Alien world

Chapter 952 183. Slave Miners
There was a coal mine in the mountains east of Ize Bay. The gangsters brought them here and sold them to the owner of the mine at the price of 5 copper coins per person.

Upon learning that he was sold to the mine for only five copper coins, Little Smooth struggled: "You sold us out for five copper coins!? Don't touch Uncle Babu! He's too old to work anymore!"

"I didn't realize you were so strong. Not bad." The foreman nodded with satisfaction, gave the thugs an extra copper coin, and drove them away.

Little Smo tried to struggle but was punched by the guard next to the foreman and passed out.

"Drag them both away. Send the younger one to Peter's Cave and the older one to the Bat Cave," the foreman said, waving his hand.

"Sir, may I have your permission to say a few words?" At this time, Lame Babu spoke.

……

Cold, hard, the sound of wind blowing through...

These elements constitute a deep nightmare that awakens Little Smoo from his coma.

In the dark cave, there was the sound of chiseling echoing from afar, and two faint voices not far away.

"I really don't know when this damn day will end...Shh, the boy is awake."

"Who are you?" Little Small couldn't see anything. Either he was blind or there was no light.

"Just like you, an unlucky guy who was caught." said a young voice.

"Where are the people who came with me?"

"No, it's just you."

"No way, Uncle Babu is with me... He's an old man."

"Old man?" exclaimed the young voice. "You are either talking in your sleep or you are talking nonsense. Who would hire an old man——"

"I came with him!" Little Smalls growled, startling the young man.

"Child, don't get excited." A mature voice sounded, "We are not the only ones in this coal mine. Your relatives should have been sent to other mines..."

"where?"

"I don't know. The guard threw you in and left."

Knowing that Lame Bob should be fine, Little Small breathed a sigh of relief and asked what they were going to do.

What miners have to do is simple: dig, exchange food, and rest. Now is the rest time.

"You guys are going to live here?" Little Smoo wrapped himself in clothes. Although the cave was not cold, it was definitely not warm.

"How can we stay outside in this awful weather?" the young man said unhappily, "You don't think the foreman is willing to burn firewood for us, do you?"

Footsteps were heard from afar, and light appeared.

Several guards came over with oil lamps and a dining cart.

Little Small saw the appearance of the other two people clearly. They were about the same age and voice, but they were extremely thin, and they were lying on old clothes as beds.

The guard tossed a wooden bowl at Little Smoo's feet and filled it with a lump of paste.

"This is your bowl, if you lose it, eat with your hands."

He saw that the guard gave different amounts to the young man and the man. The young man only got half, while the man filled the broken bowl in front of him.

The guard who brought the light and the dining car left, and the cave returned to darkness, leaving only the sounds of breathing and swallowing.

Little Small took his portion and poured it into his mouth. As for the taste... it was not that bad.

"Why do they beat me the most?" Little Small recalled the details he had observed before.

"Because you are new here, they will give newcomers three days to adapt."

"You two have different portions."

"Because I mine more than he does."

Their food is determined by the amount of ore they dig every day. The more ore they dig, the more food they get. It is said that a lucky miner once dug up a gem. Not only was he rewarded with a large sum of money, he also regained his freedom.

Little Smo didn't believe it. He preferred to believe that this was a bait used by the mine to lure them and make them work hard. "Take a good rest. No matter what you do outside, you are just a piece of firewood here." The young man's self-destructive words came out of the darkness.

"Firewood?"

"You'll die after you burn it."

He didn't even say his name, and soon he started snoring.

The man was still awake, and he said his name was Jeremy, and he was caught and sold by gangsters just like Little Small. The young man's name was Rabbit, and unlike the others, he came here on his own initiative.

"Own?"

The rabbit's snoring disappeared.

"His mother was seriously ill and had no money to see a doctor. I don't know where Rabbit heard that one could make a lot of money in the coal mine, so he ran over here a few days ago and was caught."

Jeremy soon fell asleep too, and kindly gave a "bed" to little Small.

Little Small didn't sleep. He sat on old clothes and realized that everyone here was poor like him.

The task given to him by Francois was to find Elder and develop the Free Blade.

When Babu and I first arrived, we were taken into the mines and couldn't find Elder, but we were able to develop the Free Blade here...

At the beginning of a new day, or late at night, the guards would knock on iron sheets to wake up the miners. Taking advantage of the free food for the first three days after arriving, Little Smalls would run around and interact with the slave miners.

When it was time to rest, he divided his food into three portions and gave them to Jeremy and the rabbit.

"What are you doing for me?" The rabbit was stunned.

"Your mother is still waiting for you outside... Don't you want to get out alive?"

After a while, a sniffling voice sounded in the darkness: "Why not, but how can we get out...you gave me yours, what will you do?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Put...a lie on me. You're thinner than me."

Little Small didn't answer, but instead asked, "Do you want to hear my story?"

"Aren't you just like us?" Jeremy said.

"Earlier...I was a member of the Salted Fish Gang."

Jeremy and the rabbit listened very carefully at first, but their mouths grew bigger and bigger.

"Is this the story you heard from the bard?"

"No, it's all real. The old man I asked after I woke up was Lame Babu."

The rabbit became excited: "Can you really lead us to escape!?"

"Why not? We, the Freeblades, can even occupy a city-state peacefully. But I need your help."

The rabbit quickly asked: "How can I help?"

Little Small imitated Francois's confident tone and said, "There are more than fifty people in this mine. I want to unite them."

……

Small's first day of looking for people worked. When he suggested coming to their cave tonight to discuss how to mine efficiently, no one refused.

The guards delivered the food and left, not caring what the slave miners were doing in the mines.

Late at night, fifty-three miners came in the dark, not one less. They might not be interested in what Little Small said, but they definitely didn't want to be abandoned alone in the depths of the mine.

With so many people gathered together, the cave actually felt a little warmer.

"We don't know each other yet, why don't you introduce yourself and how you got here? Jeremy, you go first."

(End of this chapter)