Blue, Red and White Dark Abyss Cauldron

When it was time to eat, the supervisor surnamed Ma swaggered over to Xuanying and kicked over the ceramic bowl filled with food in his hand. He pretended to be very surprised and shouted, "Oops, I accidentally kicked it over!"

Xuanying said nothing, but picked up handfuls of food from the ground and put them into his mouth. There was a lot of dirt and gravel mixed in the food, but he didn't care.

When the supervisor named Ma saw his look, he burst into laughter and said it was very funny.

Chu Xiaomu really couldn't bear it any longer and was about to stand up and ask the supervisor named Ma why he was making things so difficult for him, but Yu Aqi pulled at his clothes, signaling him not to say anything more, in case he took his anger out on him.

Chu Xiaomu was indignant, but he could only try his best to hold it back.

When we returned to the slave house, it was already dark for a long time.

After the supervisor locked the door and walked away, the slaves began to talk in low voices, all of them hated the supervisor named Ma with gnashing teeth.

Liu Zang touched his bald forehead and said, "This supervisor named Ma is really abominable. He whipped me with such force. Fortunately, he didn't hit me on the head."

Gao Yijue said: "It's okay to work harder and suffer more. But beating and scolding people at every turn, and not letting them eat, is really unbearable."

"Look at his expression. He looks like he wants to eat me. I'm really afraid he'll take his anger out on me."

"Just wait, one day he will vent his anger on you and me. Look, Xuanying didn't say a word, but he got beaten for no reason, didn't he?"

"None of these people in Jinyang City are good people. They don't treat us as human beings at all!"

Lu Quangao sighed and said, "We have a saying in Xihai City, 'I would rather be a dog or a pig than sell myself as a slave.' When did a slave become a human being?"

When everyone thought of their own life stories, they felt extremely sad, and some of the young and timid ones even sobbed loudly.

After a whole day's work, everyone in the slave house was exhausted and fell asleep after chatting for a while.

From then on, the supervisor named Ma would occasionally look for trouble with Xuanying, either by whipping him, kicking him, or snatching his bowl and spilling the food all over the floor.

Xuanying neither resisted nor begged for mercy. He endured the beatings and kicks from the man surnamed Ma. He picked up his food and ate it when it was scattered on the ground. He always had a blank expression on his face and said nothing. Occasionally, he would look at the man coldly, and it was unclear whether he was angry or begging. Everyone admired his patience.

Xuanying's silence instead made the supervisor named Ma even angrier, and he hit him harder, whipping the animal's tendons with a crackling sound.

Sometimes, the supervisor named Meng couldn't stand it anymore and tried to persuade him to be gentler and not to hurt people and delay the construction period. The supervisor named Ma yelled at him, "Why, you are feeling sorry for these animals? Do you want to let them go because you feel sorry for them?" The supervisor named Meng stopped talking and let him do whatever he wanted.

On this day, Chu Xiaomu was digging ore silently, thinking in his mind how to find which slave house Yang Dou and Huai Xiaomeng were in, and how to communicate with them.

Xuanying suddenly said, "You are so strong, are you prepared to be a slave here for the rest of your life?" He was aloof and taciturn, often not saying a word all day, but he suddenly said such bold words, which clearly showed that he was planning to rebel and escape.

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, thinking, who among us doesn't want to escape? But if you fail, at best you will have your tendons cut and become a cripple, at worst you will die with your head and body separated. If you lose your life, then you really lose everything.

Moreover, under the close surveillance of the supervisors and warriors in Jinyang City, it is almost impossible to escape successfully.

A few days ago, everyone saw four escaped slaves being dragged down from the mountain by several warriors, and then they were beaten as if they were being mined for ore. Then, their tendons in their hands and feet were cut in public, and when their blood was almost drained, their heads were chopped off and hung on wooden poles... The fear was still too great, and no one dared to respond.

Chu Xiaomu didn't know what Xuanying meant and didn't dare to answer for a moment.

Seeing that no one was talking, Xuanying said coldly, "What a bunch of cowards!"

While everyone was resting, Yu Aqi sneaked up to Xuanying and whispered, "When are you going to leave? Count me in."

Although he spoke softly, Chu Xiaomu heard it.

He pretended to be nothing and walked to the two of them, gently touched their shoulders, and said in a low voice: "If you want to escape from here, it will be extremely difficult with just a few people. If you are caught, you will die. This matter cannot be rushed. We have to think of a foolproof solution."

The two understood and stopped talking.

At night, after the supervisor's inspection, Chu Xiaomu deliberately mentioned that he had two good friends in Jiaoshan, and he didn't know how they were doing now.

Immediately, several people said they were also looking for someone, and a few others said they had seen their companions but were unable to get close to them.

Everyone began to discuss in a low voice how to contact acquaintances. After much thought, they all said that the only opportunity to communicate with each other was in the morning and at dinner time.

One person said: "The supervisors will whip us if they see us talking, so we can only communicate secretly."

Another person said, "The charcoal from the torches we burned in the mines is just right for writing and marking."

Everyone was very happy, so they decided to draw pictures and write words on their palms with charcoal pencils. First, a few acquaintances would pass on the communication method among the slaves, and then one would pass it on to two, two to three, and then slowly pass the message to find people.

I thought that even if the supervisor found out about this, it wouldn't matter. At most, I would be whipped a few dozen times, but I wouldn't lose my life.

Everyone knew that escaping from Jiaoshan was impossible, so no one mentioned it.

After two or three months, Chu Xiaomu finally got the news about Yang Dou and Huai Xiaomeng. It turned out that Yang Dou was assigned to the third ward of the Refining Slave C, where he was supposed to do some work like throwing ore into the furnace for refining; while Huai Xiaomeng was assigned to the fourth ward of the Tunnel Slave B, where he was responsible for finding ore veins and digging tunnels. Chu Xiaomu was delighted.

Every time he went out, Chu Xiaomu would carefully observe the conditions in various places in the mine.

How many watchtowers, checkpoints, and forks are there on the mountain, and where each fork leads to; how often do the soldiers patrol, how many people are there, what weapons do they carry, who leads the team, and what is his personality; who is the warden, how many overseers are there, how do they work with the soldiers, and which house of slaves each is in charge of; how many houses of slaves are there, how many people are there, how many men and women, how many young and old, and how many... He carefully calculated and memorized everything, and although it was not very detailed, he understood about 60% of it.

However, there were several times when the horse overseer caught him distracted while eating and he had to be whipped a few times.

Although Chu Xiaomu was angry, he could only endure it and try his best not to let them notice anything.