Heaven Awaits in Hell

The old man glanced at Zion and the others with a lacklustre gaze and said, "I'll first show you around this place before moving deeper. Make sure to stay close to me and not speak loudly, else you may incur the wrath of any of the guards on patrol."

The old man pointed towards the crates that were being pushed to the metallic platform by other workers like them and said, "Those crates you see there are filled with Spirit Stones that were just mined. Every hour, a miner cart reaches here, and we unload those spirit stones and pack them inside it."

Zion noticed the track lines on the ground, which started a few meters from the metallic platform. The other end stretched deep into a tunnel that had been carved into the walls of the abyss.

"This area where we are right now is where the collection and packaging of Spirit Stones happen. The mining happens inside those tunnels, which stretch several kilometres deep. Come, we'll go inside now."

With that said, the old man started walking.

Zion looked at the huge tunnel, which was as high as five humans standing on top of each other. A sense of awe and desperation appeared on his face.

The others also shared a similar expression as they followed after the old man.

"Make sure to always walk in a line. There are guards standing guard every ten meters, and they'll be more than happy to teach you a lesson even if it's just your first day," The old man said when they reached the tunnel entrance.

They nodded at him.

"Let's go then," he said and started walking.

A guard standing by the tunnel side glanced at them but didn't say anything and let them pass.

The inside of the tunnels was lit with similar yellow luminous stones every few meters. As they went deeper, the clanging sounds started becoming stronger and stronger.

The tunnel soon branched into four parts. They took the fourth one and walked for fifteen minutes, only for it to break into another two branches.

They took the path where the clanging sound coming out was stronger.

"This tunnel vein is newly dug and is only three months old, so there are lots of Spirit Stones here that need to be dug, and this is where you'll be working from now on," The old man explained as they walked in.

There were a few side tunnels on their left and right as they walked straight inside the main vein.

"Those side tunnels are your accommodations. Each of them could house fifteen to twenty of us, depending on their size.

At first, it would feel a little cramped to you, but your mind will get adjusted to it soon."

The old man kept informing them of the things they needed to take care of.

Soon they reached the working site.

Lines of miners in dirty rag-like trousers were swinging their pick axes on both sides of the tunnel walls and extracting white coloured ores from it.

A few others were scooping the dropped ores with a shovel and throwing them in several of the mining carts that were resting in the middle.

"Hurry up!" A miner was hit with a whip and fell to the ground while grimacing in pain.

The guard then addressed the surrounding miners, 'I want this batch to be finished in an hour. If you failed to do so, then instead of rest, all you bastards would receive my wrath for the whole night!"

The miners could only grit their teeth and give every ounce of their energy to the mine faster.

The guard clicked his tongue seeing their speed and muttered to himself, "I'll be late for the drinking party tonight."

His gaze then fell on Zion and the rest, and his eyes glimmered.

"76! Come here along with those new moles behind you," he ordered.

"Don't say anything until you're asked," The old man whispered under his breath and rushed before rushing towards the guard.

"Have you explained to them everything that they need to know?" the guard asked.

"I've explained the layout of the tunnels, but still need to explain to them about their work and how they need to do it," the old man explained.

"What explanation about work? They just need to do what everyone else is doing. You go back and take care of your work," the guard said as he looked sideways, "Hey 155! Pass your new companions their tools and get them started.

I want today's quota to be filled as fast as possible," the guard roared.

155 immediately came and took Zion and the rest away with him. The old man gave them a fleeting glance before returning to the collection area.

"Here!" 155 passed them one pickaxe each from the stocks and hurriedly explained.

"Don't hit too hard or too soft. Hit on the cracks and try to get the spirit or chunks out of the wall. Look at others when confused and replicate their actions. That's it. I'll explain in detail later tonight."

They nodded to the given instructions.

155 soon designated the spots and told them to start picking.

Zion raised the pick axes in his hand and wedged its end into a crack.

CLANK!

Nine other clanks soon followed and got submerged in the several other clanking noises echoing in this tunnel and became a part of it.

The mine carts were soon filled up with ore, and a few of them were tasked with pushing them back to the collection area.

Zion and the rest were then shown around by 155.

"A total of fifty of us live here, and counting you guys, it's sixty now. As you may have seen while coming here, there are side tunnels dug in the walls.

Most of them are for accommodation, while a few are used as toilets."

Zion and the rest nodded and were soon taken to the side tunnels where they'd be living.

"This is where I live and also where you will be living from now on. Seven of us are already living here, and we have enough space to accommodate you all."

155 showed them their resting space. Six people were already sprawled on the ground. It had only been around ten minutes since their work was over, but they were long asleep.

Zion stared at the dingy space and exhaled deeply. This was his new home.