The ground had been blasted beyond recognition by quantum guns and particle cannons. Aside from Cheng Li’s group of three, plenty of others had also thought of the mining area and were now rushing toward the entrance in droves.
By the time Cheng Li and the others arrived, quite a few people were already there.
“Get on the lift,” Cheng Li said.
“You three? Two cripples and one old fossil. Why bother running? You might as well leave the chance to survive to someone else.”
Someone came up from behind and grabbed the back of Yuan Mu’s clothes.
Yuan Mu’s expression darkened, his sensual lips pressed into a thin line.
Uncle Zhao’s face turned ugly. He tried to step onto the lift, but the man’s pulling made him stumble so badly he could barely keep his balance.
Cheng Li exploded instantly. Without another word, she kicked the man hard. “Bullshit! If you want to die so badly, go die yourself.”
Caught completely off guard, the man was sent sprawling onto the ground.
“Uncle Zhao, you two get on.” Cheng Li stood protectively behind Uncle Zhao and Yuan Mu, her eyes filled with murderous intent. The others felt a chill crawl up their spines under her gaze and did not dare approach.
The man she had kicked scrambled back to his feet, face twisted viciously as he charged at her, throwing a punch straight at her face.
Cheng Li let out a cold scoff. With a clean, swift sweep kick, she sent him flying again.
Getting caught off guard once was understandable. Twice was another matter entirely. It was not that the man was weak, but that this one-armed woman was anything but ordinary.
The three of them boarded the lift, which rapidly descended underground. The lights in the mining area below were all on, bright as day.
At only dozens of meters deep, the lift reached the bottom very quickly.
“Go that way.” Relying on instinct, Cheng Li pointed in a direction.
Without a word, Uncle Zhao followed. Yuan Mu, however, shot her a surprised glance. Instead of heading toward the area she and Uncle Zhao had been mining, she had chosen somewhere else. Why?
And those two vicious kicks just now… others might not have noticed, but he had clearly sensed an intense killing intent from her.
That kind of overwhelming murderous aura, he had only ever felt before from a soldier who had served on the front lines for over a decade. But Cheng Li was only eighteen years old. That alone was enough to make it strange.
If her missing arm were not impossible to fake, he would have started wondering whether she was truly the Cheng Li from the Cheng family.
As for why Cheng Li had chosen this direction, it was naturally because she sensed a metallic “source” here.
Usually, the star pirates kept such a close watch on them that all they did was work, work, and more work. The slightest sign of slacking off would earn them a sweep from a quantum gun, reducing people to ashes on the spot. Because of that, she had never had the chance to harvest any metal sources.
Now, though, was the perfect opportunity.
Cheng Li rushed toward the area where the metallic source felt strongest. “Let’s stay here.”
After speaking, she pressed her entire body against the rock wall. Hair-thin strands of ability energy slipped out of her body and surged toward the place where the metal source was densest.
Uncle Zhao set Yuan Mu down. When he turned and saw Cheng Li leaning against the rock wall, he assumed she was tired and said, “It’s fine to sit down. We’re not any cleaner than the floor anyway.”
“You’re right.” Cheng Li smiled and immediately sat down.
By then, her ability had already finished its little feast and returned to her body.
Her exhausted body, worn down from days of strain, finally found a momentary sense of relief. But if she wanted to protect herself, Yuan Mu, and Uncle Zhao, a Level One ability was nowhere near enough. She needed to raise her ability level as quickly as possible.
Cheng Li stood up. “No idea when the battle up there will end. I’m going to look around nearby.”
“Go ahead. Just be careful,” Uncle Zhao said, simply assuming the girl’s curiosity had gotten the better of her.
Yuan Mu watched Cheng Li’s departing figure and fell into deep thought.
“Don’t worry. Young Madam is someone who values loyalty and relationships. She won’t abandon us,” Uncle Zhao reassured him.
Yuan Mu frowned. “I never thought she would.”
To this day, Cheng Li still had not seen what blue key stone actually looked like. But there was no doubt that the “source” within it was the purest metal source she had ever absorbed.
Her curiosity toward this blue key stone was growing stronger and stronger.
Cheng Li wandered through the mining area. The others who saw her all looked wary at first, but the moment their eyes landed on her empty right sleeve, they quickly lowered their guard and stopped paying attention to her.
Cheng Li smiled bitterly. So having a missing arm came with advantages too.
One hour. Two hours.
By the time Cheng Li had explored most of the mining area, she had absorbed every metal source she could detect. Her ability successfully advanced from Level One to Level Two.
The metal source inside the blue key stone was extremely pure, but the quantity was too small. If there were just a bit more, she was confident she could advance another level.
She wondered how large this mine really was, and how many blue key stones remained that she had not yet discovered.
For the first time, Cheng Li no longer found mining all that unbearable. Compared to raising her ability level, this hardship was nothing at all.
Thinking back to her previous life fighting zombies, that had been far more dangerous than mining.
“Young Madam’s back.” The moment Uncle Zhao saw Cheng Li, he visibly relaxed. “If you hadn’t returned soon, we would’ve gone looking for you.”
Cheng Li smiled apologetically. “The mining area’s too big. I almost got lost.”
“Since you know it’s big, don’t wander around carelessly,” Yuan Mu said in a low voice.
Cheng Li sat down beside him. “I went to scout the area. Better than running around like a headless fly when it’s time to escape.”
Yuan Mu turned to study her. “Why do I feel like you went out for a while and came back a completely different person?”
Cheng Li raised a brow. “Different how?”
‘More unfathomable.’ Yuan Mu answered inwardly, but aloud he only said, “Oh, guess I was mistaken.”
Cheng Li: “?”
“The sounds of gunfire up there stopped,” Uncle Zhao said.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A harsh gong rang out.
Not a whistle.
Cheng Li’s heart skipped a beat. Had the mining area changed hands?
Yuan Mu had clearly thought of the same possibility, because his expression darkened slightly.
“I wonder if the new mine owner will treat us a little better,” Uncle Zhao voiced the worry in his heart.
Cheng Li and Yuan Mu looked at each other, both suddenly sharing the strange feeling of being bound by the same fate.
“All miners below, listen up! You’ve got ten minutes to get your asses to the surface. Otherwise, there’s only one outcome waiting for you, and that’s death!”
The amplified voice echoed through the mine tunnels.
“Let’s go,” Cheng Li said.
They had no mechs, no starship, no weapons, not even food or water. One old man and two disabled people. They had no ability to resist even if they wanted to.
Might as well obediently keep mining.
The newly arrived star pirates clearly had not expected two disabled people to still be capable of working. When they saw Cheng Li and Yuan Mu, they frowned.
“You two can work too?”
“Of course.” Cheng Li straightened proudly. “We may be disabled, but we’ve got strong willpower. I’m no worse than a normal person when it comes to operating a rock drill. My husband’s even more impressive. Every single rock drill in this mining area was repaired by him.”
The moment Yuan Mu heard the word “husband,” his entire face burned hot. Fortunately, his face was already covered in soot, so no one could tell.
“Really?” The new star pirate sounded skeptical.
“If you don’t believe me, feel free to supervise when we start working later.” Cheng Li’s words rang out firm and confident, making them naturally convincing.
The pirate’s eyes rolled before he casually pointed his gun at someone nearby. “That cripple with no legs really knows how to repair rock drills?”
The person being aimed at trembled in fear and answered shakily, “He… he really does.”
After receiving confirmation, the pirate looked down at Yuan Mu on Uncle Zhao’s back. “Since you’re useful, we’ll keep you around for now.”
Their shack had been blown to pieces, leaving behind nothing but blackened debris and a crater over a meter deep in the ground.
The new star pirates did not provide them with any materials. They only gave everyone one day to make a place to sleep using whatever they could find locally. Anyone who failed would either sleep out in the open or spend the night in the mine tunnels.
Cheng Li looked around at the barren surroundings.
Use local materials? How?
There was nothing here except dirt and rocks.