The Great Mine

By the time Zhang Xiu and the others reached the entrance to the Great Mine, Seele was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, while Bronya stood silently beside her.

"Heh, you got here pretty fast." Seele raised her head at the sound of footsteps.

"Okay, Seele, is Wildfire in some kind of trouble? What do you need us to do?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Seele lifted her head in confusion, then continued, "Then I'll keep it short."

"There used to be plenty of mining areas underground, but the Fragmentum has made a lot of them impossible to mine. The one we're heading to is still fairly intact. A bunch of vagrants whose homes were swallowed by the Fragmentum have settled there."

"Most of them are decent enough, but some troublemakers slipped in among them. They don't just fight with the miners; they steal and rob them of their supplies, too-and even that's just small-time trouble."

As she finished speaking, anger crept into Seele's eyes. "But this time is different. The miners and vagrants have gone straight to fighting. What do they think the mine is? Somewhere they can stir up trouble?"

"If we can't keep mining Geomarrow, we won't get supplies from the surface. Chief Oleg has already led Wildfire members in there and left me in charge of keeping order in town. But now, I've got to go down there too..."

After explaining the situation to Zhang Xiu and the others, Seele turned her hostility toward Bronya beside her again. "And you. Once we meet the leader, he'll decide what to do with you."

Having spent her long silence composing herself, Bronya refused to back down. "Perfect! I wanted to meet the leader of the Underworld anyway."

At that, the scorn in Seele's eyes practically overflowed. "Hmph, fine. See for yourself what a mess it's become down here."

"Aw, don't fight~ Who knows? You might become really close companions later." As Zhang Xiu spoke, he secretly took out his phone and started recording.

"Companions? Heh..." Seele dismissed the idea, then turned and headed straight inside. "Follow me."

Satisfied, Zhang Xiu paused the recording and followed Seele with a spring in his step.

"Is that... Natasha over there? Why is she here too? Looks like things are worse than I thought."

Following Seele's gaze, the group spotted a woman with striking gray-blue hair standing among the crowd, apparently pondering something.

Natasha was Wildfire's true leader, as well as one of the exceedingly scarce medical professionals in the Underworld.

Because of Zhang Xiu's interference, Stelle and the others had yet to meet her, but meeting her here made no difference.

"Natasha! I didn't expect you to be here too. Where's Oleg?"

"Hi, Seele. Those people behind you... they're Sampo's guests, right? He told me about you.

"As for Oleg... I haven't seen him either. The miners said they saw him heading deeper in with a group of people."

"Who are these people?" Stelle blinked, noticing the people locked in a standoff here.

"Fuck! You goddamn animals! Can't survive without stealing?! If you can't survive, go die!"

"Damn you! Cough up the Geomarrow I worked my ass off mining! You motherless bastards!"

"My daughter... what did you do to my daughter?!"

But their curses only drew complaints from the vagrants behind the wire fence:

"Hey, hey, what's the point of yelling at us here? We didn't do it. Who knows what you'll do if we let you through?"

Seeing that neither side would budge, Natasha turned her gaze back to Zhang Xiu and the others.

"They're miners' families who came to demand answers from those thugs. The vagrants' settlement is just ahead. The other vagrants really have nothing to do with what those thugs did, but they're afraid these people will take their anger out on them."

"I heard quite a few people were injured, so I came to see if I could help."

Her words made Seele's brows knit tightly. "How did it get this bad?"

Natasha's expression turned grave. "...Apparently, the First Mining Team discovered a Geomarrow vein with astonishing reserves. Initial estimates suggest it's probably the largest deposit found in nearly thirty years."

"They wanted to mine it themselves, so they kept the news under wraps. But the vagrants still found out and demanded hush money. That crossed the miners' bottom line."

"Ha, so basically, we just need to crush all those thugs and scumbags to death?"

In excellent spirits, Zhang Xiu was itching for a fight, the heat churning inside him desperately needing an outlet.

"Eek~ You make it sound so scary, Zhang Xiu." March 7th was startled by his words.

"Our primary objective is to resolve the conflict. If we're too heavy-handed, we'll only achieve the opposite," Dan Heng said, shaking his head.

"Relax. I'm not some dumbass who slaughters innocent people. But if we run into murderers, child abductors, or criminals who've committed atrocities, don't stop me."

"Husband..." At a loss, Yaoshi instinctively slipped her hand around his arm.

Her philosophy needed no explanation: [altruism]. Naturally, she couldn't simply stand by and watch Zhang Xiu take a life, even if the person in question was morally bankrupt scum.

"Honey, if we let people like that keep living, they'll only hurt more people. Killing them is how we help the good people."

Zhang Xiu's words were cleverly chosen. They followed Yaoshi's philosophy while unconsciously correcting her distorted views.

"...Very well." Yaoshi considered Zhang Xiu's words in an exceedingly brief moment and readily accepted them.

Seeing that his wife understood, Zhang Xiu chuckled, then looked at the others. "Let's raise some hell."

Seele nodded in agreement beside him. She hated beating around the bush more than anything, while Natasha gave a helpless smile.

Zhang Xiu took the lead, striding past one resident after another before finally stopping in front of the wire fence.

"Another one? Give it up. We're never going to let you..." Before the vagrant could finish, a clang rang out.

With a single kick, Zhang Xiu sent the wire fence and scrap materials blocking the path flying dozens of meters, slamming into a distant wall with a boom!

The armed vagrants behind the fence trembled and backed away at the sight, huddling to one side without daring to make a sound.

Under the gazes of the miners' families who had come to demand answers, the seven of them strode into the mine.

Just as the families were about to follow, Zhang Xiu extended his index finger and said in an even voice, "Just stay here. It's dangerous inside. Don't make things harder."

But he had little authority here. Even his display of astonishing combat strength couldn't make the families stop.

So Natasha stepped forward. "He's right, everyone. If you go inside, you'll only make the situation more chaotic. Your families might end up in danger because of it, so please wait here."

As a doctor who had spent years treating patients, Natasha commanded enough respect that the others willingly complied and gave up on going inside.

"Please give it your all! Make sure you beat the hell out of those dumbasses!"

"That's right! Don't go easy on them! They need a good beating before the lesson will stick!"

Bearing everyone's hopes, Zhang Xiu turned and waved, then headed deeper inside with his companions.