Chapter 3 Miner's Life

At dawn the next day, Xiao Lin got up from the bed, put on his gray linen clothes, put on his bamboo basket, and then picked up the pickaxe at the door and went out.

When he arrived at the square, he saw that many people were already standing there, and some people were carrying bamboo baskets out of the mine. Xiao Lin knew at a glance that these people were miners who were originally here, and they should be out to pay the ore.

On the other side of the square, there was also a tent, and a Bailiantang disciple was collecting ore below. Each piece of ore was not big, the big one was the size of a fist, and the small one was only the size of a soybean, and it was dark red. Some of the miners were in high spirits, but there were also a few who were pale and dejected, with deep fear in their eyes, which made Xiao Lin mutter in his heart.

Soon, it was the turn of a pale miner to pay the ore. The Bailiantang disciple who collected the ore took a look at the ore in the bamboo basket, and his face suddenly became gloomy.

Seeing the face of the Bailiantang disciple, the miner suddenly became full of fear, and kept bowing to the Bailiantang disciple, as if begging.

But soon, two Bailiantang disciples rushed out from behind, dragged the miner away without saying a word, and tied his hands to two wooden stakes. One of the Bailiantang disciples picked up a thumb-thick leather whip from the side of the wooden stake, with a sneer on his face.

The miner's face was facing Xiao Lin and the other newcomers. Seeing the desperate expression on the miner's face, everyone showed a horrified expression.

"Pa pa." Although there were dozens of meters between them, the sound of each whip still clearly entered everyone's ears.

Xiao Lin even clearly saw the blood flying on the whip. After ten whips, the miner had fainted with black lips, but the Bailiantang disciple did not show any mercy and continued to swing the whip and whip.

"Don't look at it anymore. If you fail to complete the monthly task, he will be your fate." A cold voice came, attracting everyone's attention.

Sun Fang came in front of them, jumped onto a table, and raised a dark red ore in his hand.

"This ore is called hematite, which can be used to forge inferior weapons. The mine here mainly produces this kind of hematite ore. You must pay at least 50 kilograms of hematite ore every month. If you pay one kilogram less, 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 that an average strong man can only withstand 20 whips at most."

Sun Fang's words caused a commotion below. Many people had dissatisfaction on their faces, and this dissatisfaction was also accompanied by fear. After all, the scene of Sun Fang killing a strong man yesterday was still vivid in their minds, and no one was willing to jump out and seek death.

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

"This ore is called black iron ore. It is a very rare ore in the vein. It can be refined into black iron for forging top-grade weapons. Since the quantity is extremely rare, if you want to dig this ore, you need not only hard work, but also a lot of luck. Of course, as long as you can dig such a large piece of black iron ore, it is enough to offset the monthly task, and you don't need to pay the hematite."

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

At this point, everyone has given up the idea of ​​escaping and completely accepted their fate. Everyone carefully looked at the two ores passed over. After all, this is related to whether they can complete the monthly task in the future. In other words, it is related to their own lives.

Soon, the two pieces of ore were passed to Xiao Lin. He felt heavy in his hands and showed a surprised expression on his face. The black iron ore the size of a soybean was almost as heavy as the hematite the size of an egg.

He stared at the two ores, wishing he could engrave them into his mind. It was not until the person behind him urged him that he reluctantly passed the two ores to the person behind him.

It took a full hour for everyone to pass them around and look at them.

The ore was returned to Sun Fang's hands. He looked at everyone with satisfaction, with a strange expression on his face, and said: "By the way, let me remind you that the mine is dark and there is not much ore, so it is not easy to dig out 50 kilograms of hematite in a month. Some people may kill their fellow miners and take their ore to complete the monthly task in order to complete the task, so you have to be careful of the miners around you. Of course, don't look at the entrances to the mine, there are only a dozen or so, but it is connected in all directions, and there are countless branch caves. It is not easy to meet people. Well, I have said what I should say, and the rest depends on your luck. There is a canteen over there. You can come out every day to get food and water, or you can get food and water for a few days at a time. It's up to you, there is no limit." After speaking, Sun Fang waved his hand, indicating that everyone could go to get food and water, and then enter the mine. Now Xiao Lin finally understood that mining in the mine was not only about mining, but also about guarding against fellow miners. This made him speechless, but when he looked at the whipped miner who had fainted with his head drooping, Xiao Lin seemed to understand.

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

Xiao Lin looked around but didn't see Xiao Shi. Even if he met him, so what? After all, the two of them couldn't reduce the monthly tasks together. Maybe they could dig more if they separated.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lin went to the canteen. He received ten days of food and water at a time. This was basically the maximum amount he could bring. The reason why he brought so much food and water was mainly to save time on the road. He knew very well that his small body was definitely one of the last few among all the miners. If he ran into someone who killed people for ore, he would lose his life in nine out of ten cases. So his idea was very simple, that is, to bring as much food and water as possible, and then find a mine that was a little off the beaten track and go as deep as possible, which should reduce the chance of running into other 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 to go in.

The mine inside was just as Sun Fang said, with many connections in all directions. Xiao Lin lit the kerosene lamp in his hand and walked silently inside. There were quite a few people at the beginning, but after walking for half an hour, there was no one around him. There were many branch holes in the mine. If there was no white painted arrow indicating the direction every three or four hundred meters, he would definitely get lost in the mine.

The further you go in, the narrower the mine hole becomes. Now the mine tunnel Xiao Lin is walking in is only more than one meter high. He is also small. An adult would have to bend over to pass through. However, Xiao Lin obviously did not intend to stop and start mining. Instead, he continued to walk in. Every few hundred meters, he would stop and carefully identify the direction, and clearly imprint every branch hole he passed through in his mind.

After walking and stopping for more than an hour, Xiao Lin stopped. He looked at the fork in the road in front of him thoughtfully. After a while, he suddenly used an iron pick to pry off the white painted arrow indicating the direction on the fork road, and then walked into an inconspicuous small branch hole on the right.

After prying off seven or eight white-painted arrowheads along the way, Xiao Lin turned into a small branch cave again. This branch cave was not very deep. It took about a cup of tea to reach the bottom. The walls around were very damp. The bottom of the mine cave was red mud mixed with some broken stones, piled aside. Xiao Lin dug a small hole with an iron pick at the highest point of the mine cave and put the kerosene lamp on it.

He looked at the red mud at the bottom of the mine cave, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

In Xiao Lin's opinion, this was already the deepest part of the mine cave. Although he had pried off seven or eight white-painted arrowheads along the way, unless it was himself, if someone else wanted to come in, it would really take some luck.

But Xiao Lin obviously didn't think he was absolutely safe now. After thinking for a moment, he showed a determined expression on his face, and then took the iron pick and started digging from the bottom of the wall more than ten meters away from the bottom of the cave.

The soil in the mine was very wet red mud, and some gravel was occasionally dug out of it. After digging for half an hour, a flat round cave of about a foot in size was dug out. Looking at this small cave that even he had to lie down to enter, Xiao Lin showed a satisfied expression on his face.

He lay down in the small cave and began to expand the cave with an iron pickaxe. He stopped expanding it until he could stand up and swing the iron pickaxe easily. He stopped and thought about the direction of the cave and the direction he came from, so as not to dig in the wrong direction and dig into other branch caves. Although all the mines were winding, the final general direction was towards the inside of the mountain range, that is, towards the west. After a while, Xiao Lin began to dig.

After digging for two hours, Xiao Lin looked at the only thumb-sized red ore in the bamboo basket, and his face became a little ugly. After digging for so long, he only dug a small piece of hematite. If he continued like this, he would definitely not be able to complete the task in a month. Thinking of the whipped miner, Xiao Lin's face was a little pale.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Lin continued to dig. He could only dig as hard as he could. If he was still far from the target when the month was approaching, he would have to run. After all, there was still a glimmer of hope to escape from the beasts in the primeval forest, but if he was whipped dozens of times, he would definitely die.

In the silent mine, there were only the sound of the pickaxe digging and Xiao Lin's panting. After all, he was only twelve years old, and he had not eaten enough for a long time, so he was very thin. After digging for another two hours, he stopped panting.

Looking at the thumb-sized hematite in the bamboo basket, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. He sat on a stone beside him, took out a steamed bun, and ate it with water. In his opinion, although mining was hard, at least he could eat enough, which made him feel very satisfied. If he was not worried about his father and sister, he would be willing to work here as long as he could complete the monthly task without being whipped.