The mining area is surrounded by iron fences, with mysterious people wearing masks, some wielding Magic Wands and others armed with weapons, cursing and shouting.
Under the morning light, groups of bare-chested, robust men walked past Yun Sheng and the others, their bodies shackled with iron chains and carrying Purple Gold ores weighing tens of kilograms on their backs.
The iron chains and heavy ores pressed into their backs, blurring flesh and blood.
Yet none of them dared to stop walking, moving back and forth mechanically.
"Divide the villagers into two groups based on gender, send the old, the young, and those incapable of labor to the livestock shed. Take the rest to the cave," commanded the mysterious people who brought Yun Sheng and the others.
They sorted the captured villagers, those capable of labor were taken to the cave and detained, provided with some water and food to replace miners under high labor load as needed.
The remaining villagers incapable of labor were herded directly into the livestock sheds, locked together with captured animals, to be used as food for the Demon Beasts in the future.
During the time of segregation, Yun Sheng witnessed several carts of corpses being wheeled out.
Among them were both men and women, including children as young as eight or nine.
Some had their arms crushed by ores, others were beaten to death for resisting or attempting to escape; this mining area, lush in appearance, was in reality a hellish purgatory for humans.
Liu Zi saw this scene and bit his lips tightly, not knowing if his parents were still alive.
Whether locked in the cave or sent to the livestock shed, death was inevitable for all.
Yun Sheng believed that even if some villagers managed to survive in such harsh conditions, once the vein was depleted, to conceal their atrocities, these mysterious people would undoubtedly slaughter all the surviving villagers.
Damn it, these people have completely lost their humanity.
Witnessing these horrors, the Dark Magic Soul within Yun Sheng stirred as if it smelled blood, becoming invigorated.
For the first time, a strong desire to kill surged in Yun Sheng’s heart.
She wanted to kill the beasts in front of her.
Realizing this, Yun Sheng was taken aback, for she had always had excellent self-control. However, she found that as her study of Dark Magic deepened, her inclination towards slaughter had significantly increased.
A red light flickered in her eyes.
Yun Sheng and her two companions, though young and not very tall, had sturdy bodies, and were quickly singled out and sent to join the group in the cave.
"You three, stop looking around, change into your clothes immediately, put on the shackles, and follow the line!" Hearing the command from a nearby mysterious person, Yun Sheng lowered her eyes, concealing the murderous intent in them.
She slowly activated the Marrow Jade Technique within her, and as the power of the Marrow Jade Technique circulated within her, Yun Sheng felt her murderous intent gradually being quelled, and clarity returned to her eyes.
"Impulse is the devil, under no circumstances should one allow the urge to kill to control one’s true nature," Yun Sheng silently admonished herself.
The three of them changed into mining clothes made of coarse hemp, and heavy shackles weighing ten kilograms were hung on their feet. The fierce mysterious people shoved them into a narrow cave.
At the entrance of the cave, five or six mysterious people stood guard along with more than ten Sixth Rank Fire Lizards, the security was extremely tight. The cave was dim and humid, with moss growing everywhere.
On the cave walls, only a few Magic Lamps dimly lit the way ahead.
This group of mysterious people came suddenly, they hastily dug these caves, and the conditions here were crude, the cave was very deep.
As Yun Sheng walked deeper, she smelled decay and mold.
"Liu Zi, once we enter, you first look around to see if there are any people from Jingkou Village, and find out the actual situation here," Yun Sheng glanced towards a corner of the cave, where a few Bats nested.
Liu Zi nodded, his heart heavier than his shackled feet, dreading that he might find out bad news about his parents after entering the cave.
"Stay strong, Liu Zi," Huang Que quietly comforted Liu Zi, knowing they both came from poor families.
Liu Zi knew that both Yun Sheng and Huang Que were girls, and he was the eldest among the three.
Before they set off, Yun Canglang had encouraged him. Being the only boy among the three, he must protect Yun Sheng and Huang Que well.
The cave was long, and as they walked, Yun Sheng’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
The living environment of the miners was too harsh.
There were almost no ventilation facilities here; if all the surviving villagers were detained in the cave, it must be extremely congested inside.
The air was murky, and with high population density, if any illness or death occurred, the air-borne germs would be enough to bring down the healthy villagers.
Finally, voices could be heard ahead.
The front of the cave gradually opened up.
The bottom end was a space of about one hundred square meters, where three to four hundred people were imprisoned.
There were both men and women; those who did not need to enter the mining area during the day could temporarily remove their shackles. But the moment they left the cave, they must wear the shackles again to prevent escape.
"You newcomers, listen clearly, don’t even think about escaping, otherwise this will be your fate!" The mysterious people who drove them in swung their thorn-filled whips and slammed it forcefully on the ground.
The hard ground was immediately shattered by the whip, and the flying rock chips hit the people painfully.
Their whips pointed to the walls of the cave, and everyone looked up. Some of the more timid ones broke down crying on the spot.
There were several lifeless bodies hanging on the cave walls.
These people did not have a single intact bone in their bodies, and their faces were disfigured beyond recognition.
The men were stripped bare, and the women were also bare-chested. The blood on their bodies had dried up, leaving only wrinkled skin that barely resembled human form.
These were the people who, in the past days, took advantage of the guards’ inattention to try to escape while mining.
Not one person successfully escaped, those who were caught alive ended up .
Yet even so, every day many people still try desperately to escape.
After several warnings, those mysterious people finally left the cave.
Liu Zi suppressed the nausea that surged in his throat; he hurriedly searched through the crowd for his parents.
Though the chances were slim, Liu Zi still hoped that he could find his parents.
The majority of the villagers imprisoned in the cave were pale and skinny, with cracked lips.
Their eyes were empty; seeing new people coming in, they made no sound.
For them, escape had already become a luxury, and the death of their loved ones had completely destroyed their hope.
They were akin to walking corpses.
Liu Zi searched through the crowd and found a few people from Jingkou Village, but no matter how he asked, they wouldn’t speak.
He feared his parents had already suffered misfortune.
"Liu Zi, stop asking." Yun Sheng, seeing Liu Zi on the verge of collapse, dragged him to the side. After gulping down some water, Liu Zi calmed down.
At that moment, footsteps sounded from outside.
Yun Sheng and the others looked up to see thirty to forty bare-chested, barefooted miners walking in.
They all looked worn out; these people had finished their mining tasks for the day and, after returning to the cave, another batch was driven out.
"Dad," Liu Zi recognized one of the men. He immediately jumped up and rushed over.