Chapter 3619 — Stealing Jade Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Yet for all his bewilderment, Li Zhengming could not help but heave a sigh of relief. He had witnessed Wei Zhao's strength on his very first day at the Welcome Newcomers Pavilion; anyone who could defeat Meng Zhou in a single move was plainly no easy mark. If Wei Zhao truly meant to make trouble for him, he would have had no choice but to let himself be beaten into a pig's head, or else his concealed strength would have been exposed—a loss far outweighing any gain!
Abandoning the prime ore node that Li Zhengming had seized, Wei Zhao casually picked a somewhat remote and unoccupied one. It was not tucked into the farthest corner, but it drew nowhere near the same attention as before; with a little caution, he could be sure of working in safety.
But no sooner had Wei Zhao set down his basket than someone cut in ahead of him, fixing him with an unfriendly stare. "You there," the man said, "I've got my eye on this ore node. You planning to fight me for it?"
Wei Zhao frowned slightly. The man was one of the many "newcomers of former terms" digging jade here in Mining Zone Seven. Because he had spent yesterday deliberately observing his surroundings, Wei Zhao had some impression of these unfamiliar faces—but from what he recalled, this man had not been working this node yesterday.
Still, people often moved back and forth among several different nodes, which was perfectly normal. Wei Zhao did not take it to heart; he was not set on this particular node anyway, so he nodded and at once headed for another one nearby.
Yet before long Wei Zhao realized something was off. Every time he reached any node at all, someone would immediately dart over and get there first. And these nodes he had chosen were all quiet, sparsely peopled spots, picked precisely for convenience—and by yesterday's observation, all of them had been deserted. It felt as though everyone in the mining zone had been deliberately set against him!
Could it be that Meng Jueming and his companion, unable to dig up jade in Mining Zone Ten, had deliberately enlisted people to make his life miserable?
Recalling Li Zhengming's earlier behavior, Wei Zhao quickly guessed the truth. These people really had taken Meng Jueming's orders and were ganging up on him on purpose! It was not only Li Zhengming—everyone else present was one of Meng Jueming's underlings!
As a veteran steward of the newcomers at the Welcome Newcomers Pavilion, Meng Jueming had left his mark on more than just Wei Zhao's cohort; even these "newcomers of former terms" all bore his stamp to some degree. And with his vast connections throughout the Spirit Jade Hall, these men would naturally do all they could to curry favor, if only to escape this sunless drudgery sooner—especially since squeezing Wei Zhao was no more than a trifling chore they could manage with one hand tied behind their backs!
True, the mining zone had no hard rule that a node belonged to one man alone. Faced with someone stealing his node, Wei Zhao could not stop him outright, but he could perfectly well stay put and refuse to leave; that way the other man would be helpless too—surely no one would rashly attack him just to grab a node. With so many skilled Foundation Establishment guards glaring like hawks, striking out on one's own was simply courting death. Slap on the charge of inciting a riot in the mining zone, and a man could be cut down on the spot with no one to plead his case.
But if he truly had to share a node with another, that would run entirely counter to Wei Zhao's aim of finding a quiet corner. Not only would his efficiency in digging jade suffer, but more importantly, it would amount to a man posted at his elbow, watching his every move up close—and then Wei Zhao could forget about secretly stashing any spirit jade at all.