Debts Owed to Me Aren't So Easily Defaulted On!

Before long, Zhao Jian noticed Qin Yao striding toward him in great strides.

Yet this fellow showed not the slightest guilty conscience. Instead, he gave a disdainful smirk and went on gnawing his flatbread and drinking his soup.

"Zhao Jian, what do you mean by this?"

Having approached him, Qin Yao demanded coldly.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?"

Zhao Jian flicked the little dirty braid tied at the back of his head and said in a flippant tone, "I don't understand what you're talking about. Get lost, will you? Don't hold up my meal!"

"We agreed beforehand that if I helped you finish your work, you'd give me a share of your food! And now you're playing dumb?"

Qin Yao said coldly.

"What a joke. Do you have any proof?"

Zhao Jian cocked his head and glared at him sidelong.

"I wasn't far away at the time. I can testify for Brother Qin!"

Little Liuzi patted his chest. "Zhao Jian, Brother Qin kindly helped you, and now you're reneging afterward? That's downright dishonorable!"

"That's right. Zhao Jian, I heard what you said to Brother Yao too."

Yao Heizi immediately voiced his support as well.

"And me."

Wang Wu stepped forward too.

The commotion quickly drew the attention of those around them.

The lives of mine slaves were bleak and miserable to begin with, dull and tasteless.

Now that there was finally something lively to watch, every one of them craned their necks to look over, excitement written all over their faces.

"Look, look."

"Heh, this is interesting. Think they'll start fighting?"

"I've heard of that youth. He's new here. Before he was convicted and exiled, they say he was even a 'Provincial Exam Champion'!"

"What crab? Hairy crab?"

"Get out of here. Ask less about scholar stuff. Even if we told you, you wouldn't understand."

"Tch, so what if I don't understand? Scholar or scholar crab, once he enters this place and becomes a mine slave, there won't be any good fruit for him to eat!"

"I think that young man's a decent sort. As long as people are willing to share food with him, he's willing to help them work."

"Several people in our Number Three Cave haven't had lunch for days. They only managed to finish their afternoon quotas because he lent them a hand."

"I remember Zhao Jian was one of the people he helped too. From the looks of things, he's planning to default on the debt!"

"Sigh, if someone is dead set on defaulting, there really isn't much anyone can do. The overseers won't bother with this sort of petty matter."

"Yeah. They can't exactly start a huge fight over a mouthful of food, can they? They'd get whipped for that!"

Seeing more and more people watching him, Zhao Jian became even more smug.

With a vile look on his face, he shouted at Little Liuzi and the others, "What, is Qin Yao your bastard father or something? Why are you all speaking up for him?"

"You..."

They were all furious.

They had not expected this bastard to be so shameless.

"Enough. Didn't I just have you help smash a couple of lousy rocks?"

Zhao Jian rolled his eyes at Qin Yao, pinched a small rotten leaf from his soup, and tossed it onto the ground. "Here, eat it.

"Consider it a reward from your grandpa, you stinking beggar!"

"You Zhao bastard, you've gone too far!"

Little Liuzi, Yao Heizi, and the others were beside themselves with rage.

Little Liuzi especially.

From Qin Yao, he had felt a warmth he had never experienced before.

Now, seeing his benefactor insulted like this, righteous indignation surged through him.

He did not care that the other man had a massive physical advantage over him. Rolling up his sleeves, he was about to charge forward!

"What? You want to fight?"

Zhao Jian smugly stuck his face forward. "Come on, come on, hit me if you've got the guts!

"I'd like to see how many lashes that one punch of yours can earn you!"

At that moment, Wang Wu, the oldest among them, grabbed the teeth-gritting Little Liuzi and earnestly advised him, "Calm down, calm down.

"Don't forget the rules here: for fighting, regardless of the reason, whoever strikes first—even if it's only one punch—gets ten lashes!

"Ten lashes from an overseer can whip away half your life!

"How will you work after that? How will you eat?"

"Oh? One punch for ten lashes?"

Qin Yao suddenly raised a brow and asked Wang Wu, "If I only give him one punch, will there be any other punishment?"

"Huh? This..."

Wang Wu had no idea why Qin Yao was suddenly asking that.

After thinking about it, he answered honestly, "As long as no one dies, one punch means ten lashes. I've never heard of any other punishment.

"Oh, right. If you cripple someone, you'll get extra lashes too."

Qin Yao nodded in understanding.

"Tch, who are you trying to scare with that act?

Zhao Jian was utterly fearless. He even deliberately stretched out a hand and rubbed his own cheek. "Come on, come on, my face is right here. Hit me if you dare?!"

Whoosh!

Qin Yao really made his move!

However, he did not slap the other man. Instead, he snatched the food from Zhao Jian's hands and stuffed it into Little Liuzi's hands. "Hold this for me."

"Oh..."

Little Liuzi answered reflexively, thoroughly bewildered, having no idea what Brother Qin was trying to do.

"You fucking dare rob me in broad daylight?!"

Zhao Jian immediately panicked. No longer squatting there so casually, he rose to his feet to snatch it back.

But the instant he straightened up, Qin Yao seized the opportunity and drove a vicious punch into his solar plexus!

Bang!

One had to know that after Qin Yao's Mining skill advanced to the "Greater Achievement Realm," the system's evaluation had been: "The body has become exceedingly robust and is only one step away from the first level of the martial path's 'Body Tempering Realm.'"

With that gut-wrenching punch, Zhao Jian was knocked clean off his feet, his body bent into the shape of a giant shrimp!

Once Qin Yao let go and stepped back,

Zhao Jian's entire body dropped like a tattered sack soaked in mud and water, hitting the ground with a smack.

His internal organs churned like rivers and seas turned upside down.

A hotness rose in his throat. The moment he opened his mouth, he went "bleurgh!" and vomited up everything he had eaten in a watery mess!!

Little Liuzi, who had just been wondering why Brother Qin had first snatched the food and handed it to him for "safekeeping," finally understood.

So Brother Qin had known his punch would be heavy. He had been afraid that after making Zhao Jian vomit, the filthy mess would ruin the food...

Looking at Zhao Jian now,

he lay limp on the ground like a dead earthworm.

Tears and snot were mixed together across his face, while his body twitched from time to time.

He desperately wanted to get up, cry injustice, and ask an overseer to uphold justice for him.

But his internal organs felt as though they were being carved apart by knives. The pain was so great he could not utter a word...

The mine slaves who witnessed this were dumbfounded. "Damn, he really did it!"

"Don't let his skinny frame fool you. That kid's fierce. One punch and he knocked down that big Zhao Jian."

"Aiya, he was still too impulsive!"

"Just for a moment of anger, he has to take ten lashes himself. What a raw deal!"

"Exactly, exactly..."

Qin Yao did not care what others thought.

At that moment, he looked down at Zhao Jian from above and said, word by word, "Remember this: debts owed to me aren't so easily defaulted on!"

"Qin Yao, who gave you permission to strike?"

Overseer Li Gang ambled over lazily while gnawing on a huge chicken leg. "Don't you know I hate people interrupting my meals most of all?"

"Reporting to Foreman, it was this Zhao Jian who insulted me first!"

"I put in a great deal of effort and helped him with so much work. We agreed at the time that he would give me seventy percent of his dinner.

"But not only did he refuse to honor the agreement, he also insulted me wantonly. I truly couldn't bear it..."

"Enough, enough. I'm not in the mood to listen to you ramble."

Li Gang tossed away the chicken leg that was nothing but bones. "All I saw was you striking first and punching him once. Therefore, your punishment is ten lashes!"

As he spoke, he took the whip from his waist and motioned for Qin Yao to turn his back to him.

Then he swung his arm and began whipping him viciously!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack...

"Aah!"

For a time, the crack of the long whip mixed with Qin Yao's screams, carrying far into the night.

Only, the whip really did crack loudly, while Qin Yao's "screams" were entirely an act.

Of course he had to act!

Otherwise, would not the secret that someone with Mining at Greater Achievement could simply tense his muscles and feel no pain from the lashes be exposed?

The instant the final lash fell—"Ding!..."