The dim lights, like a slow dawn, gradually brightened, signaling the start of a new day.
In the Gatherer's camp, Swain knelt beside his equipment box, meticulously checking his gear. He ensured his pickaxe's nuclear battery was fully charged and the straps of his hard hat were securely fastened.
Click, click, click. Swain twisted the headlamp on his hard hat, and a brilliant beam of light sliced through the dusty air, forming a straight column in the gloom.
"Radio check!" Swain pressed the communication button on his radio.
After a burst of static, a reply crackled through from his companion: "Received, loud and clear."
"Let's go." Once his other companions had confirmed their equipment was ready, Orysis led her team down into the mine.
"Brother and the others are heading down the mine again," Ephrenia whispered to herself, hidden in a small mining tunnel. Watching her companions change shifts, an idea immediately sparked in her mind: She wanted to explore the mine tunnels!
After all, they were all tunnels controlled by the adults of her family, so it couldn't be a big problem.
Having made up her mind, Ephrenia bravely slipped into the pitch-black mine alone.
Her small figure walked fearlessly into the dark mine, which seemed like a terrifying beast with its maw wide open, devouring all surrounding light. Only the scattered, faint yellow lights flickering occasionally within the mine offered a slight sense of security to the miners.
As Swain guided his companions to officially begin mining for adamantium, a patrolling team of overseers also happened to arrive in the mine tunnels controlled by the Saviors.
Compared to the emaciated, sallow-faced miners, these overseers were incredibly strong. Whips woven from unknown leather were coiled twice and hung casually at their waists.
Dark red blood permeated the texture of the whips, dried into mottled, rust-brown patterns, resembling grotesque snake scales.
Under the fearful gaze of the many enslaved miners, these lackeys of Lycaeus's ruling class arrogantly chose a mining tunnel and entered it.
"Ephrenia, why did you sneak into the mine?" A tall, lean, muscular man, who was directing the drill traction machine, immediately spotted the small, furtive figure hiding behind a pile of ore.
This ragged, ordinary-looking man had silently appeared beside the little girl.
Unlike other camps, Swain didn't like to see children sneaking into the mine to avoid work. There was always a risk of unknown dangers in the mine, so children mostly stayed outside the camp, sifting and crushing the rough ore that had already been selected.
"Uncle Arendi, I secretly came in here to look around. Please don't tell Brother Swain and the others, okay?" Ephrenia pleaded with the middle-aged man.
The children in the camp were already used to this mysterious middle-aged man, so Ephrenia wasn't scared of him.
"Ephrenia, you should go back after a quick look. Don't stay here too long." Arendi's rough hands gently ruffled her small head, instantly messing up her neatly combed golden hair.
"Got it!" Ephrenia quickly ducked away from his grasp to save her hair from further torment.
"Hahaha, hurry up and start the drill traction vehicle, let's work hard!" Arendi looked at the small figure running away like a fly and loudly called out to his other companions.
At Arendi's call, the massive drill traction machine, like a giant beast that had been dormant for a long time, opened its maw, constantly devouring all obstacles in its path.
To mine the newly discovered adamantium vein, Swain had specifically deployed this immense machine.
This meant that all the various precious metals accumulated in the warehouse had been completely consumed. If there wasn't a sufficient return, the people in the camp would have to mine on empty stomachs for a long time to come.
The roar of the drill traction machine echoed throughout the mine. Large chunks of reddish-brown ore were drilled open by its incredibly hard drill bit, then continuously sent to the rear via a conveyor belt.
The miners stared intently at the ore being transported by the conveyor belt. This time's output would determine whether they would be able to mine on a full stomach or an empty stomach for a long time.
"Gulp..." In their nervousness, the miners unconsciously swallowed.
Just as the miners in the tunnel were anxiously awaiting the excavation of raw adamantium ore as their boss had predicted, Ephrenia was heading towards another tunnel, this one worked by women.
On Lycaeus, mining didn't differentiate between men, women, or children; if you couldn't turn in ore, you simply starved. It was that simple.
Ephrenia had just turned to head towards another tunnel when the entire mine suddenly shook violently.
The rock layer above them let out a series of fatal cracking sounds, and a blinding golden light, accompanied by a deafening roar, broke through the solid rock.
A golden cultivation pod, tall enough for two people, pierced through the thick rock layer like a golden spear thrown by Zeus, carrying shattered rock and dust, and slammed heavily less than ten paces from Ephrenia.
The wave of dust stirred up by the impact caused the entire mine tunnel to tremble, and Ephrenia had to raise her arm to shield her face. Through her fingers, she saw the still-hot pod half-embedded in the ground, its golden patterns dimming at a visible rate.
The ground around the pod showed spiderweb-like cracks, and several scorching metal fragments were still emitting smoke.
"Ephrenia!" Arendi's anxious shout came from the other end of the tunnel, accompanied by hurried footsteps. The sturdy miner dropped the pickaxe in his hand and stumbled through the flying dust, his hard hat's headlamp cutting a swaying beam of light through the smoke.
"Check and reinforce the anchor bolts and supports in the tunnel!" The miners weren't overly panicked; they had experienced similar situations too many times during their years of mining.
As long as it wasn't a sudden collapse that gave them no time to react, they just needed to follow the established procedure: check what needed checking, reinforce what needed reinforcing. As for stopping work for safety inspections?
Tell that to your constantly protesting stomach, tell that to your hungry family members.
The overseers on Lycaeus didn't care about such things. If people died, it wasn't a big deal; they could just grab another batch, or if necessary, buy some slaves from other planets. In their eyes, ore was everything.