Chapter 253 Mining Slave

The mountains south of Bloodstone City have been hollowed out, and the artificially diverted streams have made it impossible for areas with mining value to be soaked in the surrounding areas. There is no plant in the dry soil and rock cracks. Even if rain falls occasionally, it is only enough to meet the needs of a few sparsely growing weeds. When the dry season comes again, there will be no green in the entire area.

Several steel rails extending from the inside of the mountain range are bent and twisted, and radially extend to various areas adjacent to the mines.

The inverted trapezoidal mine trucks that were empty and hung from each other slowly drove into the deep and black semi-arched mine entrance under the traction of the small fuel locomotive. They were loaded with heavy ore and coal blocks and were slowly dragged out, dumping the material shipped in the truck into the accumulation area. Day after day, it repeated over and over again.

There were busy crowds everywhere. Apart from the soldiers guarding the mines with live ammunition, the largest number were the slave miners walking into the wellhead. They were ragged clothes, carrying pickaxes and rattan baskets on their shoulders, and almost everyone was barefoot. Occasionally, a few shoes in the crowd were seen in the crowd, and they were also rough slippers made of wood and hemp rope. The underground environment was very humid, and the terrain was complex and covered with sharp gravel and slag. Even waterproof boots made of rubber in the old era could not withstand wear and squeeze for a long time. Sosbia could not equip all slaves with the same miners equipment as the old era, and it was even more impossible to give so-called "benefits". Instead of letting precious shoes be soaked in the sewage from the underground, it was better to go to the ground barefoot and let a thick layer of cocoon skin grow into the soles of the feet, which was much more useful than any shoe in the world.

Every evening, there are fewer slaves coming out of the mine than in the morning. Although the underground, which is 1,000 meters deep, is not full of radiation like the ground, it is also full of dangers that may be fatal at any time. Among the slave miners who have finished work and returned to the barracks, they can always see one or two corpses tied up by ropes and lifted from both sides by thick wooden sticks. Their bodies are very thin, and their clothes and valuable things are all plundered by their companions. The causes of death are varied - rocks falling on the top of the mine cave, accidentally falling from a high place, and they are suffocating without oxygen... In short, people die every day in the Bloodstone City Mine, and the number has always hovered between one and two hundred.

Slaves are consumables.

Due to the influence of radiation and water sources, as well as factors such as seed mutation and soil composition, even in normal years, the grain output in the wasteland world was only about 70 to 85% of the old era. More than 100,000 slaves were an extremely huge number. If they were all invested in farming, the crops produced could fully meet daily consumption, and more than half of the annual harvest could be left for reserves or for foreign material exchange. However, this world needs more than just grain. Only coal and ore.

Sosbia can get some special commodities they need from other family institutions. This means that the Luton family must set aside an additional piece of mining slaves from their limited food reserves. This is equivalent to feeding a large settlement with a population base of more than 100,000 in vain. The rulers of the Luton family cannot guarantee that everyone can eat enough. They can only maintain a normal demand of about 60% of the food supply, so that they will not starve to death, and can barely pick up tools to mine the ore they need underground.

No one is willing to sit and wait for death, and slaves are no exception.

Hunger can stimulate the activity of human thinking to the limit. Sosbia's supervision of slaves is very strict, but its jurisdiction is limited to the surface. The only thing that the officers and the Luton family are concerned about is the amount of ore mined per day. As for the problems and disputes arising from slaves, the guards basically rarely interfere. Naturally, the strong people among the slaves formed a special class in Bloodstone City. They were fierce and cruel, using threats and violence to force other slaves to work for themselves, occupy the mines and rob rations that were not their own. Over time, the slaves appeared new underground rulers. They did not have to go into the mines every day like others, but lie in the shed to enjoy the food worshipped by others.

According to the old concept, they were absolute mine tyrants. Although they were still slaves, the power they held was actually far greater than that of the supervisors of the Luton family.

The bodies of the dead who brought back the shed from the mine are another important food source for slaves. The mine bully will decide the number of slaves who died in the mine based on the amount of food and water distributed by the supervisor. They did not die by accident, but were tidied through their heads by their companions. Under normal circumstances, every thousand people can be assigned a fresh corpse. These pieces of meat cooked in a large pot certainly cannot make everyone full, but they are meat, nutrition, oil and protein content much richer than dry and hard black bread. Even in the worst case, a bowl of broth is enough to keep the slaves who go down the well every day under the necessary physical strength.

The miners are very smart. They did not deliberately create large-scale deaths to satisfy their subordinates' desires. Instead, they controlled the number of dead at an acceptable normal value. Dozens or more than a hundred daily dead are not surprising to the regulator. The Sosbian slave hunting team will also replenish enough mobs and refugees to Bloodstone City on time. The miners will also decide how much ore is transported from the mine the next day based on the amount of food distributed by the regulator on the same day. In terms of actual output alone, the resources produced by the Bloodstone City mine have been slightly floating around a fixed standard. The number of deaths and the replenished quantity will usually be replaced by half a month or twenty days. The regulators of the Luton family are well aware of this, but they have not reported it up or have taken action against the slave miners. They are very clear that without enough water and food, it is difficult for slaves to provide more ore.

Even Chebman, who had committed suicide, could not change this headache-inducing situation. According to estimates, the mining efficiency of the slave miners in Bloodstone City should be increased by at least another 40% on the existing basis. In addition to the slaves who were killed underground and thrown into soup pots as food, the actual output of ore is definitely not an annoying number on paper now. However, understanding the crux of the problem does not mean that it can be completely solved. If the Luton family cannot provide more food, there will always be only these ores transported from underground.

...

The roster of slaves of more than 100,000 people was stacked on the table, forming piles of uneven paper hills. When you open the gray-yellow cover bound with flexible twine, the first thing you see is not the dense names of people, but the thick, black and eye-catching slave sources, specially marked in Chinese and English words, as well as the names of the forces where each person originally was.

Refugees, mobs, prisoners of war, trade exchange...

Lin Xiang casually flipped through the roster closest to him. He had no interest in the strange names arranged in rectangular rows. The matters related to slaves have been handed over to the newly appointed New City Lord Wang Building. But no matter what, as the actual control area continues to expand, the scope of Lin Xiang's jurisdiction is no longer limited to Yinyue City. The coal and iron ore produced in Bloodstone City play an incalculable and important role in regional development. Although there is no need to remember every slave's name, at least, they should know their general source and specific numbers.

The checking speed was very fast. Half an hour later, the roster on another table thrown by Lin Xiang on the side had exceeded one third of the total. Just as his eyes and brain were filled with countless Chinese characters and letters, suddenly, a row was arranged neatly from top to bottom, with names specially marked below with thick red lines, which attracted his attention.

Fang Jun, Guo Kaihan, Andy Lau, Chen Jinbiao...

Two pages of paper, more than four hundred squares, are all filled with names with characteristics of the Han ethnic group in the old era. In the notes column at the end of these names, a shocking name is vertically marked - "Red Republican Army".

As for the column "Slave Source" it says "The Sword of God, the eleventh batch of material exchanges."

Lin Xiang, who was originally lazy, suddenly showed a puzzled and strange expression on his face. He continued to flip through the roster, and after confirming that there was no name column marked with the same name, he turned the page back to its original position, focusing on the strange names one by one.

After pinching a crisp snap of his fingers, the adjutant standing beside him quickly stepped forward, leaned forward, and said respectfully: "Your Excellency, what are your instructions?"

Lin Xiang pointed to the position at the top of the page, and stroked downwards in sequence, saying, "Arranging it, I want to meet these people."

...

The official residence of the city lord of Bloodstone City is an old-time building made of reinforced concrete and bricks. The five-story building, which is more than 30 meters high, has been clearly carefully repaired. The dark red mud carefully fills the gaps on the surface of the broken building and is flattened again. At the spacious entrance where three heavy trucks are driving side by side, a huge stone lion more than three meters high stands on both sides of the left and right. This kind of thing left behind from the old era can indeed exude majestic momentum. Although they are cold and heavy, they do not have the magical function of protecting the house and protecting the owner as the legendary, their sharp teeth and sharp claws release a chilling and ferocious atmosphere.

Under the escort of armed guards with live ammunition, hundreds of slaves slowly passed through the metal giant gate surrounded by four guard towers, and arranged in a not-too-neat, but not a chaotic loose queue in the open space in front of the official residence building.

Apart from a piece of oily rag around their waists, they were almost naked. The hair of these people was extremely long, and they were condensed into thick and hard streaks by dirty dirt. The chaotic beards grew densely from both sides of their cheeks, almost filling every gap in their cheeks and chest. Their palms were huge, and the length of their nails filled with black and dirty nails was over five centimeters. The skin on their bodies completely turned into a strange color between brown and black, and the red soles of their feet were thick with cocoons. Just judging from the degree of hardness, it was difficult to cut them even with a sharp knife.

There is no doubt that they are humans. And they are all males.

But what is creepy is that no trace of human beings should have from them. Civilization and reason seem to have completely disappeared from these bodies and completely become a savage and violent human-shaped beast.

No one spoke, no one moved. Black and cold muzzles were extended in the window in front of the building. The guards around him were holding assault rifles in their hands, and the powerful 12.7mm heavy machine guns that were sharply pointed down from the tower were silently warning the slaves to give up any resistance or take the opportunity to escape.

Lin Xiang, wearing a light gray military combat uniform, walked down the steps, and his face was always filled with a faint smile. However, the meaning of it was not the usual laziness and carelessness of the superiors, but the vague release of a slight undetectable excitement and forced suppression in his heart.

Looking at this fellow tribe who was gradually approaching him, the slaves showed a cold expression on their faces, their eyes were numb and dull, and there was a little bit of fierceness and beastly cruelty.

Black is the only tone of all slaves. What blocks the original color of the skin is not only the dirt condensed by sweat, but also the coal ash and dust accumulated on the surface of the body. The water purification capacity of Bloodstone City is enough to maintain the daily consumption of tens of thousands of people, but it belongs to Sosbia. Clean drinking water will only be exchanged for other forces by the Luton family as a commodity. The extremely luxurious treatment of bathing will never be enjoyed by slaves.

Stiff, cold... The slaves stood there expressionlessly, silently looking at Lin Xiang who was approaching next to him.

Suddenly, a thin slave caught Lin Xiang's attention.

To be precise, the part that attracted his attention was the man who was almost as black as coal on his body, with only his eyes, lips, arms and shoulders slightly kept clean, and the parts of his original skin color could be seen.

On his left arm, there was a rectangular tattoo about four or five centimeters in size. The pattern that was pierced by dense pinholes was already very blurred, but under the cover of dirt and dust, you could still see a faint, less eye-catching dark red.

Lin Xiang stared at the tattoo with blurry patterns, his lips tightly pursed into a hard and cold line. After nearly five minutes, his body suddenly trembled, and his slender fingers subconsciously pinched towards his palms, forming a fist with tight skin tightening and high joints.

Suddenly, he stretched out his left hand and grabbed the slave's arm like crazy, and rubbed his right hand back and forth on the tattoo. This rough action instantly made the slave's eyes change from surprise to anger. He let out a hoarse roar instinctively, trying to break free from control, and at the same time, he waved his right fist and smashed it hard on Lin Xiang, but two guards waiting beside him who had been transformed by blood and had parasitic strength to hold their throats and bodies tightly, unable to move at all.

The tattoo is still blurry, but after wiping, the original color and shape can be seen on the surface of the skin.

It was a simple pattern made of geometric figures—the upper left corner of the rectangle, four gamma-yellow five-pointed stars, which surrounded a large star with a volume of several times more than itself in the center. As for the other color that filled the picture... it was bright red like blood.

For some reason, Lin Xiang suddenly felt that the air around him had solidified, and his body was as if he had weighed several tons, and he was even hard to breathe, as if he might suffocate at any time. He let go of the slave's arm, turned slowly, and his anxious and confused eyes were patrolling back and forth on the left arms of other slaves - at the same position, they all had a rectangular tattoo of the same pattern and color.

"They... are all our people."

Wang Daxia walked up and said in a heavy tone. As a survivor with memories of the old era, he certainly knew this special symbol that was once extremely familiar.

Five-star red flag.

Lin Xiang felt his throat dry. He opened his mouth and breathed in big breaths until the redness and dizziness on his face slowly faded away from the excitement, and his mind calmed down and awake again. Then he shook his head slowly and said, "No...they... are the Red Republican Army."

Claude, Aphra, Liu Yuchen... Many people have told themselves that they must not contact the Red Republican Army. They are completely different from what they imagined.

But for some reason, when his eyes came into contact with the five-star red flag pattern that the slaves stabbed on their left arm, Lin Xiang felt that something indescribable was rolling violently deep in his heart.

For a full hundred years, everything I knew in my memory had been completely destroyed with the explosion of the nuclear warhead.

Relatives, friends, partners... Of course, the responsibilities of the country and nation and soldiers whom I once fought for and believed to be the highest goal...

"They shouldn't be like what they are now..."

Lin Xiang wiped the fine beads of sweat from his face, exhaled a long sigh, and said without looking back: "Give them enough water and food to clean them, tell the logistics department, and distribute clothes and milk to everyone. Today's dinner should be as rich as possible and let them have a good meal."

Wang Daxia nodded silently. Even if Lin Xiang didn't say it, he would do this.

"From now on, you are no longer slaves-"

Lin Xiang turned around and walked up the steps, shouting loudly: "You will restore freedom-"
Chapter completed!