They pressed onward, helping many people along the way, and met the miner Irene just as they had in the original storyline.
From her, they learned that a group of robots had occupied the Great Mine, and heard the name "Svarog."
Just as Zhang Xiu and the others were preparing to move on, an extremely faint commotion reached Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi's ears.
The others, whose physical abilities were weaker than theirs, noticed nothing.
"I heard something that didn't sound right. I'm going to investigate."
"Hmm? Should we come with you?" Dan Heng looked at Zhang Xiu.
He shook his head. "No, my wife and I will go. As for you... there, see those two?"
Zhang Xiu pointed at two armed vagrants. "Those two are skulking around. Who knows what they're plotting? Check them out, then keep heading down. We'll go ahead."
With that, Zhang Xiu took Yaoshi's hand and bounded along the rock wall, parkour-style, toward a secluded spot.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, the two quickly vanished without a trace.
March 7th blinked. "...He's practically Superman."
"Hurry up. If Wildfire sees us, we're both fucking dead."
"Stop fucking rushing me. Keep your voice down. If you hadn't gone overboard, I'd still be enjoying myself...!"
In the dim mine passage, two lean, burly men dragged a dying girl deeper into the tunnels.
She had cuts all over her body and was in terrible condition.
With a crack, bone shattered. The man in front looked down and found a skeleton beneath his foot.
"What dumbass left this so close to the entrance? Fucking bad luck."
Just as they were about to continue, a boom! rang out!
An entire section of the mine passage was forcibly torn away.
The sudden upheaval did not collapse the tunnel. Several rapidly growing plants replaced the stone wall that had supported its weight.
Against the light pouring in from outside, Zhang Xiu's right hand abruptly seized the broken edge.
The air was wrenched aside in an instant, as though caught in gravity powerful enough to swallow an entire planet.
"What... the fuck were you saying?"
His face twisted savagely, his eyes seeming ready to burst from their sockets.
The instant the two men saw Zhang Xiu, they instinctively tried to flee.
But in the next moment, Zhang Xiu struck and subdued the man in front.
Seeing this, the other man hurriedly dropped the girl he was carrying and fled back down the passage.
A flash of sword light struck the fleeing man down.
Yaoshi caught the girl, then plucked a fruit from the void and fed it into her mouth.
The instant the fruit touched the girl's lips, it dissolved into a warm current that flowed into her body.
Under Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi's gazes, the girl's wounds healed completely in the blink of an eye, and she regained consciousness.
Through bleary eyes, she saw their faces. "Y-you are..."
In an instant, her face contorted, terror flooding her mind.
"Don't come near me! Get away-! Aaaaaah-!!"
She struggled desperately, clawing and scratching with both hands, screaming like someone who had lost her mind.
To keep her from hurting herself, Yaoshi never let go of her, watching the girl gently with compassionate eyes.
Perhaps the warm embrace helped. The girl's struggles gradually subsided, and she slumped weakly into Yaoshi's arms.
"We're from Wildfire. Don't be afraid. Was anyone else captured?" Zhang Xiu questioned her urgently, only to frighten her.
"Dear..." Yaoshi laid a hand on Zhang Xiu's.
"Sorry, I panicked..." He tried hard to calm himself, but could not quell his emotions.
"N-no, go save them. Save everyone. Mom... my mom, and A Luo... please save everyone...!"
Huge tears welled in the girl's eyes. Sobbing, she reached a trembling right hand toward Zhang Xiu.
At the sight, Zhang Xiu's mind went blank. Rage drowned his reason like a flood. Breathing heavily, he turned his attention straight to the whimpering man dangling from his hand.
He pulled his right hand free, then seized the sinner's skull, gradually tightening both hands.
Bloody froth sprayed everywhere, splattering Zhang Xiu's face, but it could not extinguish the fury burning in his eyes.
This was the first time he had killed anyone, yet he felt not a shred of guilt. Instead, he growled through gritted teeth:
"Show us the way. We're going to kill them...!"
"Fuck! Those mining dumbasses won't even pay us hush money?! Shit!"
"They really think it belongs to them just because they found it?! Bunch of dumbasses!"
In a secluded underground cavern, more than a dozen men sat around a campfire. Some held women in their arms, their faces filthy and visibly bruised.
Their clothes were in tatters, and they all looked half dead, yet the men did not restrain themselves in the slightest.
"No rush. Let them fight. We'll grab a few more to play with later tonight."
"Just don't fucking get us all caught. Last time, Rat tried to grab someone without hands, got spotted, and was beaten to death."
As they laughed and chatted with disgusting smiles on their faces, a shrill plea for mercy came from outside.
"Spare me! I can... aargh!"
"Fuck! Someone's attacking us! Get-no! Don't kill me!"
The crashes of heavy objects falling mingled with the sounds of flesh being torn apart, erupting one after another like artillery shells.
Just as someone tried to investigate outside, a massive sword flashed past, stopping him dead in the mine passage.
In the last moment before he died, he struggled to make out the face of the person approaching.
Furious and savage.
The massacre ended in mere moments as the last evildoer fell. Drenched in blood, Zhang Xiu panted heavily and looked toward his wife, who was treating the victims.
She looked back at him, their gazes meeting. Those pure black eyes seemed to say:
"You did well. Come, come to my side..."
Zhang Xiu released the Greatsword. At first, his steps trembled as he moved toward Yaoshi, then he broke into a jog and pulled her into his arms.
The rescued people huddled together and wept, their cries echoing through this hidden world.
Just as Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi thought it was over and prepared to take them back up, the first girl they had rescued tugged at his clothes.
"There's more. She... she tricked so many people... so many people died because of her..."
At those words, everyone's gaze instantly converged on the girl she was pointing at.
The girl had sparse eyebrows and reddened eyes. She backed away repeatedly, falling and scrambling up again in terror.
"No! I didn't do it! If I hadn't done that, I would have died!"
Her frame was frail, and she covered her face and began to cry. "I... I didn't want to either... sob...!"
Her tears did nothing to still the air. Zhang Xiu slowly withdrew from Yaoshi's embrace and said impassively:
"So?"
His low voice rolled outward and reached the girl's ears, but she merely froze for a moment before crying again.
With quiet footsteps, he walked through the blood toward her, leaving a footprint with every step.
She had been about to say something else, but he seized her skull and lifted her into the air.
That's right... compared to the Overworld, the Underworld is no different from an apocalypse. Even with an organization like Wildfire maintaining order, there will always be places they cannot see.
And what I have to do...
Zhang Xiu gradually tightened his grip, and blood flowed from her eye sockets.
The small knife she carried fell to the ground with a light clink.
The flickering light illuminated his back.
"I'm going to kill you damned scum."
The girl passed out, completely losing the ability to resist.
Before you continue