Chapter 3592 — Sometimes Retreat Brings Peace
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
With that, Wei Zhao strode over, took the contract for Mine No. 10 from Dai Wuchang's hand, and with a flourish of the brush signed his own name in bold, flowing strokes.
"Ah!" Wretched Senior Brother shook his head helplessly at the sight, but matters had come to this, and it was too late to stop it now. He could only think of a way later on, to see how he might help Wei Zhao suffer a little less in the mines.
"Hmph. Worthy of the strongest newcomer—truly bold!" Meng Jueming praised with his lips, though his eyes were full of gloating delight and secret relief.
If Wei Zhao had played the turtle pulling in its head now, then even as the managing senior brother, Meng Jueming could at most have gained a verbal advantage and could not truly have made Wei Zhao eat dirt. But now Wei Zhao had signed the contract without a second word—and in the days to come, there would be no end of hardship for him to taste!
Even Wei Zhao, that unlucky wretch assigned to the dead Mine No. 10, dared to sign the contract—so the other newcomers present were all the less likely to shrink back. Three months it was, then, three months; so long as they worked hard enough, there would still be some profit to be had.
Once everyone had signed, each was given a jade token—judging by the material, they were made from the cheapest scrap jade. Each bore a number: everyone else's marked No. 7 or No. 8, while the one in Wei Zhao's hand bore No. 10.
"What you hold in your hands is a passage token. The number on it tells you which mine you may enter; no other mine is permitted," Dai Wuchang instructed them, then sat back down in his seat. Who knew what mechanism he pressed, but the enormous iron door before them began slowly to open of its own accord...
"All right, since you all have your passage tokens, follow me in," Meng Jueming called out, and took the lead through the door. The others exchanged glances, then followed.
Beyond the great door was not the mining zone they had imagined, but a vast antechamber. Inside, apart from four skilled guards in uniform, there were four more staff members whose sole duty was to search the disciples going in and out.
These staff members were specially trained, leaving no corner unchecked from top to bottom, and they conducted themselves with utmost professionalism. Before such a rigorous search procedure, any attempt to smuggle spirit jade out was courting death—there was not the slightest chance of slipping anything past.
Yet Wei Zhao noticed that these staff members all seemed quite familiar with Meng Jueming. When searching the newcomers, they were painstakingly thorough, but on Meng Jueming they merely went through the motions. And earlier, that Dai Wuchang had also clearly sided with Meng Jueming to suppress Wretched Senior Brother. It seemed this managing senior brother was quite well-connected in these parts!
After the search, they passed through the antechamber, and only then did the group formally enter the spirit jade mine. Before their eyes stretched a deep, vast space; from floor to ceiling the mine roof stood a full forty or fifty feet high. It was not the crude little mining pit they had imagined, but plainly a massive mining cavern carefully reinforced and designed. Bright fluorite stones, large and small, were set into every corner of the ceiling and walls, and at first glance it resembled not so much a mine as a mysterious underground world—a feast for the eyes.
And within this deep, vast mining cavern, what now lay before the group were ten mining tunnels leading off in all directions!