A Bitter Journey on Sakaar (Part 2)

Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal clashing and the loud shouts, the slaves, who had long huddled in the darkness, all looked very confused when they left the prison cart. Thor was no exception; he Old Gods somewhat dazed, and even the pain could not make him utter a sound.

The overseer Carl, who was as big as a red giant, lashed out with a huge iron whip, making the slaves line up and walk into the mine.

Thor moved slowly forward in the procession. In front of him was a green-skinned man, thin and looking like a dwarf, while behind him was a tire-headed creature with four arms and a lower body like a centipede.

This group contains all sorts of strange aliens. Many of these creatures clearly couldn't have evolved in this galaxy. Obviously, they were thrown into this junkyard from distant galaxies millions of light-years away.

Races with the ability to travel between galaxies have advanced civilizations. Many of their alien beings have evolved into purely intelligent beings who do not engage in production. Most of them were once pampered and spoiled in their own communities, and such torment is unbearable for them.

The green-skinned man walking in front of Thor complained in a low voice. His language was like the gurgling of a drowning person, hard to understand, but his tone revealed that he was not saying anything nice.

As he passed a Sakaaran overseer, his mouth still didn't stop. The strong Sakaaran lashed him on the back with a whip, and the green-skinned man rolled on the ground in pain.

Several Sakaaran overseers laughed heartily. They kicked the green-skinned man in the stomach, watching him vomit blood and then lie motionless on the ground.

One of the Sakaaran muttered a few words of dissatisfaction, picked up the green-skinned man and walked to the side, then tossed him into the air like a sandbag, where he landed on a sharpened log splinter, skewering him like a meat skewer.

Thor's lips trembled, and his arm twitched, but he ultimately turned his head back and remained still.

But the Sakaaran overseers focused their attention on him, because among the aliens, Thor was considered to be very strong.

A whip lashed Thor staggered and fell to the ground, groaning but not uttering a sound.

The Sakaaran cursed at him and kicked him, but he didn't make a sound. This kind of prey that wouldn't fight back, this kind of toy that wouldn't make a sound, couldn't satisfy the violent and bloodthirsty emotions of these Sakaaran. They just grabbed the iron chain on Thor's shoulder and pulled him up.

Thor was like a sandbag being dragged to the end of a rope, rolling on the ground before staggering to his feet and returning to the group.

Thor remained silent throughout, his eyes hidden beneath deep brow ridges. His face was covered in mud and grime, and his once brilliant blond hair was now a mess of mud, clinging to his face in clumps. The wound on his shoulder was beginning to scab over, but before it could heal, it was rubbed raw by the piercing thorns, drawing blood again.

The pain forced him to hunch over, and with each step he took, the iron chain would slide on the ground, making a "clattering" sound.

The long queue stretched all the way outside the Red Ring Mine, and those at the front of the line moved forward one by one, entering the mine's dark caves as if swallowed by a gaping maw of Abyss. Those who went in made no sound, and perhaps they would never have the chance to make a sound again.

Fine dust flew up from the edges of the footprints, blood dripped onto the ground, and the clanging of chains echoed around. Thor, who had reached the entrance of the mine, raised his head slightly and saw a Sakaaran, who was somewhat thinner than the overseers, standing above the mine cave.

He looked down at the slaves lining up to enter the mine, his eyes filled with deep mockery and malice. Thor heard him say in the Common Tongue of the Furnace Galaxy, "I have given you trash a chance to be reborn... I am your god, thank me..."

Then, Thor's figure was swallowed up by the shadows of the cave. At the last moment before stepping into darkness, he looked back at the huge planet floating on the horizon outside the mine, its planetary rings shimmering, hazy and mysterious.

His gaze seemed to pierce through billions of light-years of the universe, looking towards Asgard, towards his former homeland, with a sense of resolute determination and sorrow.

Loki, watching from outside the screen, remained silent.

Loki pursed his lips and remained silent, his eyes fixed on the magical screen.

Although Planet Sakaar is known as a cosmic junkyard, it is precisely because many advanced interstellar civilizations dumped their waste there that their technology was collected by the Sakaaran, giving rise to a unique technological school that can be called "Frankenstein's monster" or "the reuse of garbage."

In short, Planet Sakaar has a good level of technology, at least higher than that of humans. However, the reason why they still need to scavenge "garbage" as slaves and make them mine by hand is because the minerals in Planet Sakaar's mines are very special and cannot be mined by machinery.

Red Ring Mine is a large mine in the southern part of Planet Sakaar, belonging to the ruler of Planet Sakaar, the "The Red King". It is rich in a special mineral called "Sakaarian Rock". The special thing about this mineral is that it will only appear if a real living being observes it; otherwise, it is nothingness.

It would not appear without the watchful eyes of Intelligent Life, so many slaves are needed to enter the dangerous mines to keep an eye on these minerals with the Watcher effect. After processing, Sakaarian Rock will become a core material for cloaking positions favored by many advanced interstellar civilizations and will have a good market in the interstellar market.

This is why Planet Sakaar has a fairly mature industry chain. Garbage dump owners like Redwing specialize in collecting all kinds of garbage, including the aliens that fall with the garbage, from places where aliens frequently dump their trash.

The big red guys were like long-haul truck drivers; they were responsible for transporting these alien slaves from the junkyard to the mines to work.

After these slaves entered the mines, although they were not required to perform extremely demanding physical labor, it did not mean that the work here was easy. In fact, if they had the opportunity to be chosen by these long-distance drivers and sent to the arena to fight against various terrifying alien monsters, they would be considered very lucky, because once they entered the mines, the death rate of slaves was 100%.

Because the mining of Sakaarian Rock is not in a physical mine, but in a collapsed dimensional fragment, the level of danger is self-evident once space is broken and dimensions collapse.

After Thor was brought into the mine, he was assigned to the South Side. The foreman, a Sakaaran, said, "You're lucky, you bastards. This is a mining site chosen by His Majesty the Emperor. Therefore, we will let you live a little longer. If you can figure out the terrain, you might even have a chance to become an old miner and survive here."

As he recounted his story, Thor walked through the cave and was met not with the kind of mines he had seen before, but with a vast Abyss filled with endless stars. In the Abyss, some diamond-shaped fragments, like mirrors, floated intersecting, and many dazzling lights were attacking these fragments.

Among the intricate fragments, there were supports made of wood with special patterns. As Thor descended a circular staircase attached to the wall, he saw all sorts of aliens lying on these supports, staring intently in one direction.

The one closest to him was a humanoid creature, except that its legs and arms were longer. Because of its long limbs, it had a great advantage, and it used its long limbs to hug the log with the carved pattern.

Then, Thor saw that when a fragment suddenly lit up, the alien pressed a button embedded in the support, a laser beam shot out, and the fragment scattered into starlight, which was then collected by a magical orb and floated to the other side.

The miner further away from Thor wasn't so lucky. He also encountered a flash of light, but when he pressed the button, the laser shot out instead of shattering the fragment. Instead, it refracted into many tiny laser beams that flew out, many of which hit the wooden supports where the miners were sheltering. Instantly, shouts and curses erupted.

Then, a long tentacle yanked the failed miner off the log support he was clinging to. Thor then saw a huge fish mouth in the direction the tentacle was reaching. The tentacle wrapped around the miner and threw him into the fish's mouth. He didn't even have time to scream before he vanished completely.

"You'd better work hard," came Carl overseer's voice. "Otherwise, he'll treat you as food."

Thor was driven by the overseer to the lowest log support, where he was whipped. After stepping onto the log, he chose a support to stand on, but at this height, there were very few glowing fragments.

"You must press the button when the star rock glows. Remember, it must be when the light is at its brightest. If it's too early or too late, the mining laser won't be able to break the star rock and extract the ore. The laser will then destroy the support you're standing on. If you fall, you'll certainly die."

The foreman sneered twice and said, "Of course, don't think that slacking off will work. If you don't succeed even once a day, you can expect to be turned into food tonight..."

As they were talking, the entire support suddenly began to shake, and a huge rumbling sound came from the bottom of the starry sky. Even the strong overseers staggered, and an alien who had just stood on the support was shaken off. The old miners above used their size advantage to hold on tightly to the support.

"In the broken dimension, oscillations are very common. If you don't want to die, hold on tight."

Thor nearly fell as well. He only now realized that the big red guy who had brought him there was deeply malicious, because he had stuck spikes and chains into Thor's shoulder, making it impossible for Thor to put any weight on that arm. Under these circumstances, he couldn't possibly stay on the brace for long.

But Thor didn't react. His gaze remained somewhat vacant, and his movements were slow. Just as he regained his balance, another tremor came, and he was shaken to the edge of the support frame, but he showed no intention of adjusting his posture.

At this moment, Loki, lying on the hospital bed, was recovering his body very quickly, or rather, Venom was working quite efficiently. Half of his body had gradually recovered from the phantom. Then Schiller saw that, just as the mine trembled in the magic screen, Loki's One Hand gripped the railing tightly.

Strange also saw the movement, and he and Schiller exchanged a glance.

Schiller said in a low voice, "Someone's about to get restless... but I won't say who."