"Sigh, Brother Sun, you're really lucky to have gathered enough ores so quickly! Unlike me, I've been searching for ages and still haven't found enough! Since you've already searched that passage, let's try somewhere else!" Du Xiu said enviously.
"Young Sir, you're joking. You don't even need to mine ores," the young man surnamed Sun replied with a smile.
"I'd better gather enough! After all, I'm just a mine slave. Even Master Ma could be killed at night, so I'd better stick to the rules!" Mentioning Master Ma, Du Xiu's tone turned somber.
Nearby, Lian Ruofei suddenly pointed to another mine tunnel, his face lighting up with excitement. "Xiu'er, look, is that Miwu Ore?"
Du Xiu followed the direction of his finger. "Hey, it really is! Da Fei, good eye!"
The two of them dashed towards another mine tunnel.
As their figures disappeared, the young man surnamed Sun's face instantly darkened.
Beside him, a frail middle-aged man holding an iron spike appeared.
"What's going on?"
"The kid next to Du Xiu has Miwu Ore in his basket, and it's a whole basketful," the young man surnamed Sun whispered, pointing towards the mine tunnel where Du Xiu had disappeared. "They went into that tunnel."
The middle-aged man showed a hint of joy but hesitated as if remembering something. "Maybe we should switch targets! Let's not mess with Du Xiu. He can at least make us some potions for colds and bruises!"
"Not mess with Du Xiu? Miwu Ore is getting harder to find. If we don't gather enough, we'll get whipped and strung up overnight. In this freezing weather, we wouldn't last till midnight before turning into popsicles. Are you out of your mind?"
The young man surnamed Sun threw his basket to the ground, spilling ordinary stones everywhere. There were only four or five pieces of Miwu Ore with silver speckles, far from the required amount.
"Let's rob someone else!"
"Bullshit! In this mine, who can we afford to mess with? Besides, Du Xiu is close with Big Python's group. Our people were killed by Big Python. Don't you want revenge?"
The Miwu Ore in this mine was mostly scraps now. As the mine slaves delved deeper, the ore became scarcer, and they split into several small groups for protection.
Their group originally had seven or eight people, but last month, while collecting Miwu Ore, they lost a battle against Big Python's group and were reduced to just the two of them.
"That's true, alright then!"
After a brief consideration, the middle-aged man nodded.
He didn't have any particular fondness for Du Xiu, but keeping him alive meant having someone to turn to for help if he ever fell ill.
But with no better options, killing Du Xiu was acceptable. It was just his bad luck.
To avoid arousing Du Xiu's suspicion prematurely, the two of them shouldered their baskets, filled with ores, and headed towards the mine tunnel where Du Xiu had gone.
As they reached the corner where Du Xiu's figure had vanished.
Suddenly.
A one-meter-long iron spike thrust out. The young man surnamed Sun, eager to catch up with Du Xiu, saw the spike and was filled with terror. But the weight of the ores on his back and the momentum from running around the corner left him no time to react.
The polished, sharp spikehead pierced through the young man surnamed Sun's neck without any resistance.
The boy holding the iron spike was none other than Du Xiu, his face expressionless.
As Du Xiu struck, Lian Ruofei's entrenching tool swung with a whistle, cleaving towards the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man's skull took a heavy blow, blood streaming down his forehead, his eyes wide with rage.
"You little brat, setting an ambush, go to hell!"
He grabbed Lian Ruofei's entrenching tool with his left hand and raised his iron spike with his right, ready to counterattack.
Beside him, Du Xiu kicked the young man surnamed Sun in the abdomen. Clutching his bleeding neck, the young man staggered back, eyes filled with unwillingness, before collapsing and twitching, his eyes wide open, lifeless.
With his hands free, Du Xiu raised the iron spike and drove it straight towards the middle-aged man's heart.
Blood from his forehead covered the middle-aged man's face, his eye sockets filled with blood, impairing his vision, preventing him from noticing the danger in time.
Judging by Du Xiu's proficiency, it was clear this wasn't his first time doing such a thing. His actions were swift and decisive, faster than the middle-aged man's.
"Pfft."
Du Xiu drove the iron spike into the middle-aged man's heart.
The iron spike in the middle-aged man's hand, poised to thrust forward, halted in mid-air, dropping just five centimeters from Lian Ruofei's body.
He staggered back two steps, incredulously looking down at the iron spike in his heart, the pain spreading throughout his body.
The middle-aged man slowly raised his head to look at Du Xiu.
Having killed two people in succession, Du Xiu showed no sign of panic. Instead, he squinted, smiling as he looked at him.
In the middle-aged man's eyes, shock, fear, regret, and other emotions flashed by.
He never expected that Du Xiu, who usually seemed harmless, always smiling at everyone, and willing to help with minor ailments, could be so ruthless.
Had he known, he would have been more cautious, at least not so careless at a corner, the easiest place for an ambush.
He suddenly recalled the unclaimed bodies in the mine, those not acknowledged by any mine slave group. Could it be... they were all the work of these two young men?
With this question lingering, the middle-aged man slowly closed his eyes, losing his breath.
"Who would wander around the mine after finding enough Miwu Ore? Who wouldn't rush to submit the ores to avoid being robbed? They don't even know how to harm properly!"
Du Xiu rolled his eyes, sneering at their poor acting skills, feeling no other emotions.
Especially not a shred of guilt for killing.
After all, in the orphanage, when the director lined them up, leaving the unsold ones behind, and taught him to smile and act cute with a stick;
When he was on the streets, huddled in a corner, beaten and robbed of food by other vagrants;
When he became a slave, carrying, hugging, dragging baskets full of ores through the rugged mine tunnels;
During those toughest times, there was no one in front of him.
No one taught those abusers to respect life!
Even when he later met the Ma Consortium's apothecary, he served him for months.
Washing clothes, serving meals, mining, cleaning.
It wasn't until the end that the apothecary reluctantly taught him some pharmacology.
When he showed talent as an apothecary, the apothecary's attitude improved significantly, often filling his mind with the names and misdeeds of certain people within the Ma Consortium.
Trying to groom him into a tool for revenge.
Unfortunately, Du Xiu considered himself too frail to shoulder such a burden, so after digging a grave for Master Ma and knocking his head twice, he called it even.
Whether the apothecary resented him underground, Du Xiu didn't know.
In any case, his own conscience was clear.
"Not bad, there are still some Miwu Ores in the basket."
After checking the baskets, Lian Ruofei picked out about a dozen ores.
"Let's find a place to store them for tomorrow."
"Alright."