Landed Xumi: There is no problem with my numbers!

The dozen or so treasure-stealing groups here are actually miners in the Layered Rock Chasm area.

As experienced miners who had never seen the sun for most of their lives, Lao Zhao and several of his brothers had a harder life in the past, but in terms of income, they could still make ends meet.

But since the closure of the Chasm, the mines have closed down and the miners have lost their jobs.

As the days go by, many workers who have been mining since they were just adults and have no skills to make a living are becoming more and more restless when faced with the mouths waiting for food and drink at home.

Although for some foremen, the subsidies issued by the General Affairs Department are enough for them to start over and operate honestly.

——But such people are only a minority after all.

It is unrealistic to expect the General Affairs Department to be able to afford the layoff subsidies for thousands of miners.

The compensation most people receive can barely guarantee that they will not starve to death in the short term, and their daily expenses must also be reduced.

——This is just a lonely person.

If there are children or elderly people at home, it will be completely insufficient.

As the days go by, all the miners who can change careers and find jobs have already filled various industries.

But since they can only do hard labor, the demand for them in Liyue’s labor market is ultimately limited.

More and more people are changing jobs, wages for hard labor are getting lower and lower, and job opportunities are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Many laid-off miners are exhausted all day long, fighting fiercely with their colleagues, but in the end they can hardly earn enough to make a living.

The dozen or so guys under Lao Zhao, who had no skills to make a living, finally couldn't bear it anymore a few days ago.

They united together and found the former foreman Lao Zhao in private.

They sincerely requested this reliable elder brother who had always taken care of them in the past to be the leader of their treasure-stealing group.

Like their smuggling counterparts, these old friends joined the treasure-stealing group in order to take advantage of the convenient channels of this transnational illegal organization.

By picking up some scraps in the mining area, and processing them into jewelry roughly, they sell them to tourists who come to Liyue or merchants from other countries at a low price.

As a foreman, Lao Zhao received a lot of compensation. Compared with joining the treasure-stealing group, he naturally had other better options.

Whether you want to set up a small stall or use the money to look for opportunities in other countries,

In any case, as long as it is a legitimate livelihood, it is much better than risking being caught for breaking the law and becoming the boss of this group of former co-workers.

But when I see these old friends, their faces looking extremely tired due to the heavy work, I think of the days we spent together in the past.

Old Zhao, who was a sentimental man, got excited and finally nodded and agreed to their request in the face of more than ten pairs of pleading eyes.

Wake up from memories,

Old Zhao felt the evening breeze blowing towards him, which was slightly smelled of alcohol.

I feel that I am old after all, and I have become sentimental.

Although he and his brothers were only responsible for the rough processing of the mined jade from the beginning to the end, and finally delivered the semi-finished products to the treasure-stealing team members who were responsible for the next link,

Other than that, I haven't done anything harmful.

Even because he was unwilling to participate in activities such as kidnapping and theft, he was thrown a lot of difficult tasks by his superiors, such as taking care of these two unlucky guys who had nothing left to gain.

But looking at the somewhat frightened eyes of the Sumeru scholar in the cage, although the reason they came here had nothing to do with them, he still felt that this was quite a deviation from the original plan of his group of guys.

——In any case, when you release them in two days, leave some extra travel expenses and food for these two young people.

Knowing that once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back, it is too late to quit the treasure-hunting group now.

Old Zhao shook his head and decided to provide some compensation to the two unlucky guys who were captured as much as possible within his ability.

Return to the fire.

He looked at the workers in front of him who were chatting and laughing because they had hope for the future, threw away all the distracting thoughts in his mind, and said:

"Brothers, after dinner, give the two extra blankets in our camp to the two guys in the cage. It's really cold today, and the little straw inside could easily freeze them."

A strong man with gray hair beside him quickly agreed after hearing this:

"Okay, Foreman Zhao, I'll do as you say."

"I'll deliver the food to them after they finish eating with the rest of us. Don't worry."

"They are not much older than my silly boy. Even if you hadn't told me, I would have sent them something to cover them. We can't let the young people get frozen."

The uncle had been staring at that place for a long time, and seemed to have had this idea for a long time. After hearing the boss's arrangement, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to it without hesitation.

"Wow, I'm so full, I can't even eat the fruit after dinner..."

In the cage in the center of the camp, Wendy, who had no sense of urgency, patted her round belly and made a satisfied sound.

After drinking the last sip of wine brought by the uncle, the green bard looked at his "cellmate" and kindly reminded him:

"By the way, my friend from Xumi, why don't you eat more now? The quality of today's food is very good~"

"If you don't eat now, I won't have anything to share with you if you get hungry later."

"."

After hearing what Wendy said, Gazari looked at the large bowl of potato stew with ham and the two flatbreads on the side and couldn't help but remain silent for a moment.

For a long time,

Seeing that the senior beside him seemed very experienced, he asked hesitantly:

"Why are they different from the treasure-stealing group I remember? Shouldn't we just give them some food so they won't starve to death?"

"A sumptuous dinner for the treasure-stealing group. A tradition in Liyue."

Putting these factors together, Ghazali thought of a possibility and shook with some fear.

“——Could this be Liyue’s last meal?!”

"Is it the kind of hospice care that's recorded in books, where they give people a good meal before sending them on their way, to prevent them from going hungry?!"

"."

"."

"puff--"

Ghazali was shivering when he suddenly heard a leaking sound coming from the side.

His emotions were interrupted, and when he turned around, he saw a bard who was covering his mouth to hold back his laughter, his whole body shaking.

"Haha. Hahaha., brother, you are so funny!"

"Is this something recorded in a novel? How can a treasure-hunting group have such a tradition?! Hahahaha..."

Wendy was still savoring the delicious meal she had just had, but when she saw this interesting junior of hers, she was so frightened that she trembled in the corner.

He was feeling very uncomfortable trying to hold back his laughter, but after being asked by the other party, he really couldn't help laughing.

After a while, he finally recovered from what happened just now. He took a deep breath and then spoke:

"Ahem, forget it, stop laughing and get back to business."

Wendy looked at the scholar's uniform on Gazari and thought for a moment. She pointed at the young man's clothes and explained:

"Look at your clothes, young man. You should be a scholar from Xumi, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Then you should know that there are always exceptions in any group, right?"

"Like a sweet flower that's super sweet, a sour and astringent raspberry that looks pretty, and a giant slime that's much bigger than the others."

Wendy paused, and after confirming that the other party understood, she continued:

"After all, the Treasure Stealing Group is just a general term. The members of the group are very complex."

"Whether it's an ordinary person with nowhere to go, an explorer who longs for ancient treasures, or the most simple thief who wants to get something for nothing."

"Since the identities and purposes before joining were different, how can there be any unified standards of behavior?"

"But I think all the treasure-stealing groups that were caught are pretty much the same."

Ghazali tried to retort.

"That's because any individual in a group will be like a wisp of wind in a thousand winds, and will be slowly assimilated. The longer they join, the more their actions will become irreversibly unified."

Wendy explained.

"——We are actually quite lucky. The treasure-stealing group here has not been established for long. They haven't done anything wrong that would cross the bottom line. Even their mentality is still the same as when they lived by the rules in the past."

"As long as there is a suitable opportunity, whether it is a change in the overall environment or an adjustment in policies, they are actually like the prodigal son who left home, and there is still a way back."

Wendy looked at the honest workers who were talking and laughing after their meal, just like ordinary people, and said meaningfully.

"But no matter how friendly they are, they are still a group of treasure hunters. So, don't you want to leave, senior?"

Ghazali asked.

"Ah? Leave? Why leave? Isn't it good to just eat and drink here peacefully?"

Wendy responded to his words with a matter-of-fact attitude that shocked Ghazali.

"To be honest, the living conditions here are much better than when I was in Mondstadt."

"If I could, I would really like to stay like this forever."

Wendy burped, and the satisfaction in her words didn't seem fake.

"."

After a moment of silence, the young man in green did not look at the scholar in front of him.

Instead, he looked up at the cold full moon in the sky and said as if talking to himself:

"——But everything must move forward, they do, and so do I."

"The traveling Liu Feng has brought back the answer, so don't worry. The opportunity for us to leave here should be today."

"."

Gazari did not respond to Wendy's words. He was already in a sweet dream and it was impossible for him to respond.

"."

Wendy also stopped talking, raised her head slightly, and looked at the camp in front of her, which had fallen into a deep sleep without her noticing.

In the evening breeze that flowed like water, the green bard keenly sensed the greetings brought by the elements.

Raising his head slightly, the wind god, who had enjoyed a little too much freedom, stretched lazily in the cage as if nothing had happened.

He slowly turned his head to look outside the cage, at the black-haired boy he had been waiting for for a long time, who appeared silently behind him.

Chapter 172: The Drunkard Who Tried to Put the Bill on the Emperor

The woodcutting valley, the camp of the treasure-stealing group.

After dinner, the members of the treasure-hunting group gathered around the campfire to chat.

Now they are scattered all over the ground.

These burly former miners haven't had a good night's sleep for a long time because of the heavy pressure brought by being laid off.

However, at this moment, judging from their happy expressions, the sleep quality of these middle-aged men is probably comparable to that of the eight or nine-year-old children in their families.

And this is naturally the masterpiece of someone's dream authority.

Lin Feng had actually arrived a long time ago.

With his speed, the moment he noticed Wendy's figure,

You can then kill everyone in the camp and have a talk with the God of Wind who is most likely ambushing you on purpose.

But here’s the thing…Wendy is in a cage.

Although this guy doesn't look like a god at all in the plot,

But no matter whether it was intentional or not, the thought that the dignified God of Thousand Winds could actually be captured by the treasure-stealing group and locked in a cage, and looked so happy and unwilling to leave, still refreshed Lin Feng's understanding of the lower limit of the demon god species.

There's no rush anyway.

It was a rare sight to see the God of Wind, one of the Seven Rulings, being captured by the treasure-stealing group. Lin Feng simply took out the high-definition camera from his storage space, and while they were eating, he took a lot of "Supreme Collector's Edition Defeat CG" for this lazy Mondstadt wine drinker.

In the process, he naturally understood the origins of these treasure-stealing groups from the conversation.

Having experienced the baptism of the information age, he naturally knows how much pressure middle-aged laid-off workers will face in their lives.