Chapter 38 Misty Western Hills (Part 10)

The cave was crammed with about twenty or thirty men, all of them disheveled and emaciated, almost skin and bones. Their eyes were sunken, and long-term malnutrition and lack of sunlight had given their skin an unhealthy grayish-white color.

Many people had exposed skin beneath their tattered clothes, with old and new wounds piled on top of each other, some of which were festering and emitting a foul odor. Most striking was the heavy shackles on their ankles.

Most people just huddled numbly, seemingly without the strength to even lift their heads.

A middle-aged man with a missing left arm seemed to retain a primal sensitivity to light and movement. The subtle sounds outside the fence and the dim light from an oil lamp, unlike any other, made his cloudy eyes turn sharply in this direction.

When he realized that Ling Wei and Qing Shu's attire and demeanor were definitely not those of guards, or even anyone else in the mine, a terrifying light flashed in his eyes.

He mustered a bit of strength from somewhere and suddenly used his still-functioning right arm to grab the wooden fence, desperately pressing his face against the gap, making urgent "hoarse" sounds in his throat. The chains rattled as he struggled, and the noise woke up several people nearby who were not yet completely numb.

"Help, help..." He was so hoarse that he could barely utter a complete syllable, but he stared intently at Ling Wei with his burning eyes, his withered fingers digging into the wooden railing.

Ling Wei gave Qing Shu a wink, and Qing Shu immediately stepped forward and, through the fence, quickly asked for key information in as concise and clear a language as possible, while the guards vigilantly watched the path behind them.

The one-armed man, as if grasping at a last straw, spoke incoherently. With the fragmented additions from the others who were still conscious, the truth quickly pieced together before Ling Wei's eyes:

They are miners in illegal mines, which are mineral veins that are privately mined and excavated outside of the official Longji Iron Mine.

Most of the people who work here have no names. If they die or are injured, they are simply thrown into the abandoned pit or directly filled into the landslide area. And these people are all disabled men.

The Da Chen Law once provided compensation for miners' injuries and disabilities. In the early years, when the Longji Iron Mine was still a decent-sized mine, it was also enforced for a while. Because of the dangers underground, there were always accidents every year, and some of the injured were left with disabilities. The mine would give them a subsidy to help them go home.

This was originally a benevolent policy.

However, disabled men face difficulties after returning home. They are naturally unafraid of mental suppression and are regarded as "useless" or even "inauspicious." Many of their wives or families see them as a burden.

Some wives would then take the initiative to negotiate with the mines, offering to send their disabled husbands or nephews back to the mines for extremely low “hiring fees” or even “sell themselves”, euphemistically calling it “getting a meal in return.”

Anyway, even if you lose one hand, you still have another; even if you break your leg, you can still sit and knock stones.

The mine initially accepted the workers, but later found it profitable.

These disabled men were ignored, and no one pursued their deaths or injuries. Because they were not afraid of the female overseer's mental suppression, their management initially encountered some difficulties.

But they quickly found a way to “fight the disabled with the disabled”, using those who were docile or given some preferential treatment to manage and suppress the new rebels, and even to lure and capture other homeless or destitute disabled men.

A bloody industrial chain was thus formed. They were familiar with their own kind, and because of their own disabilities, they were more likely to approach and deceive other disabled men. The government tacitly approved, the mining supervisors colluded, and people like Sun Man reaped the profits.

Until recently, a small-scale collapse deep in the mine unexpectedly opened up a gap connecting to an underground river.

Many miners, tormented to the point of wishing they were dead, jumped into the cold, swift-flowing underground river. They thought their companions were lost forever, but after a while, these people returned with a force of unknown origin, sometimes attacking the ore transport tunnels, and sometimes risking their lives to sneak in and try to rescue them.

This is part of the truth about the "ruthless bandits".

They appeared and disappeared unpredictably, unafraid of ordinary mental suppression, which made Sun Man feel like he had a bone stuck in his throat. A while ago, the government was cracking down on bandits, and they were forced to retreat to the deep mountains to hide, and there had been no movement for quite some time.

That's why, when Ling Wei and her companions sneaked in, the security at the cave entrance was surprisingly weak, and that's why the one-armed man felt such terrifying hope when he first saw the extraordinary-looking stranger.

He thought that his escaped companions had returned with reinforcements to rescue them.

Ling Wei's heart sank to the bottom. This was not just a case of corruption or illegal mining; it was a systemic enslavement and cruelty, a complete trampling of the law and human ethics.

"You..." She had just begun to ask how many guards were here, the rotation schedule, and more importantly, where the illegally mined ore was ultimately transported, when she was suddenly interrupted by a bird whistle.

Someone is approaching.

"Withdraw! Return the way you came!" Ling Wei ordered without hesitation.

The group reacted quickly, immediately retracing their steps back to the cave entrance. The underground passage was winding, and the return journey was a race against time. When they finally emerged from the narrow cave entrance, the sight before them made everyone's hearts sink.

In the distance, the scattered torchlight was forming an ominous moving band of light. The rough shouts of a woman and the muffled thud of horses' hooves trampling the weeds were clearly audible. The other party had a clear target and was heading straight for this area.

"Go!" Ling Wei shouted, and the group retreated by relying on their memory and the terrain.

However, the other party's reaction speed exceeded expectations. They had only moved a hundred paces away from the cave when a sharp whistle rang out from their side and rear: "Over there! Someone is coming out of the cave!"

We've been exposed!

Immediately afterwards, more torches turned in different directions, and the sound of horses' hooves suddenly became dense and rapid, rushing towards them.

Ling Wei made a decisive decision: "Scatter! Hide yourselves according to the terrain and move towards the pre-arranged rendezvous point!"

The guards instantly dispersed, using the ruins and tall grass and bushes to their advantage, but the pursuers seemed to be familiar with the terrain and had horses to travel with, so they were extremely fast.

Seeing Ling Wei and the others disappear into the darkness, they stopped trying to capture them precisely. Instead, they sent out several riders to encircle them in a fan shape, while continuously slashing at the shadows that appeared to be hiding people with swords and knives, roughly driving them away and compressing them.

"Surround them! Don't let a single one escape!" The leader of the bandits was a tall, strong woman, and her voice was fierce.

Ling Wei and Qing Shu, along with two personal guards, were being closely pursued by a group of about seven or eight female riders. The distance between them was constantly closing, and they were about to be overtaken. At that moment, Qing Shu and the other personal guard stopped and turned around at the same time, releasing their powerful spiritual energy, which was precisely aimed at the people at the front.

Caught off guard, the riders on horseback suddenly went black and fell off their horses, disrupting the momentum of the charge.

"Damn! You've got some tough guys! Use black dates to teach them a lesson!" the bandit who hadn't fallen from his horse roared in exasperation.

The pursuers quickly changed tactics, no longer trying to engage in close combat. Instead, they pulled out fist-sized, dark gunpowder packets from beside their saddles, lit the fuses, and hurled them at Ling Wei and the others!

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Explosions rang out one after another, sending dirt and debris flying everywhere, and the acrid smoke of gunpowder. The flashes of the explosions briefly illuminated the surroundings and revealed the location.

More gunpowder charges were thrown toward the fire. The enemy outnumbered them, had horses, and had gunpowder. They used firepower to cover the area and gradually close in. Ling Wei and her companions could only rely on their experience and intuition, constantly rolling and dodging between explosions to find cover. They fought and retreated, which put them in an extremely passive position.

One of the guards was cut on the forehead by flying shards of stone, and blood flowed freely.

The encirclement was shrinking, and the enemy seemed to realize they couldn't win against mental strength, so they were more like wearing them down, waiting for them to exhaust themselves.

Because she was traveling light and had very limited equipment, Ling Wei estimated the number of crossbow bolts in her hand and prepared to risk a counterattack to open a breach. Just then, a completely different shout of battle suddenly came from the darkness.

About twenty agile and valiant figures charged into the bandits' ranks from the side and rear. These people were not uniformly dressed; some were even disguised in tight-fitting clothes or coarse cloth garments. However, their movements were swift and decisive, their attacks were ruthless and accurate, and their teamwork was excellent. In an instant, they tore a gap in the bandits' encirclement.

The leader was particularly conspicuous. She was not riding a horse; her figure rose and fell in the firelight. A long, narrow scimitar in her hand drew a cold arc. Wherever she passed, the bandits were either killed or wounded. She headed straight for the core area where Ling Wei and the others were surrounded.