But I can see it.
On the cliff face, climbing ladders affixed, dangling from the mouths of various caves. Such steep cliffs—you have to wonder what kind of person has the skill to securely fasten climbing ladders here.
"Are we supposed to go into these caves to mine?"
Chen Shaohu also noticed and couldn't help but whisper to his fourth brother.
This cliff was both high and steep. Even with the climbing ladders in place, one careless move during the climb could lead to a fatal fall. If they also had to carry the mined ore down, it would be even more dangerous.
"We'll find out soon enough."
Chen Jichuan gestured for Chen Shaohu to stop talking.
The miners present felt unsettled, and low murmurs of discussion inevitably began to surface.
At that moment.
Feng Mo, who had previously overseen the North District Mine Office, furrowed his brows and shouted loudly, "Silence!"
With that single shout.
The place instantly fell dead silent.
"What a voice."
Chen Jichuan thought to himself and turned his gaze toward Feng Mo.
He saw Feng Mo's sharp eyes scanning coldly over the crowd, his gaze predatory like a hunting hawk. Seeing no one daring to speak anymore, Feng Mo finally spoke in a chilling tone: "From now on, you'll be living in these caves. If you can find twenty pieces of this type of mineral, you can leave."
As soon as these words fell.
The crowd almost erupted into chaos.
What these miners desired most was to leave the Black Prison. That had been their only yearning.
Suddenly hearing Feng Mo mention the possibility, it was hard not to feel agitated.
Luckily, Feng Mo's terrifying demeanor, coupled with the presence of twelve Black Armor guards nearby, suppressed the miners, leaving them excited in silence instead of causing a commotion.
"Leave?"
Chen Jichuan looked at Feng Mo.
In Feng Mo's hand was a fist-sized mineral, a dark blue stone covered in pits and bumps. He couldn't determine its purpose.
Feng Mo held out the stone to let everyone see it clearly.
Chen Jichuan stared hard, committing its appearance to memory.
"Twenty pieces."
"Leave the Black Prison."
Remembering Feng Mo's words, Chen Jichuan felt a mixture of heat and unease in his heart.
The heat came from—
The sheer desire to escape the Black Prison, a place he detested deeply.
Now, if finding twenty pieces of such stone meant he could leave, it could perhaps be a shortcut.
The unease stemmed from—
…
"These officials are cunning, and the Black Prison obviously doesn't have enough miners. Why would they let us go so easily?"
Chen Jichuan climbed cautiously up a ladder to one of the caves, only then voicing his thoughts to Chen Shaohu.
"It's definitely not something good."
Chen Shaohu wasn't naive either, and knew there were no such things as falling pies from the sky.
His face betrayed some signs of worry.
But.
"We're mere fish on the chopping block."
"This pie—whether we want it or not—we have no choice but to take it."
Chen Jichuan felt powerless in his heart. "We don't have a choice."
With no options.
They could only take it one step at a time.
Chen Jichuan and Chen Shaohu walked deeper into the cave.
The seven or eight-meter-high cave twisted and turned, leading to unknown places. Chen Jichuan took a fluorescent stone out of the bamboo basket, using its glow to light up the surrounding three to five meters brightly.
According to newcomers who had entered the Black Prison before, this fluorescent stone was originally a rare item. But two years ago, a new mine was discovered in neighboring Muhua County, which produced this type of stone in abundance, making it more widely available.
The cave was pitch dark.
The air damp and clammy, where normal torches would extinguish easily; thus, they had been provided with these fluorescent stones.
Chen Jichuan marked at the cave entrance, signaling that this area was occupied.
Only then did he proceed inward.
Step by heavy step.
The cave had many pools of water and was even colder and gloomier than the outside.
Chen Shaohu couldn't help but shiver and pulled his cotton jacket tighter around himself.
"Let's get to work."
"Moving around will warm you up."
Seeing this, Chen Jichuan decided not to venture further.
Instead, he stopped right where he was.
Taking an iron shovel from his bamboo basket, he looked at the walls on both sides but ultimately decided to start with the ground beneath him. Feng Mo had mentioned that the so-called Spirit Ore was actually a companion mineral hidden inside Iron-repellent Ore. Extremely rare, it was embedded within the larger Iron-repellent rocks, requiring miners to carefully break apart the ore piece by piece to uncover the Spirit Ore inside.
This work was no different from what they had done before.
Besides, they no longer needed to transport the ore they mined nor had any quotas set. It didn't matter if one sat idle in the mines—there weren't any punishments for doing nothing.
The situation seemed far too relaxed.
And yet, the more it appeared this way, the more unease gnawed at Chen Jichuan.
There was no room for complacency.
"Finish quickly."
"Get out quickly."
"We can't stay here longer than we have to."
Chen Jichuan reminded Chen Shaohu solemnly.
"Understood." Chen Shaohu responded, brandishing his iron shovel, and began working.
Chen Jichuan joined him.
Day after day.
The two shattered countless chunks of Iron-repellent Ore but didn't find even a trace of Spirit Ore. They had thought that not needing to carry ore out would make the work easier, but it turned out to be even more exhausting.
Back then, they called it quits whenever the fog grew slightly heavier.
Now, even in the dead of night, they would still hear the clinking sounds coming from other caves.
Clearly, everyone was trying to leave as soon as possible.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
As the days passed.
Neither Chen Jichuan nor Chen Shaohu could find even one piece of Spirit Ore.
Instead, their bodies began showing signs of deterioration—
Nausea.
Dry heaving.
Fatigue.
These symptoms only heightened the unease in Chen Jichuan's heart.
It wasn't until the twelfth day in the cave that Chen Shaohu suddenly started having nosebleeds, which completely rattled Chen Jichuan—
"Radiation!"
"There must be radiation here!"
Chen Jichuan's bloodshot eyes brimmed with terror.
Chen Shaohu clutched his nose aimlessly, his heart overwhelmed with complex feelings. "Fourth Brother, am I going to die too?"
Though young, he had seen enough death.
Now it seemed his own time was coming.
He wasn't afraid.
Just reluctant.
Reluctant to leave his fourth brother, and reluctant to part with the beautiful things his fourth brother had told him about.