"What happened?"
Sunlight shone into the pitch-black underground worksite. A young man with a filthy face stared blankly upward, his face filled with confusion as he muttered.
"The roof was lifted off?"
"Those stone slabs..."
"They're floating in midair? What is this..."
The CP9 overseers in black suits were also stunned by the sight before them. The roof of the underground worksite had been lifted away, yet the shattered stone slabs had not fallen. Instead, they hovered eerily in the air.
CP9 carefully examined the broken cross-section overhead and found that the several-meter-thick layer of earth had been cut remarkably cleanly, as if sliced open by a sharp blade.
Sunlight streamed underground through the gaps between the floating slabs. The CP9 agents stared upward blankly, not knowing what to do for a moment.
"Rustle—"
Suddenly, a faint sound came from above the slaves and overseers. Everyone tilted their heads and looked up, where a figure entered their sight.
Sunlight fell upon the person, casting his tall silhouette into the underground worksite.
Everyone turned to look and saw a red-haired young man standing in the sunlight, looking down at the people inside the worksite.
"Slaves captured by the Celestial Dragons?"
"What a miserable sight."
Tsugikuni Yoriichi walked to the edge of the hole he had cut open and lowered his head slightly, surveying the scene within the underground worksite.
A breeze swept past, carrying an intense stench into Tsugikuni Yoriichi's nostrils. It came from the underground worksite.
These slaves had worked and lived in this sunless underground worksite for years. They ate, drank, relieved themselves—all inside. As for bathing? Could slaves possibly have anything to do with such a luxury?
After years upon years, the underground worksite had long since been steeped in every imaginable foul odor.
Now that Tsugikuni Yoriichi