In the hut, Yang Ling began sorting his belongings.
4 antidote pills.
4 bottles of wound salve.
5 flatbreads.
1 refined steel pick.
About 15 taels of silver left.
He kept the silver on his person, hung several cloth pouches at his waist for the antidote pills, wound salve, and flatbread, then hooked the refined steel pick at his waist and stepped out of the hut.
"Brother Yang!"
Chen Xu, drenched in sweat, came searching for him:
"I finally found you."
"What's happened?"
Yang Ling's mind stirred.
The man hadn't been this frantic even when he was starving.
"It's Chen— Officer Chen and the others, they're in trouble!"
Chen Xu smiled bitterly: "I know you can put in a word at the vein, Brother Yang. Could you help them?"
Yang Ling was silent a moment, then said:
"Talk as we walk."
Chen Xu felt a wave of relief. Since the man was willing to help, the matter should be easy to resolve.
On the way, from Chen Xu's few brief words, Yang Ling gathered roughly what had happened.
An ore-grab clash.
He'd seen plenty of these when he first arrived. They cropped up now and then afterward too.
After all, Fire Crystal Ore meant coppers — meant food, drink, and shelter.
Whoever spotted the ore first got to mine it; that was the consensus.
But this time Lin Guoliang and his girlfriend had broken that rule.
The two of them, along with several other miners, had spotted a block of Fire Crystal Ore exposed at the surface, one after another.
By the weight it looked sizable.
But strictly speaking, those several miners had seen it first.
Lin Guoliang and his girlfriend Wu Meng had egged the other four players into fighting them for the block.
The clash broke out, and most of the miners held to the rule — and naturally lent a hand, which got Lin Guoliang's group of six beaten.
Their injuries ran from light to heavy. Even the vein guards felt they were in the wrong, and ignored the matter.
In the end that Officer Chen rushed over; protecting Lin Guoliang's group, he took a pick to the head in the chaos, and blood streamed down.
Chen Xu knew he couldn't handle this alone. The miners were in a fury; without someone of standing to speak up, they'd never calm down.
So he'd come to find Yang Ling.
"That friend of yours is called Lin Guoliang, right?"
Yang Ling said.
Chen Xu nodded: "Just so."
"His head really is a bit off. You'd best keep your distance from him from now on."
Yang Ling warned.
Something seemed to cross Chen Xu's mind; anger flashed in his eyes, then he nodded slowly:
"Brother Yang, I'll do as you say. After this, I won't have anything more to do with him."
Yang Ling was somewhat gratified.
The kid took advice — at least in a place like Divine Realm, that should let him live a while longer.
He glanced at Chen Xu's panel:
Name: Chen Xu
Class: Miner
Level: 4
Strength: 6
Agility: 3
Spirit: 2
HP: 60
"Level 4? Counting how long they've been here, it means he mines hard — he knows he can level up and raise Strength, so he hasn't slacked off."
Yang Ling's mind stirred.
By now the two had reached the vein entrance.
Steward Niu sat leisurely at the entrance. Seeing Yang Ling and Chen Xu, he lifted an eyelid:
"Yang Ling, you want to meddle in that business? Those newcomers broke the rules — they deserve what they got. Getting hurt is good. It'll teach them how to survive at the Fire Crystal vein."
"Steward Niu, I know Lin Guoliang and the others were in the wrong. I just don't want it to turn deadly, so I'll go talk them down."
Yang Ling said with a smile.
Only then did Steward Niu give a slight nod.
He'd been afraid Yang Ling would provoke that crowd of miners.
Not far off, the miners were packed three layers deep in a great ring.
Many more stood nearby watching the spectacle, taking a rest.
Though more still were at work earning money, unwilling to be distracted.
"You little brats, here a few days and already grabbing ore!?"
A middle-aged miner pointed at Lin Guoliang's group and cursed.
Lin Guoliang and his girlfriend wore looks of terror, glancing about in dread.
The other four newcomers huddled together too, some trembling, some weeping.
They were covered in footprints, filthy, faces scraped and bruised — clearly they'd been thoroughly beaten.
Beside them, Officer Chen sat weakly on the ground, one hand pressed to his head.
Blood dripped ceaselessly through his fingers.
Weak as he was, his eyes crusted with blood, he still forced himself alert and said mildly:
"Brothers, these children don't know any better. Bear with them — they won't dare do it again."
"Won't dare again? Heh."
A lean, wiry youth, a bloodied pick in hand, sneered:
"There's a first, and there'll be a second. If we don't deal with you properly today, next time you'll dare again!"
"Vagrants without even an identity, daring to grab our ore — where'd you get the gall!"
"I say, brothers, let's dig a hole and bury them!"
He began to work up the miners nearby.
Many miners answered.
Seeing this, the vein guards exchanged a glance and still paid no mind.
At a time like this, even if the miners really buried these few, they wouldn't stop it.
Otherwise the miners would riot, and that blame they couldn't bear!
Some miners were already itching to move, looking for a spot to dig.
Alarm flashed in Officer Chen's eyes.
Only in this moment did he truly believe this game world observed no law whatsoever!
Killing — spoken of so casually?
"The higher-ups have confirmed that players entered the game together with their bodies."
"If I die here, it may well be for real..."
At that thought, Officer Chen felt his hair stand on end.
He quickly said: "It needn't come to that, needn't come to that. Brothers, we'll pay compensation — there's no need to make it a matter of lives."
Pay?
The miners' expressions stirred, their faces easing somewhat.
But the wiry youth sneered at once:
"If paying settled it, wouldn't everything fall into chaos? Besides, you've just arrived; you can't even fill your own bellies. How many coppers could you pay?"
"When Fifth Brother was around, no one dared grab ore like this. Fifth Brother dies by accident, and now the place is in chaos?"
His gaze swept the crowd.
Many honest miners didn't dare meet his eyes.
Officer Chen saw it — this fellow was the key.
He fretted inwardly, and felt some anger too.
Of all the people Lin Guoliang could provoke, he'd gone and provoked what looked like the local strongman!
"I'll make an example of you first — meddling like this, I suspect you put them up to grabbing the ore!"
The wiry youth, bloodied pick in hand, closed in on Officer Chen step by step.
"Ma Hou, you really mean to kill someone?"
Suddenly, a cold shout rang out.
"Hm? It's Little Yang?"
"What's he here for?"
"That one beside him seems to be with these brats."
The nearby miners exchanged glances and instinctively made way for Yang Ling.
"Little Yang, these brats grabbed ore — don't get mixed up in this."
Uncle Wang, who'd been standing nearby watching, warned him at once.
"Uncle Wang, I know they're in the wrong. But it needn't turn deadly."
Yang Ling said.
"So you're here to plead for them? Who do you think you are?"
The wiry youth stared hard at Yang Ling, a trace of wariness in his eyes.
"This is one tael of silver."
Yang Ling took out a piece of broken silver:
"As their compensation."
One tael of silver!?
That took ten catties of Fire Crystal Ore to earn!
The several miners whose ore had been grabbed lost their anger at once — feeling instead as though a pie had fallen on them from the sky!