"Hey, have you all heard?"
Jiang Xiaobai deliberately lowered his voice, as if he was about to divulge a great secret, causing all the miners in his group to gather around him.
"What news did you hear?"
Jiang Xiaobai said, "I heard people say there's a monster on this mountain. Many of our missing brothers were caught and eaten by the monster."
"Where did you hear that?" someone asked.
Jiang Xiaobai replied, "During a meal, I overheard people from another mining area talking about it in vivid detail, saying it's real. Huh, haven't you heard?"
The others turned their gaze to a man in his fifties, the one who had worked here the longest among their group.
"Old Li, have you heard of it? Among us, you've been here the longest."
Old Li stroked the messy stubble on his chin and said, "I haven't heard about that. But people going missing, that's definitely true."
Someone said, "Why do they go missing?"
