Descending into the mine shaft, the winding wheel rattled with a clacking sound. The depths below seemed bottomless. Jiang Ge only felt the surrounding temperature drop continuously, a wave of bone-chilling cold seeping into her skin, making her shiver uncontrollably.
She didn’t know how long she kept descending before the darkness in front of her was finally dispelled by a faint orange glow. A tunnel system, like an ant nest, appeared before her—twisting and turning, its walls still marked with pickaxe scars.
This was the underground of the mining site.
…
Jiang Ge stood in a line with more than ten others—thin, weak-looking people dressed in rough, worn cloth. As new miners, they were being allowed to choose a supervisor and then head into their assigned mining tunnels.
It seemed this mine was quite “friendly,” even allowing choice of supervisor.
In front of them stood three supervisors: one surnamed Li, one nicknamed “Fat Pig,” and one named Liu Zheng—the Liu supervisor Du Meiqin had warned her to stay away from.
Among the three, only one was a woman: Supervisor Li.
The other two were men.
The dozen or so new miners all looked at the female supervisor with surprise.
After all, in this world of the strong preying on the weak, women held a very low status.
Supervisor Li had a cold, detached aura. She was taller than the other two supervisors, her hair cut short to her ears, and her eyes sharp as a falcon’s.
One of the new miners looked at her with obvious lust, thinking no one noticed, secretly staring from behind.
The next second, a scream of agony rang out.
The man’s eyes had been gouged out. Supervisor Li had moved so fast it was like a blur—so fast that Jiang Ge hadn’t even seen her clearly.
Nearby, Supervisor Liu sighed helplessly. “Supervisor Li, we’re already short on manpower. Now he’s blind—how is he supposed to find Blaze Star Stones?”
Supervisor Li said nothing. She swung her right hand, and the man’s head fell cleanly from his neck, rolling to the ground with a thud, causing the surrounding miners to scream in terror.
This time, Jiang Ge finally saw her movement clearly.
Supervisor Li held a butterfly knife in her right hand. Under the dim yellow light, the blade glinted coldly, still dripping with blood. She casually wiped it clean and slipped her hand back into her pocket, standing motionless again as if nothing had happened.
Supervisor “Fat Pig” then barked harshly, “Enough! Stop making noise. Never seen a dead person before? Keep shouting and I’ll kill you all.”
The crowd immediately fell silent, terrified of meeting the same fate.
The dozen or so people quickly formed groups. Most went to Supervisor Liu, a smaller number went to Fat Pig, and not a single one chose Supervisor Li.
After all, she had just killed someone in front of them, and Fat Pig looked vicious too. Only Liu Zheng seemed relatively normal—so anyone with a brain would choose him.
But that was precisely the most dangerous choice.
Even without Du Meiqin’s warning, with her 9-point mental stat, Jiang Ge could clearly sense the strong malice coming from Liu Zheng. In contrast, Supervisor Li—despite her violent methods—was actually the safest among them.
She stood out and walked directly to Supervisor Li’s side.
Immediately, she attracted everyone’s attention, including the other two supervisors.
Jiang Ge deliberately lowered her head, pretending to be lustful and timid.
Supervisor Li was indeed striking—cold and beautiful, the type of aloof beauty. Most of the male miners were drawn to her appearance, but only the dead man had been bold enough to stare openly.
Now that he had been killed for it, no one else dared even glance at her.
To everyone else, Jiang Ge now looked like a corpse waiting to happen.
Even she felt a bit uneasy.
Blood from the dead miner splattered everywhere. The metallic smell of blood lingered in the narrow tunnel. Although this wasn’t her first time seeing death, it was the most brutal scene she had ever witnessed. Saying she wasn’t afraid would be a lie.
Fortunately, Supervisor Li did not attack her. Her right hand remained in her pocket as she walked into one of the tunnels.
Jiang Ge let out a small breath of relief and quickly followed.
The others were completely ignored.
…
The tunnel was deep and winding. Most of Jiang Ge’s attention stayed on Supervisor Li ahead of her, wary of any sudden attack. The rest of her attention scanned the tunnel walls.
Embedded in the rock were irregular crystal-like stones that glowed like lamps, casting a faint light that pushed back the darkness.
Even more strangely, despite being deep underground, there was no sense of suffocation. A faint cool breeze seemed to circulate through the tunnels, and the air wasn’t stale or unpleasant.
It seemed the mine had some unknown method of ensuring oxygen supply underground.
She was curious, but didn’t dare ask.
In this place, a miner’s life meant nothing. To them, she was just an ant that could be crushed at any moment.
She kept her presence as low as possible. After an unknown amount of time, the person in front stopped.
Supervisor Li pointed at a sign beside the tunnel entrance.
“Zone 193”
Jiang Ge understood—this was her assigned mining area.
Li then tossed her a small booklet before silently leaving.
Jiang Ge didn’t even have time to thank her. She caught the booklet with both hands. It contained the mine rules.
Nothing else was written.
Not a single word about what Du Meiqin had warned her about.
Which only proved how important that warning was.
People were naturally greedy. Every miner here knew how valuable Blaze Star Stones were. Without guidance, new miners would inevitably try to hide high-quality ore.
What they didn’t know was that no matter how well they hid it, they would be caught—and getting caught meant death.
As for Du Meiqin’s warning to avoid Zones 1–20, Jiang Ge guessed those areas must contain danger.
And in a world like this—where grey mist, cursed beings, and disaster beasts existed—ordinary humans had no way to survive them.
…
Jiang Ge was issued an iron pickaxe for mining.
She still had the side quest in mind, but clearly, this wasn’t the time to investigate it. First, she needed to understand the mine.
She walked deeper and still hadn’t found a single Blaze Star Stone.
At this rate, completing her daily quota would be difficult.
Zone 193 was like a worm-eaten structure—branching tunnels stretched everywhere, complex and confusing. Without markings, she would easily get lost.
What happens if I don’t complete the quota?
That thought surfaced in her mind.
Then the image of the miner whose head had been cleanly severed flashed before her eyes.
—You die.