Chapter 247 The Cunning of the Weak

Breakfast was conducted in a huge wooden shed. Everyone's meals were fixed, with only 1 bowl of broth, 1 piece of cured meat and 1 piece of steamed tree root. The broth and cured meat were made of mutant beasts hunted by hunting teams among the armed guards. Usually the most tender, delicious and nutritious parts had been occupied by the guard gate, and the worst parts left were used to make broth and cured meat for the miners; steamed tree roots were of course steamed from the roots of the jungle, which seemed too boring for Westerners who were used to eating meat.

In order to save costs, the mine only provides miners with two meals in the morning and evening every day, and the content is almost the same. The miners are forced to work hard for 12 hours during the day, and their physical strength is consumed greatly. The main way to maintain physical strength is to sleep and eat, especially the latter is highly valued by miners. As long as the guard is not careful, food will be snatched.

Lin Zaishan and Suke had a meal together and sat in the empty seat in the corner with a tray. For Lin Zaishan, as long as he could absorb the vitality in the air, it would not matter if he didn't eat for a long time. For Suke, although this meal was unpalatable, it was the key to survival.

As soon as Suk put the steamed tree roots to his mouth, Lund appeared behind him, snatched away the cured meat from his plate, and sat next to the two of them in a swagger.

Suk protested: "Brother Lund, this cured meat is what I deserve."

Lund sneered, "You call it and see if it will promise you? Is it not agreeing correctly? So, I tell you: Whose plate it belongs to, whoever it belongs to." As he said that, he put the cured meat into his mouth.

Lin Zaishan was about to give Lund a blow, but a guard patroled nearby. "Boss, this man snatched the cured meat from my companion." Lin Zaishan exposed without hesitation.

"Has he snatched your food?" the guard asked, pointing at Suke with an electric baton.

Suk was shocked and scared, hesitated for a few seconds and replied, "No."

"So, you are falsely accusing." The guard poked Lin Zaishan's neck with an electric baton. He turned the power of the electric baton to the maximum, and expected that this poke would definitely make Lin Zaishan feel pain.

Lin Zaishan had the ability to electric shock. He thought to himself: "Okay, just take an electric shock, just recharge yourself." He deliberately made a look of numbness and pain from the electricity, but took the opportunity to suck the energy in the electric baton clean.

The guard sneered proudly and said, "Remember, next time there is nothing wrong, I will poke the electric baton into your large intestine."

After the guard left, Lund said viciously to Lin Zaishan: "You dare to sue me, you are dead!" He was about to seize the cured meat from Lin Zaishan.

At this time, a powerful hand stretched out from the side and steadily grabbed Lund's wrist. It turned out that Schwaronson appeared with a tray. He sat down slowly and smiled at Lin Zaishan and said, "It seems that you have made many friends in just one night."

Lin Zaishan smiled helplessly and said, "There is no way, who makes me have a good temper and has a good reputation."

"This guy seems to be thinking about the meat on your plate." Schwaronson exerted force on his hand, and Lund screamed in pain. Schwaronson smiled and threatened, "You can scream louder, so that everyone will know that you are a sissy."

In such a lawless place, the most feared thing for those who want to be strong is to be put on the nickname "sissy", because that means that anyone can mess with you.

Lund endured the pain, "Friend, tell you, I used to be from the Coyotes. There are many of our teammates in this mine, be careful not to know how you died."

Schwaronson replied disapprovingly: "The Coyotes are not worthy of carrying shoes for me! I warn you that the handsome guy sitting opposite you is my good brother. If you dare to offend him, you will definitely regret giving birth from your womb." He threw Lund's hand aside fiercely.

Lund glared at Schwaronson and others in anger, and walked away with a tray.

Su Ke smiled and said, "What do you call this boss? Will I be a horseman for you in the future?"

Schwaronson responded coldly: "Either eat well or get out of the way!"

Suk immediately shut his mouth.

Lin Zaishan asked, "Idol, look at your appearance, you should have had a good sleep last night."

"Of course, since I kicked the guy who claimed to be the boss of the dormitory, my roommates have been very respectful to me."

"So you don't have to pour the toilet for everyone?"

"Nonsense. But I saw you pouring the toilet. Lucifer Farge, you can't be too humble and kind. If you want to live a nourishing life among the thugs, you have to be more like a thug than the thugs."

"I understand this logic, but I want to keep a low profile for the time being." Lin Zaishan distributed the food in his tray to Schwaronson and Suk, and he only ate that section of steamed tree roots.

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Less than 5 minutes after breakfast, the guard gate used weapons to force the miners to carry baskets, take axes, and shovels to leave the camp, and go to the open-pit mine to collect ore.

The working hours are fixed for 12 hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and rest for 30 minutes. In order to avoid miners being lazy and to motivate their work enthusiasm, a minimum workload is stipulated, that is, 100 baskets, weighing about 5 tons. Anyone who completes the workload in a day will be whipped, and those who fail to complete three consecutive times will be executed. There is also a so-called point system, which can be obtained for every day of work, and for every additional 100 baskets, you will get an extra point. Points can be used to redeem some benefits. When the points reach 100 points, you can apply to transfer to other positions and become managers or guards to achieve the so-called freedom and liberation (of course, in fact, no one can get so many points).

If you simply put the ore into a basket and pour it out, I believe that many people - even ordinary people - can complete the prescribed workload; but the problem is that miners must first manually dig the ore from the hard surface, which will take time and energy, and will also hurt your hands.

In order to complete the workload more easily, many people invented the so-called lazy method. The most commonly used method is to put the loose ore dug by others into their own basket when others leave to transport ore. If the action is fast enough, the person involved may not be able to detect it; but once it is discovered, a second method is often needed to solve it, which is to rely on strength to seize other people's ore. In fact, just like the thing that takes up a bunk in the dormitory, some powerful miners plunder other people's ore by various means every day, and some even form gangs.

The miners, as victims, have different statuses. In a sense, their stratification is more extreme than that between the guards. In order to survive, the weak try their best to do everything, and sometimes bring the despicableness of human nature to the extreme.

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Lin Zaishan found an unmanned open space, skillfully waved the pickaxe, and dug a large piece of land in a moment. He filled a large basket full of it and walked more than 200 meters to the rail truck. When he returned, he found that the ore he had just dug had been loaded by other miners. A strong man stood on the open space with his hands crossed and stared at him proudly.

"This is already my territory. If you don't want to die, get away." The strong man cursed.

"Brother, since you like this land so much, let it be given to you." Lin Zaishan still had to keep a low profile. He continued to ask: "You just stand in place with your hands crossed, can you complete the lowest task of 100 baskets in a day?"

"Hmph! Even if I don't do anything, I will do much more than you."

Seeing that the other party did not answer directly, Lin Zaishan left in disappointment. At this time, a miner who had been working here had been putting a week in Lin Zaishan's ear and whispered: "Brother, have you not figured it out yet? Bullies like this would force others to help them deliver ore, just dump ore for the rail truck and report his number. In that way, the guards would record the workload to his account."

"I'll go! This kind of operation is OK? Then won't they easily become so-called excellent miners and earn enough points?"

"The premise is that their tricks are not discovered by the guards. Usually, as long as you are obedient, complete the prescribed work, and do not cause trouble, you will not pay attention to you; but if they encounter unpleasant things, such as losing a bet, being scolded by their boss, or just not having a meal, they will come to seek trouble with the miners for various reasons, including those who usually dominate the miners."

"It seems that you have a lot of experience in work and survival."

"It's normal." The old miner approached Lin Zaishan's ear and asked quietly in a mysterious voice: "Brother, do you want to be bullied less and be liberated from this hell as soon as possible?"

"Of course, do you have any guide?" Lin Zaishan wanted to consider Su Ke and others.

"Did you see the jungle over there?"

"See it."

"You know I wasn't full for breakfast. If you could secretly help me dig some tree roots or even pick a few wild fruits from the jungle, I'm willing to teach you all my experience."

"If I remember correctly, the jungle is a restricted area."

"If you don't dare to go, just pretend I didn't say it." The old miner said: "Actually, there are ditches there, which lead to the jungle. Your body is so clever and sneaks over, the guards will not notice it."

Lin Zaishan said: "Then you have to wait at least until I complete 100 baskets before going."

"Okay, I'm there. When will you make up your mind to come to me? I'm looking forward to it."

Because of the past, Lin Zaishan was no longer so laborious when digging this time. Every time, it was just enough to fill a basket of things, leaving those bullies with nothing to occupy.

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Time passed little by little. It was noon soon. The guards announced a 30-minute lunch break.

Lin Zaishan easily completed 70 baskets in one morning, which was the result of his intentional discount of his strength to less than 30%.

Schwaronson came to Lin Zaishan and asked, "How many baskets have you made?"

“70.”

"Ha, you're far inferior to me." Schwaronson said proudly: "I have completed 150 baskets and are ready to set an excellent record today. Of course, this includes 5 baskets that 4 guys voluntarily dedicated."

"It seems that you are doing well here." Lin Zaishan mocked him.

"At least 100 times stronger than that guy." Schwaronson pointed to Suk, who was already exhausted and panting in the distance. He leaned into Lin Zaishan's ear and whispered: "I have discovered just now that the ore here contains powerful energy, and it is indeed a good material for making weapons of the end of the world." As he said that, he took out a piece of shining ore from his pocket and handed it to Lin Zaishan, "Zhaolin, isn't your body the best at storing treasures? Please put this ore away for me."

"No problem." Lin Zaishan casually received the ore into the space ring. "I have noticed this too, so I have gained a lot this morning." As he said that, he took out a piece of colorful ore he found from the space ring and showed it to Schwaronson.

"It seems that we are really here in the right place. But I'm afraid that your slag forest safety cabinet will not store too many good things."

"Don't worry, it's okay to just put one or two tons of gems on your own."

"Okay, let's separate first, I'll go over and help a roommate settle the bully problem."

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As soon as Schwaronson left, the old miner came to the door again, "Brother, have you made up your mind? Just take it as a pity for me, as I am a patient. I really need food to recover my strength; otherwise, I may not be able to hold on tomorrow."

"Well, I'll help you. But let me declare first: time is too hasty, and I may not have time to find too much food. No matter what I bring back, please eat it."

"Okay, thank you so much." The old miner looked grateful.

Lin Zaishan carried a basket on his back and slowly touched the small hill with tools, then pretended to be digging ore to check left and right, believing that no one noticed him, his figure entered the small ditch like lightning. The ditch was only more than 70 meters long, and Lin Zaishan used his speed ability and reached the jungle in a few seconds, and then he tidied it up inside.

With only one minute left in the lunch break, Lin Zaishan quietly returned to the mine, with the basket full of tree roots, crystal fruits and herbs. He strode towards the old miner who was waiting nearby and said enthusiastically: "I have collected a lot of food from the jungle, so you can make do with it."

The old miner said, "Brother, are you sure you just went to the jungle?"

"Of course, wasn't you asked me to go?" Lin Zaishan replied.

The old miner suddenly lit up something in his palm, "Brother, I'm sorry, I've been eager to make contributions recently and have come up with this bad plan. I've tried more than a dozen people, but none of them were fooled, only you, only you. You are the savior in my life, and my destiny will change from today on because of you."

Lin Zaishan saw that the old miner was holding a communicator in his hand, and asked in confusion: "Brother, what do you want to say?"

At this moment, a gunshot suddenly sounded, and a sniper bullet shot at the mail tower. Two nearby guards were rushing towards them with weapons.
Chapter completed!