Chapter 8 Plotting an Escape

Old Mark kept his word and gave Achen a suite, with a large bed in each room.

The bedding didn't look very clean, so after closing the door, Ah Chen took out a clean set of bedding and changed it.

It wasn't that he was being fussy; he was genuinely terrified by that Wither X virus, especially since his mother was a patient and her resistance to the virus was definitely weak.

He lifted his mother onto his back and carried her to the big bed. He felt that his mother was much lighter. Lately, his father had been taking care of his mother, and he hadn't had a chance to hug her.

Although he is only seven years old, with his current physical strength, he can easily lift a weight of over 100 kilograms, and when he hugs his mother, she feels as light as a feather.

He couldn't help but feel heartbroken, and then he thought of his father and the other adults who had been sold to who-knows-where, and he became even more worried.

But right now, the most important thing is to heal Mom first, and then we can go and save Dad and the others.

Xiao Bai and the others, whom A Chen was worried about, were sent directly to a mine surrounded by Gobi Desert.

Then they were surrounded by a group of fierce-looking men. The leader, a burly man, had a scar on his face that ran from his jaw to his ear, making him look like a fugitive.

The scarred man waved a transparent panel that looked like a small tablet in his hand and said viciously, "See that? Your suppression ring remote control is right in my hands, Grandpa Borg!"

Anyone who dares to disobey, I'll just lightly press this thumb, bang! Their head will explode into pieces!

"Now that my master has paid to buy you all, from this day forward you are not allowed to have any ulterior motives. You must all work your butts off for me, understand?"

"Understood! Uncle Borg!" Matt shouted obsequiously, taking the lead.

With his superpowers suppressed and unable to be used, and a time bomb around his neck, the only option right now is to pretend to back down and find another opportunity to take down these bastards later!

Xiao Bai and Bo exchanged a glance, both thinking how quick-witted Matt was, while Mina rolled her eyes without any politeness.

I never knew Matt was like this! This embarrassing past will be something she'll laugh at him for for thirty years to come!

The others who had also been tricked and sold here, seeing how quickly Matt gave in, also followed suit and gave in.

Borg was delighted: "Haha! This batch of you is quite sensible, unlike the slaves sent in the past, who either cried or made a scene."

Actually, it's a blessing that you can come to our Taran mining area to mine. At least you don't have to face those flesh-eating, blood-drinking monster zombies every day.

As long as you're willing to work hard, you can eat your fill and sleep well every day, protected from the wind and rain—something people in your hometown wouldn't even dare to dream of.

This was the first time Mao Li had heard the word "walker" from a living person. Looking at the expressions of the people around him, a small number of them seemed to actually agree with what Boge had said.

This means that among the more than forty aliens transported on this spaceship, some of their homelands are already teeming with "walking zombies," which deepens his concerns about the mechanical planet.

Soon, everyone received mining tools on a per-person basis.

The tools looked quite advanced: a small impact drill and a pointed pickaxe that looked very hard and sharp.

There was also a miner's lamp helmet, plus a dirty-looking gas mask.

Xiaobai and his friends didn't understand why, since the quarantine station used robots, mining required human labor.

Mao Li explained, "The ore mined here is a rare purple star stone from the Flowing Light Galaxy."

It is a high-grade energy stone, but it has a unique characteristic: once broken, a large amount of the energy it contains will be lost.

Manual excavation can preserve its integrity as much as possible and greatly reduce losses.

However, when the amethyst is mined and leaves the vein, it releases a poisonous purple mist that can easily be inhaled by miners, leading to their death.

Therefore, in the past, those willing to be employed were all experienced veteran miners, and they demanded extremely high wages.

“No wonder they buy slaves to mine; they don’t have to pay them high wages or worry about them dying,” Bo Yiyan sneered.

He did have some highly effective biochemical gas masks in his storage space, but he gave them all to that kid, Ah Chen.

Fortunately, they didn't leave behind a single spatial button. All the spatial buttons carried by their companions were taken away, as were their weapons.

Because their spatial buttons were taken away by Ah Chen, and they were kicked a few times by the people in charge of searching them in anger, if they weren't afraid that beating them would delay their work, they probably would have been crippled.

To their surprise, this group was extremely arrogant and careless, failing to even detect what superpowers they possessed or their levels.

They probably thought that since each slave had a suppression ring around their neck, preventing them from using their special abilities, and their lives were in their hands, everything would be fine.

After the mining tools were distributed, everyone was herded into the mine tunnels.

Because toxic fumes could easily escape, the mine tunnels and shafts were dug quite wide.

Each mine can accommodate five to ten people working at the same time, so Xiaobai and his group spontaneously formed a group and entered the deepest mine.

Although the others did not come from the same place and were wary of each other, they were now all slaves and could only try to choose combinations that satisfied them.

Boge and his gang, acting as overseers, never actually went down into the mine; they simply guarded the mine exits to prevent anyone from escaping.

As for how the slaves below are organized, they don't care at all. They only require that each person must dig up two complete purple star stones every day, otherwise they are not allowed to come out, and half a day's worth of nutrients will be deducted.

Mao Li first scanned the mine and found that there were no surveillance cameras. Everyone immediately gathered together and began to discuss how to break the suppression ring.

Mao Li has no solution to this new technology yet, since his database has not collected any information about it.

However, they were absolutely unwilling to be enslaved in this way for a long time. After all, they had a ceiling on superpower level, a ceiling on mental strength, and an incredibly strong mechanical race.

Not to mention the two weapon refiners, Lele and Liulin, and the powerful alchemist, Bo Yiyan.

Even without using superpowers, there's a chance to take down Bogo and his group of overseers, get the remote control, and unlock the suppression ring.

If none of them can succeed, it means that none of them will have a chance to escape.

With the powerful and tireless mechanical arm of the Chestnut race, completing mining tasks is a piece of cake.

So the others conserved their energy and hid aside to discuss their escape plan.

Bo Yiyan spoke first: "Isn't it said that this Purple Star Stone will emit a poisonous purple mist the moment it is unearthed?"

I speculate that it is actually a by-product of amethyst, but this by-product contains a special component that reacts with air to produce a toxic purple gas.

This creates the illusion that purple mist will shoot out the moment the Purple Star Stone is unearthed.

Therefore, during the excavation process, we should try not to get too close to the purple star stone and keep it encased in a thick layer of waste rock.

After excavating it, try to collect this toxic byproduct mineral, accumulate more of it, and store it in the storage space hidden inside the chestnut's body.

Then find an opportunity to suddenly dump them between that Borg and his men, poison them all, and get the remote control to unlock the suppressor.

This is our only chance to escape safely, so we must be extremely cautious. Therefore, I need to conduct an experiment first to verify my hypothesis.