In the dark and damp dark underground mine, Wu Qingyun squinted his eyes, and the feeling of suffocation in his chest became more and more serious.

This was the third time he had gone down the mine, and the first two times he had just learned the operation process of the coal digging tools, and then he had clumsily drilled into the coal mine shaft the size of a dog's hole under the whip of the overseer.

The air in the coal mine was very thin and filled with a certain smell that made it impossible to breathe.

Four of the workers who went down the mine with him a few times ago have died, and when they heard the Taoists resist the corpses, they say that these people are dying of 'dioxide...... gas' and stuff like that.

Wu Qingyun didn't know what kind of demon it was, only that it killed people invisibly.

The workers were digging with coal chisels when they suddenly went limp, and then collapsed to the ground.

Many miners thought it was a sneaky murder at the time, and rushed to the mouth of the well in a panic.

By the time those Taoists came down in bamboo baskets, a few of the unconscious miners were no longer dead, only in and out of breath.

Wu Qingyun was extremely frightened, the first time he saw the person next to him was still talking to him one second, and the next second he was inexplicably taken away from his life, which made him have a great sense of fear in the mine.

On the second day he was sick, and his face was very pale.

This is because he tried all kinds of ways to torture himself that night, constantly digging his throat and forcing himself to vomit and regurgitate, and beating his chest, trying to use his illness as an excuse to escape the mine.

However, those Daoists just glanced at him indifferently, and then without saying a word, the big whip came up!

Wu Qingyun screamed when he was beaten, and he completely understood that in the eyes of these immortals, he was not a person at all, and it was absolutely impossible to try to escape the mine by pretending to be sick.

So he had to tiptoe to carry the sack and basket, bring the coal drill, and follow the flow of people one by one to ride the bamboo basket down to the mine.

Continue the day of coal digging.

The coal mine was dark and dark, and I could barely tell the difference between black coal and mud by the glowing stones embedded in the overhead.

The number of these stones is limited, and it is said that they are 'luminous beads' made by the Daozi Sect using the immortal method.

Wu Qingyun didn't know why the Immortal Sect had so many Night Pearls and came here to dig coal.

Obviously, a night pearl can be sold for thousands of dollars, so why bother to dig up these unaffordable coals?

He had also tried to steal a pearl of the night, and when he was ready to sneak out, he would sell it for a lot of money.

Strange to say, those arrogant and unreasonable Taoists didn't care that a night pearl was missing, and no one even came to interrogate him.

As a result, that day, due to the lack of the lighting effect of the Night Pearl, Wu Qingyun spent three hours in the mine before digging enough coal to intersect.

He had almost reached the stage of confusion, and the accumulation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in his body caused him to hallucinate countless times.

Wu Qingyun didn't know how he finally got out of the mine, maybe it was the kind of good luck that had blessed him countless times that came to him again, and the overseer on duty that day was a kind-hearted young man.

He happened to see Wu Qingyun fainting next to the bamboo basket, so he went down the well and took him out, so he could be regarded as escaping.

Since then, Wu Qingyun has set a rule for himself that must not be violated:

You can't take the Night Pearl out of the mine!

This third time he went down the well, he had already taken back the night pearl hidden in the forest in advance, and carefully installed it back in place.

With the lighting conditions, the progress of digging the coal is much faster.

The basket is already two-thirds full, and in a little while it should be the end of the day's mines.

He endured the growing feeling of suffocation until he was dizzy and walked back to the basket with trembling legs.

There are vents dug here, and there are several mine tunnels along the road.

Many miners who had accumulated enough coal shares were already waiting in line to sit in bamboo baskets, Wu Qingyun did not dare to delay, and also carried hemp baskets and huddled behind the crowd, waiting to leave this ghost place.

"Did you hear that? The new group of mongrels had black hearts, and they were unwilling to take the risk of going deep into the mines, and they were afraid of being killed by demons, so they waited with a few people on the road they had to pass, and when they met a lone person, they went down to grab the coal, and several of them had already died at their hands! ”

Someone in the queue was talking in a whisper.

Wu Qingyun's back was numb, and his neck was cold.

He thought that he had been alone for a long time, and deliberately did not follow the people to dig coal in those open mines, I am afraid that he had been hovering on the line of life and death several times!

"These kill a thousand knives! We were caught here, we were already miserable, and we still had to be cut down by these dogs?! ”

Someone in the crowd scolded angrily, and others laughed: "You are not a hard-working person in Guanxi, others don't know you, but I do!" ”

"You have done all kinds of evil in Qinghe County, together with others robbing the road and killing people, the government has repeatedly suppressed bandits and you have been dodged by you, and the merchants who died in your hands are not a hundred but eighty, they are really miserable!"

"Who?! Who dares to chew the root of grandpa's tongue? Stand out! ”

Zhen Guanxi raised his eyebrows angrily, but unfortunately his face was soot, and the mouth, nose cavity and ear holes were covered with thick soot, which made people unable to see his expression at all, so he could only throw his eyes to the blind.

"It's me! What, what do you want?! ”

In front of the crowd in line, a Taoist in a plain Taoist robe stepped out of the queue and looked at Zhen Guanxi coldly.

"Ouch, isn't this Grandpa Jiang, don't make fun of the villain. The villain is slapping his mouth, slapping his mouth!! ”

Zhen Guanxi looked at the main master, and his arrogant arrogance seemed to be extinguished by water, and he was busy pumping his mouth with his big hand.

"Well, just smoke like that, draw a hundred and you're good to go." Jiang Zun glanced at him in disgust and said, "Continue to hand over the numbers." ”

The noise of the crowd fell silent, and only the slapping sound of Zhen Guanxi sounded from time to time.

After a short time, Wu Qingyun was finally arranged.

With a flattering smile on his face, he lowered the basket to the iron scales on the ground.

Jiang Zun glanced at it: "More than ten catties, okay, let's take the wooden card and go." ”

Wu Qingyun took the wooden sign that weighed as much as a thousand pounds with complicated thoughts, and felt extremely hot when he started it.

'Survive another day......

He didn't dare to stay at the bottom of the coal mine any longer, the thin air made his brain melt.

Turning around, Wu Qingyun walked towards the entrance and exit where the bamboo basket was hanging.

The winch creaked, and Wu Qingyun finally returned to the ground.

A feeling of being separated from the world emerged from the bottom of his heart, and two lines of hot tears involuntarily slipped from the corners of his eyes.

When several overseers saw him, they nodded, and then continued to talk: "I heard that there was another collapse, and the Forest Supervision Institute was completely angry, and the craftsmen of the Ministry of Engineering had to come up with a way to dig and chisel that could last longer. ”

"yes, I know." The other person glanced at Wu Qingyun and scolded, "Still not leaving?" Want to go in again? ”

"Let's go! Let's go! Wu Qingyun snorted, bypassed a short distance, and pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation of the Taoists.

“…… More than 20 more died, and even if there is still a steady stream of new people, the gap in the number of miners has not narrowed, and the gap between the number of 3,000 miners previously envisaged by the Forestry Supervision Institute is too great. ”

"Well, another batch was sent today, and with them, we should be able to gather five hundred people, right?"

"Almost......"

The voices of the Taoists gradually drifted away, and Wu Qingyun's heart was pounding.

So many people died before they knew it......

In retrospect, since I was caught here, the familiar faces around me have changed day by day, and it seems that many people have gradually lost sight.

However, the busy manual labor and the harsh working environment have pressed every nerve in Wu Qingyun's brain, and he has never thought about this problem in the past few days.

Today, hearing the miners discussing the extortion gang and the Taoist people talking, it immediately aroused a serious sense of unease in his heart.

'If this continues, I'm afraid I'll die in the mine soon, right?' ’

Wu Qingyun shuddered and looked at the empty walled gate.

The Overseers had never put up any barriers at the entrance and exit of the mine, because for those of them who had been caught, once they had set foot in the mine, there was no way to escape.

The intention of escaping quickly faded from his mind.

Wang Hao's tragedy is still in sight.

The unashamed and arrogant fellow did not survive the night after being whipped a hundred pounds, and wailed for two hours before he died.

It can be seen that it is not worth it to run away and be whipped for knowing that it will fail.

Wu Qingyun was worried and went to the cafeteria.

At this time, it was the afternoon, and many miners who had met the day's coal mine delivery were sitting in front of the tables and chairs in the canteen with ventilation on all sides, waiting for food.

The heavy and difficult physical labor made it extremely difficult for the dregs of these societies to endure, and if it weren't for the fact that these overseers, who were as light as swallows and infinitely powerful, I am afraid that there would be a rebellion at both ends of the mine here for three days.

In fact, despite such a high-pressure management system, there are still many outlaws who have been arrested and have chosen to fight desperately.

They snatched a batch of iron-made coal drills and tried to kill a few Taoists to find a way out of them.

Then, the forest prison that was always smiling appeared out of nowhere, holding a talisman and shaking it for a while, and a huge fire dragon appeared out of thin air, directly burning the gang of outlaws alive!

Many miners witnessed the group of people struggling in the flames, crying out in the past, and finally even the bones and flesh were melted one by one, and they ended up with no corpses.

Since then, there has been little known of armed resistance, but friction between various miners' groups has gradually increased.

There have been several incidents of old miners bullying new miners.

Wu Qingyun was lucky and escaped the first few waves, but after today, he also decided to find a solid force to join.

Otherwise, sooner or later, they will die at the hands of the other people of the sinister ghost.

The wooden card was handed to the Taoist at the food station, and in addition to being a pass to leave the mine, it also served as a daily meal ticket.

If you don't complete the quota for the day, you won't be able to get the card, which means you'll be hungry all day.

The Taoist glanced at him lazily, fished out a bowl of gruel, and handed it to him from the window with a few pickles scattered next to it.

Wu Qingyun made a dull sound in his abdomen, and he couldn't help but move his index finger when he smelled the aroma of porridge and rice.

He carefully picked up a pickle and put it in his mouth, and smacked.

The rich salty taste bursts in the mouth and is intoxicating.

Then he drank another sip of porridge, feeling that the hunger in his stomach was filled to the fullest, and the whole person was full of vitality.

After eating a small half of the meal, Wu Qingyun reluctantly picked up the bowl and walked towards a corner of the cafeteria.

There are a few men sitting in this position, all of whom are wounded, and they look like they are not easy to mess with.

Wu Qingyun squeezed out a smiling face, and respectfully handed the rice bowl in his hand to the literati who was in charge of bookkeeping on the side: "The villain wants to ask for shelter, I don't know if you heroes still lack a good dog to call, if you are not talented, you can also fight and kill, can you join you with the cheekiness?" ”

The big man at the top raised his eyelids lightly and motioned to his literati to hand Wu Qingyun's rice bowl to him.

The latter looked like a teacher, in his thirties, with a sinister look in his eyes.

He is the white paper fan in the gang, responsible for giving advice.

It was he who proposed that kidnapping and extortion were too slow to make money, so it was better to sell young children directly to Yangzhou and sell them to high-ranking officials and nobles as concubines.

This group of people then happily tied up a few girls, and was about to go to Yangzhou City, but halfway they met the Taoists of the Immortal Sect, and they were caught here by the gang.

"Well, yes, you only ate the gruel above, and the dry food below is still left. In that case, it's better to stay in the gang and give it a shot. ”

The big boss nodded, and Wu Qingyun finally found a place to anchor.

He squatted at the feet of everyone with a smile, like a well-bred domestic dog, and countless thoughts flowed in his heart: "It's easy to blend in with these mountain bandits, wait for a few more days to lurk and find out who is taking advantage of the fire to rob, and report this clue to the Dao masters of the Immortal Sect, don't worry about making a contribution!" ’

He had already thought clearly, the Immortal Sect must be very short of manpower to catch these wicked people everywhere and come here to mine.

Then they must not want to see the miners killing each other and causing attrition.

As long as you find out the murderous team yourself, you don't have to worry about not being able to connect with the high-level of the Immortal Sect.

This is called a letter of nomination, indicating that he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to the aspect of the Immortal Sect and helping them wholeheartedly.

At that time, he confessed to a few more wicked people he knew.

For example, the owner behind Yuande Fang, a gambling house specializing in defrauding people and lending usury, and the mother of the Qinglou who was abducted and deceived to search for famous prostitutes......

If you can't say it, you can make the Dao Masters of the Immortal Sect believe that he is truly repentant, so as to let him live.

Wu Qingyun has been stumbling on his life for nearly fifty years, and his mind has never been so clear.

Countless plans surfaced in his mind, knowing that his move was tantamount to walking a tightrope.

Go deep into the tiger's den to explore the inside story of the miners' infighting, and there is a risk of dying at every turn.

It can be said that if he had such courage in the first half of his life, he would not have become an indiscriminate gambler at all.

However, at this moment, all he did was to escape from here and return to Bianliang to be a peaceful and self-contained common man.

(End of chapter)