Mine

"Whew..."

Chu Mu let out a long breath and slowly adjusted his state of mind.

He firmly believed that since Real Skill existed, then there would come a day when he would come into contact with it.

If he could not reach it now, it was only because he had yet to touch that level.

Now that he had arrived in this world and had already begun practicing martial arts, coming into contact with that level was, without a doubt, only a matter of time.

Only, Chu Mu felt somewhat wary of that inexplicable murderous urge in his heart.

The reasoning was very simple: a difference in mindset would inevitably affect one's style of action.

People also always liked to solve problems in the way they were best at.

Scholars reasoned, martial men used force—that was precisely how it was.

With such a mindset, when he acted in the future, he would probably lean even more toward the blade in his hand.

He just did not know whether this would be good... or bad...

His thoughts drifted for a moment, and the pale-blue Light Screen Panel appeared in his field of vision as well.

Name: Chu Mu.

Skills: Basic Blade Technique (Initial Understanding) 20/500

Spirit Radiance Value: 15.3%

He swept his gaze over it out of habit, and in the end, his eyes fixed on the Basic Blade Technique proficiency that had soared.

In just one or two short hours, his proficiency had shot up by more than ten points! Such a violent surge in blade technique proficiency clearly showed that he had not been blindly messing around; it was genuinely beneficial to his progress in martial practice.

"As long as it's useful."

Chu Mu let out a light breath. He had truly been afraid that he was just blindly messing around. After all, these seemingly simple tools were honestly not cheap.

The Wooden Dummy naturally needed no explanation. The wood was ironwood, extremely hard in texture, and so naturally quite expensive. Add to that the several layers of thick hemp cloth wrapped around it, and altogether it cost no small amount of money.

Those Hanging Balls that did not look like much were even more of a luxury item in this era. Every Hanging Ball had been temporarily modified from a cuju ball.

Cuju, in this era, was originally a sport of wealthy and noble households. The balls used for cuju were naturally expensive as well.

Those dozen or so Hanging Balls had made Chu Mu's heart ache quite a bit.

All told, after all this fussing, dozens of taels of silver had flowed away like water.

If it truly had been blind messing around, then he would have basically worked more than two months for nothing.

Amid his thoughts, Chu Mu suddenly recalled his previous life.

If it had been in his previous life, he probably never would have acted with such thunder-and-lightning decisiveness no matter what.

At All Costs, doing it the moment he decided—back then, as a miserable corporate slave, he would never have been as free and easy as he was now.

"Now isn't bad either..."

Chu Mu grew inexplicably gloomy and muttered to himself.

"Wuwuwu..."

A faint whimper sounded. Chu Mu lowered his head and saw that the fluffy dog cub was raising its head and rubbing against his trouser leg.

"I nearly forgot about you!"

Chu Mu laughed in realization, grabbed the dog cub in one hand, and strode quickly into the Kitchen.

There were still quite a few leftovers from last night. Once he poured them into the food basin, the dog cub immediately spread its short little legs and waddled over to the basin, eating with puffing snorts. It was clearly starving.

Chu Mu remained busy in front of the stove, preparing a meal to fill his own stomach.

Since he was alone, there was nothing much to be particular about. He casually stir-fried two small dishes, cooked a little rice, and made do in front of the stove.

After eating his fill and tidying up briefly, Chu Mu returned to the bedroom.

A candle, a book—Chu Mu leaned against the head of the bed and slowly flipped through it.

About half an hour later, firelight suddenly flared in the courtyard. A bonfire burned fiercely. Beneath the flickering flames, the Hanging Balls swayed, the Wooden Dummy thudded dully, and the figure swinging a blade appeared once more...

Early the next morning, as usual, only after practicing martial arts for more than half an hour did Chu Mu change into a Patrol Inspector's armor and uniform, then head out to report for duty.

Nanshan Town in the early morning already seemed somewhat cold and deserted. Among the few Stall Vendors Chu Mu often ate from, several had already met him again in the Mine.

The merchants who set up stalls at sunrise and packed up at sunset had also become Forced Laborers who worked before dawn and could not rest even at sunset.

If he wanted to eat their cooking again in the future, Chu Mu estimated it would be somewhat difficult.

Without any familiar flavors, Chu Mu could not be bothered to be picky. He casually took a couple of bites to get by, then walked toward the Mine.

Beneath the endless wind and snow, the entire mine mountain had long since been covered in white. The climate in the mountain was already chilly to begin with, and with the heavy snow sealing the mountain, even though Chu Mu was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket under his armor, he still could not help shivering a little.

Compared with the cold desolation between the mountains, the Mine was naturally already a scene of bustling, fiery activity.

Now that it was deep winter, most of the Forced Laborers had also changed into thick padded jackets. Of course, this was not a benefit given to Forced Laborers. According to custom, when Forced Laborers were conscripted to work, they would bring their own winter clothes. If they truly had not brought any, then they had to have their families send them over before winter arrived.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything. Even in the Mine in the depths of winter, it was not as if there were no people in ragged clothes.

Compared to just over half a month ago at the Mine, the number of Forced Laborers had undoubtedly increased by a great deal.

In this mining area where Chu Mu was, there were over thirty more Forced Laborers alone.

Chu Mu estimated that in just over half a month, the entire Mine had gained at least more than two thousand Forced Laborers.

This was undoubtedly a somewhat unbelievable number, and what was even more unbelievable was that there was still no sign that the conscription of Forced Laborers was coming to an end.

"Why dig up so much ore?"

Chu Mu sat beneath a tree, looking at the Forced Laborers toiling in the wind and snow, the doubt between his brows hard to conceal.

After more than half a month, he had naturally found out the facts long ago.

Even if the ore materials were sent to Prefecture City, that was not the end. It was said they still had to be sent up another level.

Nor was this only the case in Qinghe County. In all the surrounding counties, as long as there were mines, no matter what ore materials they produced, they all followed this same process.

Extraction, submission, then submission again.

Every step went through official channels and had nothing to do with the market whatsoever.

This also meant that from Qinghe County to Prefecture City, and even throughout all of Yanshan Prefecture, all ore materials flowing into the market could be said to be black goods, things that could not be brought into the light.

The question was... with such manpower and resources mobilized, if the mined ore materials did not flow into the market, then where would they ultimately go?

Forging military equipment? Iron ore did have that demand, and in this era, the demand for iron was also very large. But what about other ore materials?

As far as Chu Mu knew, Changshan County, which neighbored Qinghe County, had several copper mines as well, and just like Qinghe County, they had been mining, smelting, and submitting copper day after day for decades.

In this era, iron could still serve many purposes. But copper?

This was not the industrial age. The greatest use of copper was coinage, but right now, paper money had already been in use for several hundred years. What else could copper be used for? "At the very least, the official process is submission level by level, with no connection to the market. Then where would the final source be? And why would it be needed?"

Chu Mu guessed to himself.

There was no doubt that this sort of process was completely unreasonable.

Chu Mu could not make sense of it, nor could he find out. At the very least, among the people he could come into contact with at Nanshan Patrol Bureau, not a single one knew.

Of course, aside from Chu Mu, not many people would think about this sort of question either.

"Everyone over here!"

"Assemble!"

Shouts rang out abruptly. Chu Mu rose and quickly headed over.