its black back shone with an oily luster, arched high like a sturdy fortress.
In the middle of its head was a huge antler-like forked horn, majestic and imposing.
At that moment, the King Kong Stronghold chief stood on top of the beast’s head.
His subordinates surrounded him there like stars encircling the moon, drinking and making merry in complete comfort.
The enormous horned beetle pulled the prison cart forward without restraint.
Wherever it passed, the ground looked as though it had been ravaged by a hurricane, leaving devastation in its wake.
After traveling for about a full day and night, Lin Zhi’s mouth was dry, and he was so hungry that his chest seemed stuck to his back.
Leaning against the crowded edge of the prison cart, he felt the noise around him and the strong foul odor, his face full of helplessness and despair.
Lin Hua remained hidden in Lin Zhi’s clothes, carefully observing the surroundings.
Beside him were the old man and little girl he had spoken with earlier.
After spending a day and a night together, Lin Zhi learned that the old man’s name was Ji Qingshan, while the little girl was called Ji Xueyan.
At the same time, his understanding of this world gradually deepened.