Chapter 51: The Terrifying Dry Well (3)

  Tieyi took out a rope and, with very skilled hands, tied one end of the rope to the largest stone on the ground. After repeatedly testing it several times, we confirmed that this large stone could indeed bear our weight, and only then did we start moving cautiously down along the well opening.

  When sliding down the rope, I took a look at the support of the well wall and top plate. Except for a few severely weathered and corroded wooden pillars, there were basically no safety measures. Working here is equivalent to staring at the face of death, with the possibility of accidents at any time.

  Tieyi motioned for me to tread more lightly, avoiding any sudden movements that might trigger a collapse. I nodded, afraid that speaking too loudly would cause vibrations and lead to an accident. Now I knew why Father said it wasn't easy taking things from here either.

  Inside the cave, it was pitch black without a single ray of light. My companion and I held up our wolf-tooth flashlights and turned on the headlamps on our safety helmets. The brightness reassured me and made my heart less anxious, giving me a sense of solidity as if I had grasped something in a weightless space. My breathing also gradually calmed down.

  With our hands against the well wall, we slowly made our way down, and I felt a dampness on my palms, probably due to underground water, but I didn't pay attention to it. My mind was completely preoccupied with thoughts of the unknown ahead.

  Just as I was indulging in my fantasy, I was grabbed by Tie Yi and pulled to the other side. I stumbled and almost fell to the bottom of the well. Just as I was about to get angry, a loud noise from falling rocks made me realize that where I had been standing earlier had fallen off large pieces of rock the size of palms. If I had been hit, even if I hadn't died, I would have been smashed into a meat pie.

  I looked at Tie Yi with gratitude, wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, and didn't say a word.

  It seems that the geological conditions have deteriorated due to long-term private mining, so I quickly put on my safety helmet. If I hadn't been wearing a safety helmet and got hit, I would probably have died instantly with my brains splattered everywhere. Working in such a place is fraught with danger at all times, and it's hard to know how many untold stories are buried in this cave-like mine.

  After this fright, the downward process slowed down, occasionally observing the surroundings, afraid that another landslide would occur. Fortunately, after about an hour of crawling with our bodies, we safely reached the bottom of the well. As the vast expanse opened up before us, Tieyi and I let out a few deep breaths, pulled out the mineral water from our bodies, and drank several mouthfuls, suddenly feeling much more comfortable.

  This guy is really on pins and needles, living on the edge of life and death.

  It's hard to imagine how miners used to climb up with coal on their backs in such a small space, the intensity of labor is completely unimaginable to me. I took another look at the gas detector in my hand, although the data has increased a bit, it still has some distance from the danger value.

  Along the light of the wolf's teeth, I looked back at the steep slope behind me, which was at least 70 or 80 degrees. Looking at everything in front of me, I had a feeling of being in a different world, as if those days of struggling to get out of the well were just behind me, not far away.

  Although the coal mine I was in before wasn't very good, at least the basic safety facilities were not a problem. But this so-called mine in front of me now is really terrible, it doesn't even have the most basic ventilation system and the most basic support, the only safety measure is luck!!! It's really using the possibility of death at any time to exchange for a hard life, what kind of world is this.

  My subconscious mind keeps matching everything in front of me with familiar environments, and my inner complaints are endless!

  Listening to my muttering monologue, Tie Yi said that he had looked up some information before coming.

  "This mountain village of Tun井 was completely abandoned 20 years ago. More than 20 years ago, the place of Yangquan was a coal-mining hot spot because of its high-quality smokeless coal, which enjoyed a great reputation at home and abroad. During the golden decade of coal mining, a very famous coal-mining craze emerged, although strict control measures were in place, many speculators still privately mined in marginal areas, with the phenomenon of large-scale private digging and disorderly mining, making many people rich, but also burying many lives in this place that will never see daylight!"

  In those years, many southerners came to invest and privately excavated coal mines. They would simply dig a hole wherever they thought there was coal, spending very little money to hire villagers to dig. The villagers were poor and honest, taking whatever the boss gave them. To save money, even the most basic facilities for protecting lives were not installed, resulting in many deaths here!

  Because all those who come out to do this kind of work are villagers from remote areas, they have no money and no background. When an accident occurs and one or two people die, the coal boss will give their families a few hundred or thousand yuan and that's it. No one investigates, no one manages, no one holds them accountable, lives are not as valuable as ants.

  In that era, the lives of poor people were worthless, and if they died, they just died. If a major accident occurred and many people died, the coal bosses would directly take the money and run away, either to start again in another place or to buy land and invest in some foreign country, using the money earned from those lives to squander abroad.

  In that case, the dead are just dead and can't even get a penny! Those who come out to work are basically the backbone of their families. If the pillar collapses, there is no economic source, and this family will be destroyed!!! Many times, one accident means the destruction of a family. It looks like only one person died, but in fact, it's the whole family that was destroyed."

  I'm surprised, normally taciturn Tie Tuijia is being so sentimental today, completely out of his usual rhythm. But since this guy is unusually talkative, he continued speaking and I kept listening.

  I saw a news report on an old newspaper with a picture of a child looking helpless in front of his deceased father.

  It was this well that, due to the gushing of coal and gas, had a particularly serious accident in which 36 people died. The lives of these 36 people were lost in an instant. The mine owner saw how severe the accident was, but instead of organizing rescue efforts, he found someone to blow up the wellhead and seal off the news before running away.

  This is the first time I've seen Tie Yi so angry about someone else's business. The last time he transformed was because of his own impulsiveness, which dragged in Tie Hong, and this time... it seems that Tie Yi isn't as aloof as I imagined.

  Something must have triggered some memories deep within him, he didn't say and I didn't ask, we just remained silent like this. This heavy topic seemed to give the air a weight, pressing down on my chest, feeling suffocated as if severely lacking oxygen.

  "After learning of the miners' deaths, the families of the deceased did not receive a single penny in compensation and could not even find their loved ones' bodies. Many elderly people chose to take their own lives..."

  Listening to Tieyi's words, I was deeply shocked by the story that happened here.

  "This group of beasts! This place is full of high gas mines, and such steep tunnels don't even have a basic top plate, this damn thing is simply naked crime! It's murder!" I gritted my teeth.

  I know the pain of losing loved ones, so I feel even more angry.

  "What's wrong?" Tie Yi had been silent for half a day, and in order to break this silence, I curiously asked.

  "That report said that among the 36 people who died, there were six underage children, with the youngest being only 13 years old! In some subsequent reports, it was learned that after the coal bosses knew about the accident, they all ran away and had already received news of survivors. If rescue efforts had been timely, most people could have survived."

  I'm speechless, what can I say? What else can I say?

  In the quiet alley in front of me, there is actually a shocking story buried. At 13 years old, such a sunny age, yet forever staying on the back side of the sun, below the horizon, how painful it must be.

  I don't even dare think about it.

  Just as we were silent, I heard an unusual noise above my head. I shifted the wolf's tooth light to the top and saw that the sound came from a huge boulder. This face basin-sized stone would have been fatal if it had fallen like this, not to mention that I was wearing a safety helmet.

  Staring at the precarious stone, I wanted to remind Tie Yi but felt my throat tighten and couldn't make a sound, with sweat dripping from my palms. At this moment, Tie Yi was still immersed in his painful emotions, seemingly unaware.

  I gestured with a trembling hand that there was danger on the iron clothes. Just as Tie Yi turned his head, I saw a boulder falling straight down, right above our heads.

  At that moment, Iron Clothes swiftly drew out a bronze sword from his waist and shot it towards the stone with a loud "whooshing" sound. The stone was shattered into numerous small pieces that fell down like rain, hitting my head, body, and hands, making a rattling noise. Iron Clothes remained silent, but I let out a scream of surprise, an unconscious reaction that was beyond my control, reminiscent of the first time I rode a roller coaster with Zhou Mo many years ago.

  As the rocks stopped falling, I let out a sigh of relief. Iron Clothes and I were back to back, panting heavily, our faces covered in sweat and coal dust, looking like two workers who had just come up from the mine. We exchanged a smile.

  What just happened was really too dangerous. This is an industry that many people see as high-paying, but what can't be seen is the danger of constantly playing with one's life.

  "I said, 'Hurry up and find the Millennium Black Gold Stone as soon as possible. The intense tremors just now may still trigger a larger scale of rockfall. At that time, even if there is a承影 (a mysterious power), it will not be able to withstand it!' Tie Yi nodded, and we accelerated our pace. We quickly followed the damaged passage towards the depths of the cave."

  After resting for a few minutes, I started to survey the slope with the wolf's teeth in my hand. The tunnel leading to the coal mining face should be right in front of me. At this time, I felt that my breathing was a bit unusual, took out the gas detector, and saw that the data had approached the critical value. Hurriedly called Tieyi, always paying attention to the data, so as to open the self-rescuer when needed.

  The working face was in even worse condition, it couldn't be called a working face at all, this should have been purely manually excavated. To enter, walking was impossible, and we could only move forward on our hands and knees. Since we've come this far, let's see it through. Watching the iron-clad slowly start to crawl forward, I followed closely behind. After crawling for about 30-40 meters, we were approaching the coal mining face. We saw large rocks and rotten wood scattered on the ground. Adjusting the wolf-tooth flashlight, shining out blue light revealed many dried-up bloodstains in these areas. This should be the scene of that accident.

  "This should be where coal and gas are gushing out." I said to the back of Tieshu.

  Tieyi nodded silently, without saying a word.

  I suddenly saw that the bronze mirror in Tie Yi's hand was emitting a strange green glow, accompanied by a slight tremble.