After a while, all the prisoners were branded with numbers. The jailers raised their whips and drove the prisoners back into the long line. Some of the unconscious prisoners were directly awakened by cold seawater.
The team passed through the huge iron gate of the prison. The outside environment was reflected in their field of vision. In front of them was a barren hilltop. On the hilltop was a black mass of heads. Unexpectedly, there were countless absentee workers mining ores. Small single-person carts were shuttling back and forth on the winding path of the hilltop, pulling the ores back down the hill like ants moving house.
Below the hilltop was a large camp. Towering chimneys were spewing out black smoke. White steam lingered above the camp. There was also a small stream beside the camp. The black stream quietly flowed.
The jailers shouted loudly and drove the prisoners to the camp. Luo Kai looked at the open-air mine in front of him in shock. For a moment, he was somewhat sluggish. A black whip came straight at him. The burning pain made him scream and his body staggered and fell to the ground.
He clenched his teeth and stood up again to catch up with the team. Today, there were many whip scars on his back. However, compared to the pain he felt when he was forging his bones, this bit of whip scars was nothing.
The entire mine was surrounded by a four to five-meter-high iron fence. A stone sentry tower was erected at intervals along the fence. Several armed guards were standing on top of the sentry tower, staring down coldly.
The prisoners were driven into the camp in a line. A strong stench assailed their nostrils. In a square in the camp, there was a row of crosses. Several haggard prisoners were tied to the crosses. The hot sun had already dried their skin. Maggots could vaguely be seen crawling on the dried wounds.
In front of the crosses, there was a wooden sign. On it, there were more than ten blood-red words: "This is the fate of those who run away."
The new prisoners immediately kept quiet out of fear. They silently accepted the jailers' assignments and were arranged into a dilapidated dormitory.
Luo Kai and four other death row prisoners were also pushed into a dormitory made of gravel and wood. The dormitory was actually a simple shack. The dazzling sun shone through the gaps in the roof. There were more than ten prisoners with different skin colors lying in the shack. There were white people, black people, and more people with yellow skin. All of them were sallow and emaciated. Their clothes were naked. The smell of their feet mixed with their body odor formed a nauseating smell.
Outside the shack, the scar-faced jailer and another person were talking.
"Third Brother, are you still worried about sending them to me?
Here, even tigers have to lie down and dragons have to be coiled up! "
"These guys are not simple. If something happens, it will be troublesome. It's safer to send them back to the prison after they finish their work."
The other person's voice was somewhat disdainful. "Third Brother, when did you become such a coward? We brothers have seen all kinds of people. We've even killed a lot of big shots in the county!"
The scar-faced jailer immediately became angry. "Damn it, I'm doing this for your own good. I'll find someone to pick them up every day. You pay attention to the rest of the time!"
"Alright then, I'll find someone to take good care of them. Third Brother, you haven't been here for a long time. Come, come, I just got a few barrels of good sugarcane wine …"
As the voices gradually faded away, the shack began to become lively. A white man led a few skinny prisoners over. He looked at the five new prisoners without any scruples. When his eyes swept over the huge man with four shoulders, there was an obvious flash of fear. Among the other four, the black man was obviously not to be trifled with. The two skinny men were not easy to deal with either. It seemed that only the white-haired old man was easy to bully. He asked loudly, "Old man, what's your name? What did you do?"
The old man narrowed his eyes and chuckled. "This old man's surname is Li. My first name is Gui. Brothers, just call me Old Man Li. As for what I did, there's no need to talk about it!"
"Hey, you old fart. Are you looking for a beating?" One of the prisoners at the side yelled and was about to raise his hand.
The white prisoner reached out and stopped him. He said in a deep voice, "Third Brother Han was talking about you guys just now, right? I don't care how powerful you were in the past. In this dormitory, I'm the boss. Do you have any objections?" After saying that, he looked at the four-armed giant warily.
"Of course, this old man has no objections. As for the others, I don't know," Li Gui said with a smile.
The white prisoner looked at the other four, but the others were either in a daze or sleeping. They obviously had no interest in him. He still wanted to say some harsh words, but he had some scruples in his heart. The other prisoners were also smart, so the scene quieted down for a moment.
It was the white-haired old man, Li Gui, who broke the silence. "Alright, big brother. Didn't you hear what Third Brother Han said? We don't live here. After we finish our work, we'll be sent to the prison."
…
This was an open-air iron mine. There were more than a thousand prisoners working here. They used hammers and iron drills to peel the ores from the mountain. Then, they smashed the huge ores into small pieces. They used baskets to carry them to the mountain path and used small carts to transport the ores down the mountain.
At the square where the ores were stored at the foot of the mountain, there were four or five strange and bloated trucks parked there. There was a boiler on the side of the truck, and the boiler took up more than half of the front of the truck. The front of the truck was covered in black soot and white steam. The roar of the engine was deafening. It was a steam-powered truck.
Luo Kai received the tools for today's work at the foot of the mountain. It was a huge hammer. The heavy weight of the hammer made his waist bend. Although he had more food during this time, it was far from enough to make up for the lack of food in his body. He felt like he was carrying a mountain on his back as he moved forward. Gradually, his consciousness became a little blurry. He could only rely on his strong willpower to move forward slowly.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally arrived at the work site. There were many huge piles of black ores on the ground. His job was to break the ores into pieces. The prisoner beside him picked up an iron drill and gestured for him to start working.
Perhaps it was due to the effects of the body arts he had cultivated, or perhaps it was because the body's recovery ability was too strong, but after panting for a while, Luo Yang actually had the strength to raise the iron hammer again. With a loud clang, the iron hammer heavily smashed onto the iron drill. The overseer at the side slowly lowered the long whip that he had raised.
Under the scorching sun, Luo Kai was sweating profusely. After the wound on his back was stained with sweat, he felt a burning pain, causing his body to become even more feeble. He didn't know how he persevered until the end. After eating the unknown food numbly, he was driven back to his cell by the prison guards.
Luo Kai had a dream again. In the dream, he saw a charming face with a hint of playfulness. It was his wife. It was as if he had returned to his first love. The two of them strolled around the campus, passed notes in the classroom, played on the beach …
In the darkness, Luo Kai opened his eyes in a daze. The faint moonlight shone through the iron window. The stinging pain from various parts of his body helped him distinguish between reality and dream. He recalled the face of his wife in the dream, but for some reason, the harder he tried to recall, the more blurry the figure became. Burning regret filled his heart.
He punched the wound on his chest where 9527 was imprinted. The wound that had already scabbed over broke open again. The physical pain eased the pain in his heart slightly.