A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

The cable car looked flimsy, but it actually transported people. After the passengers disembarked, the operator lowered the empty car and then carried more people up.

After several trips, it was Wutong's turn. She tried her best to appear calm and got on the bus with the others, sitting very close together, shoulder to shoulder and toe to toe.

When the cable car started moving, she felt a sense of weightlessness that she could only experience when riding an elevator. She couldn't help but grab the edge of the car and even wanted to stand up and grab the iron cable above her head.

In contrast, everyone else was calmer than her. But this calmness was tinged with a dark despair. Like someone who already knew their death date, no matter how dangerous the situation before that day, they wouldn't feel fear.

These were all created by Nanxing... Wutong felt guilty towards them whenever she thought about it.

She met Nanxing when he was a teenager and took him in. But instead of cultivating a kind and benevolent character in him, he treated people like dirt and didn't care about them at all.

To be a good emperor, one needs a certain degree of cruelty and ruthlessness. However, the people can support a ruler but also capsize him; when oppression is pushed to the limit, it will provoke unimaginable resistance.

When the cable car reached the top of the mountain, Wutong's palms were soaked with sweat.

At the top of the mountain, there was a foreman-like person in charge of them. Following his instructions, they got off the vehicle and stood in the open space to wait for orders.

The mountaintop was several times hotter than the foot of the mountain; it was practically a giant oven. The sycamore tree was dizzy from the heat, and when it looked up, it saw a blinding red light.

After a long and arduous journey, she finally reached the red light. The light was so close and so hot, like a fiery demon that had escaped from hell, eager to devour them.

She was about to take a closer look at the source of the light when a gasp came from behind her. Following the crowd's gaze, she saw that the cable car had picked up another carload of people.

But when we got halfway up the mountain, a strong wind picked up, and now the car is shaking violently and we can't control it at all.

If this continues, the car will overturn.

Wutong was shocked by what she saw and wanted to know how the foremen would handle it, but they remained motionless, as if watching a show, and didn't care at all.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the cable car performed several 300-degree inversions in the air. Due to the lack of safety belts and other protective measures, several laborers were thrown directly from the vehicle, flying hundreds of meters before crashing to the ground, suffering broken bones and bleeding profusely.

Wutong witnessed this scene firsthand, her heart pounding, wishing she could rush over and pull the car back.

But at that moment, the wire connecting the cable car and the iron cable suddenly broke, and the entire car derailed and fell downwards, crashing into a rock with a loud bang.

The massive cable car was completely crushed, and no one inside survived. Below, there was a deathly silence.

"Damn it, another car wasted."

The foreman cursed and called out to everyone, "Stop looking, stop looking! Come and get some work. Those who don't work won't get any food today."

The laborers watched helplessly as their companions fell, knowing full well that if that gust of wind had come any earlier, they would be the ones smashed to pieces.

Everyone was stunned and unable to move.

A man standing right next to the sycamore tree suddenly roared, "I quit!!!"

Then he ran a few steps and rushed down the mountaintop, like a kite with a broken string, plunging into the valley a thousand meters below.

A soft sound was heard from afar, and another pool of blood appeared on the stone.

His words caused a huge stir. The laborers' lips trembled. Encouraged by him, many of them wanted to jump down and end it all.

But before they could reach the edge of the cliff, the foreman pressed his gun against one of their heads and roared, "Want to die? Not so easy! If anyone dares to jump again, I'll arrest and shoot all your parents, brothers, and wives!"

His voice echoed on the mountaintop, and no one dared to move.

The foreman brandished his gun and cursed like an animal.

"Get the hell to work!"

Wutong's team was assigned to haul ore. She was still wondering where there was any iron ore on the mountaintop when she saw another cable car coming up from the opposite side, no different from the one that had just carried people. The only difference was that the contents of the car had changed from people to black iron ore. After reaching the top of the mountain, the ore was dumped on the ground with a whoosh, piling up into mounds.

The laborers, suppressing their grief, began to work. She peeked at the people around her, and following their example, pulled a cart, ran to the edge of the ore pile, filled it, and then pushed it forward with all her might.

Following the path trodden out by the laborers, Wutong struggled to push her cart across the uneven mountaintop.

The red light drew closer and closer to her, and she could feel the scalding air blowing in her face. Her anxiety was beyond words.

The laborer in front of her stopped, raised the handle of the cart, and dumped all the ore onto it.

She ran a few steps to his side, intending to get some information from him when no one was looking, but when she looked up, she was stunned by what she saw.

fire.

She had never seen such a large fire.

At the summit of Haoshan Mountain, there was a huge circular gap, like a meteorite crater, with an immeasurable depth. Less than thirty meters from the ground, flames formed a gate to hell, completely obscuring the view.

Heat surged upwards in gusts, filling the air with a pungent odor.

At first glance, Wutong thought it was a volcanic crater, but upon closer inspection, it was quite different from a volcano.

The fire in a volcano comes from flowing lava underground. But here, there is no lava to be seen, only flames flickering wildly, like an angry fire god, trying to burn everything that can be touched.

Ten years have passed, and Wutong thought she had long forgotten the knowledge she learned in school, but the moment she saw this fire, a word popped into her mind—underground fire.

Back in high school, my geography teacher explained that underground fire is a large-scale combustion that occurs when underground coal seams are ignited.

Once it forms, the extremely high temperatures over a large area of ​​the earth's surface and surrounding land make it impossible for any living organisms to survive, resulting in barren land and mass extinctions.

It also consumes groundwater, affects water sources, and damages the entire environment.

What impressed her most was what her teacher said: the world's longest-burning underground fire is Burning Mountain in Australia, which has been burning for over 5500 years and will continue to burn.

Looking at the flames before him, Wutong finally understood where the red light came from. But could a single vent of fire really produce such a large red light?

She had a vague guess in her mind, but she wasn't sure, and she didn't even dare to verify it.

But she still dragged her heavy steps forward. When she reached the other side of the mountain and looked into the distance, dozens of craters of the same size came into view, which made her heart turn cold.