After learning about the open-pit mine at the northern end of King Scarlet, Lu Cheng sent a reconnaissance team to check the specific situation in advance.

There are a total of twelve people in the reconnaissance team, and the task of the leader is assigned to the iron ring, and this reconnaissance team also brings a refugee who wants to return to the royal city... That's Derek.

Derek sat in the back seat of the SUV and held the backpack he had exchanged for his grocery ticket.

As the best gladiator in the royal city, he thought he was so brave that he was not even afraid of death, but sitting in the back seat of the off-road vehicle, he was so instigated that he shrank his head.

There was an air inside the buggy that made it impossible to say a word, and Derek looked left and right at the soldiers sitting beside him, their expressions serious and always looking ahead, their hands clutching their weapons and pursing their lips tightly.

This feeling of intimidation made Derek feel stiff all over.

Derek had been in the camp for half a month, and he was sure that the soldiers in the camp were completely different from the soldiers of Scarley, and there was a big difference in temperament alone.

Scarley's soldiers weren't easy to mess with, even the knights were a class higher than the commoners, and Derek didn't like Scalley's soldiers, especially the City Guards, who were completely armed scoundrels.

Derek, the lowest slave, was the target of their bullying, and many of the wounds on his body were left from the fight with the City Guards.

But when living in the camp, the soldiers in the camp... Derek didn't even dare to think of making enemies with the other party.

Fighting is the most important thing, and secondly, although they have an unapproachable aura when they are on duty, they are very friendly in private, and for reasons of little culture, Derek can only think of this way of describing it.

Derek was thinking about something strange when the SUV suddenly stopped.

"We can only send you here because of the mission." The researcher, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned to Derek.

The researcher, who was an assistant to Professor Lin and Ping, was on a mission to explore the area around the mine, and he was acting as a translator to avoid conflicts with the local population due to language barriers.

The door at the back of the buggy was opened, and Derek reacted and stepped out of the buggy with his luggage.

"Thanks... Thank. Derek replied in awkward Chinese.

And these are the two words he says most often in the camp.

"If you want to return, just wait here for the same time the day after tomorrow." The researcher left Derek with this instruction, and the door to the buggy closed again.

Derek came to King Scarre's city this time to bring his adoptive father back to camp, and due to his excellent performance in the farming program, Niushan took the lead in giving Derek this opportunity.

He carried a heavy backpack, looked at the off-road vehicle in the distance, and raised his voice again and shouted, "Thank you." ”

After Derek finished shouting thank you, a cold wind suddenly burrowed into his clothes.

This made Derek shiver a little.

Is it so cold again in the winter in Scarley?

Derek looked at the ruins on both sides of the city with some blankness, and his life in the camp was either working in the fields or learning Chinese with his sister in the warm tent.

In Niu Shan's words, he lives every day to the fullest.

"I have to find my father quickly." Derek walked down the dilapidated Scarlet Street with his backpack on his back.

The wounds inflicted on the country by the Blood Crystal Beast are still not erased, and the streets are full of empty buildings, even if Derek occasionally sees one or two passers-by, they will quickly avoid it when they see the 'strange costume' on Derek's body.

Derek doesn't like the city, he prefers to stay in the camp, if he can... Derek wanted to stay in the camp all the time.

When he told Niu Shan about this idea, Niu Shan scolded him harshly.

'The most important thing in being a man is not to forget the roots, our country did nothing back then, but relying on the efforts of our fathers, a hammer and a hoe gradually became rich and strong! ’

The meaning expressed by Niu Shan Derek probably understands that an outsider is an outsider after all, and even if Derek gets permanent residency in the camp, he is still an outsider.

But... Rebuild your own country?

Derek's gaze scanned the civilians scurrying through the streets in the cold wind, and his gaze returned to the towering walls of the inner city.

If it really belonged to his own country, Derek would have been happy to rebuild it, but Derek knew that his work in the country belonged to the nobles, not himself.

Derrickla raised the scarf around his neck and walked towards the home he remembered.

………………

Derek didn't find his adoptive father at home, but he got the bad news from an acquaintance that he had been dragged to the Black Flame Stone Mines at the northern end of the Intracity to dig up the stones.

Every winter, the demand for Scarley's Black Flame Stone increases dramatically, as the stone is able to burn for long periods of time and generate heat.

The only mining area in the royal city where black flame stone is mined has always been under the control of the royal family, and it is almost impossible for commoners to buy it.

When Derek arrived at the Blackflame Mine, there weren't many guards around... After Scarley's Bloodcrystal Plague, there were very few surviving populaces left in the royal city.

It's a miracle that the pit is still functioning, and the guards are no longer trying to prevent civilians from coming in and stealing the Blazestone, as they used to be, but to prevent the miners who are digging the Blaze from escaping.

In this case, Derek easily infiltrated the inside of the mine and found the wooden hut for the miners.

The temperature in the hut was not as cold as Derek had imagined, but it smelled unpleasant, and more than thirty miners gathered in the hut, where he soon found his adoptive father.

"Father?"

Derek quietly came to his adoptive father's side, and the other party raised his eyes a little tiredly, and after finding that the person who spoke was Derek, his face showed a shocked and angry expression.

"You bastard! Why did you run back again? He lowered his voice and said to Derek, "It's still here!" Aren't you afraid of death! ”

"Father, I brought you something to eat."

Derek was used to being scolded by his adoptive father, and he put his backpack on the ground, which was filled with the food he had exchanged for his meal ticket in the past few days.

"You were kicked out by those people?" Adoptive father said with his hands stained with mineral ash on Derek's shoulders.

"No, I'm here to come with you." Derek replied with a shake of his head.

"Me? Going together? Damn it! Get out of here! Derek. When the adoptive father heard this, he immediately pushed Derek behind his back, "Where each of us is, the lord knows it very well!" You've been caught in town! Come on! Take advantage of the money you get caught! ”

Derek knew that this was the 'mark' of Scarley, which meant that he belonged to Scarley's citizen... No, it should be a possession.

The presence of the sigil will be felt by the holders of the seal of Scarley, i.e., the aristocracy, and as soon as Derek enters their perception range, the other party will be aware of it.

This is also the reason why the mine sent so few soldiers, but it was still effective in preventing the mine slaves from escaping.

"I'm not leaving, father! I had no reason to run away. Derek said what he had always wanted to say.

"Are you crazy? Those damn nobles are going around digging for Black Flame Stone, and if you get caught, you'll be thrown here. The adoptive father said.

Derek didn't answer his adoptive father again, he turned to look at the other miners present.

"Big Brother Derek?"

One of the miners recognized Derek, and Derek recognized him as an orphan who usually followed him on the streets.

Derek used to be quite famous on the streets, but of course this fame was limited to the poorest at the bottom.

"Everybody, come here, I've brought you food." Derek raised his voice and said to everyone.