Chapter 5 Xiao Lin Kills

After thinking about it, he gave up the idea.

First, he wanted to know the amount of reward after exceeding the task, and second, he didn't know whether anyone would come in to check. If he was found to be hiding ore, it would be bad. He had to understand it clearly first, and then decide whether to hide the extra ore in the future, in case he was unlucky in a certain month and didn't dig enough ore to complete the task.

After thinking it through, he continued to mine. The next day, he walked out with a bamboo basket. Anyway, this month had been completed. He wanted to hand in the task in advance and have a good rest for two days, and take a shower by the way. After not taking a shower for a month, Xiao Lin felt that he was about to start shedding his skin.

On the way out of the mine, Xiao Lin was cautious, holding the iron pick tightly with both hands, ready to guard against sudden dangers at any time. Xiao Lin was very nervous all the way. When he first came to the mine, Sun Fang from Bailian Hall told them that killing people to seize ore was also possible. Although Xiao Lin didn't know whether this was Bailian Hall's tacit approval of the legality of such things, he was sure of one thing, that is, such things must have happened, and they happened quite a few times.

This made him miss Xiao Shi a little bit. After all, if he and Xiao Shi were together, the probability of self-protection would definitely be much higher. Xiao Lin was only twelve years old now. Whether in physical strength or height, he was far inferior to those adult miners.

After thinking about it, he stopped, took out the largest piece of hematite from the bamboo basket, and then put it in his arms against his belt.

After walking halfway, Xiao Lin turned into a main mine cave. At this time, two kerosene lamps suddenly lit up on the side. In front of him, several figures appeared, and his heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

Several figures approached Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin could see clearly at this time that there were five people blocking the road. The leader had a full beard, almost covering the lower half of his face. His triangular eyes kept turning. When he saw Xiao Lin, his beard suddenly split, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.

"Haha, I've been waiting for a long time, and finally someone showed up." The other four also had ferocious expressions on their faces. The most important ones were all adult miners. The leader looked about 40 years old, and the other three were about 30 years old.

"You...what do you want to do?" Xiao Lin took a step back, his face full of horror.

"What do you want to do? Boy, you just got here, right? You don't even know the rules?" A man next to the bearded miner came up, gently patted Xiao Lin's frightened face, and said with a sinister smile.

"I just came last month, what are the rules?"

"Oh? It turns out that you are really a rookie. Wang Ji, tell this little brother about the rules of our No. 3 pit." The bearded miner grinned and said to the miner next to him.

Wang Ji was the miner who patted Xiao Lin's face. Hearing this, he sneered and said to Xiao Lin: "Boy, you are lucky to enter our No. 3 pit. The No. 3 pit is the territory of Xiang Kun Xiang Sanye. This pit is also the first shovel of soil dug by Xiang Sanye, so every miner who enters the No. 3 pit must pay a certain amount of tolls every month according to convention."

"Tolls?" Xiao Lin was very surprised. He heard this word from the big-headed miner in the cafeteria more than half a month ago. He didn't understand what it meant at the time. Now that Wang Ji said it, he immediately understood that the toll was the hematite that needed to be paid for passing through. This was obviously highway robbery.

Wang Ji took the bamboo basket behind Xiao Lin, weighed it in his hand, and showed a surprised expression on his face: "Oh, boy, you are good. You can complete the amount of adult miners just after you arrived. These hematite ores are probably more than 50 kilograms."

Hearing this, Xiang Kun was very surprised: "You are really lucky. It seems that he is a good seedling. Leave him 30 kilograms and the rest as travel money."

Hearing Xiang Kun's words, Xiao Lin's face turned pale and bloodless. Although these people did not take away all his ore, leaving only 30 kilograms meant that he would be whipped 20 times, which would definitely cost him his life.

He looked up at the few people, his eyes full of hatred.

"Pah." A slap came over, and Xiao Lin staggered back several steps, his face burning with pain.

"Boy, let me tell you, everyone who mines in this No. 3 pit must pay half of the toll every month, otherwise we don't mind digging another pit in this mine to bury you." Wang Ji's face was gloomy, and murderous intent was hidden in his eyes.

Xiao Lin was shocked, he restrained the hatred in his eyes, sighed softly, gritted his teeth, and fell silent.

"Good boy, you have a bit of flexibility. I admire you very much, but admiration is admiration, and the rules cannot be broken. Everyone must pay 20 kilograms of hematite tolls every month. This is the line. There is only one way to cross this line, that is, leave your life behind and pass your body."

"Can I go now?" Xiao Lin knew that even if he fought hard, there would be no result. Everyone here was stronger than him. Fighting hard would only lead to his own death. Besides, he still had 30 kilograms of hematite ore, plus the piece he hid, which should be about 35 kilograms. There were still two days left. If it didn't work, he would go back and dig for another two days to try to get enough hematite before handing in the task. He was a little nervous. He kept praying in his heart that these guys would not find the piece of ore hidden on his waist.

"Wang Ji, go search and see if there is any black iron ore."

Hearing what Xiang Sanye said, Xiao Lin's face turned pale, and his eyes showed a look of despair.

"Ah~" Just as Wang Ji walked towards Xiao Lin with a sneer on his face, a scream suddenly came out.

Xiao Lin saw a figure suddenly rushing out from the branch cave next to him, approaching the person behind Xiang Sanye, and then rushing into the branch cave in two breaths, and a bamboo basket next to the person disappeared.

Seeing his own people being robbed, and a basket of hematite being taken away, Xiang Kun was furious, his beard was blown up, and he cursed a few words, then said to Wang Ji beside him: "You stay here, the three of you follow me, I must find that guy and skin him alive."

After that, he led his people into the mine where the figure had gone in.

Wang Ji's face turned pale with fear, and he glanced at his companion lying on the ground with trembling mouth. It was obvious that he was stabbed from behind in the heart, and the blood soaked the whole chest, but this person was not dead yet. Maybe the knife did not directly pierce the heart, but even so, he would only live a little longer.

Xiao Lin lowered his head, and a murderous intent flashed in his eyes. If he was really detained by them for more than 20 kilograms of hematite ore, even though there were still two days left, the hope of completing the task was still very slim. He saw with his own eyes that the miners were whipped, and each whip could bring a horrible bloody wound. If they were whipped more than ten times, not to mention his small body, even an adult man would not be able to bear it.

Glancing at Wang Ji who was still cursing, the silent Xiao Lin suddenly jumped up, and the iron pick in his hand, with a cold light, fiercely nailed into Wang Ji's heart.

Xiao Lin almost used up all his strength in this pick, and almost half of the pick was inserted into Wang Ji.

Since Wang Ji was standing next to Xiao Lin, he didn't have time to react. When the pickaxe dug into his heart, his eyes widened and his face was full of disbelief. He never dreamed that a half-grown child would dare to kill him. He lowered his head and saw the dark red blood seeping out from the tip of the pickaxe on his chest. His eyes went black and he completely lost consciousness.

Seeing Wang Ji's unwilling expression, Xiao Lin's face turned pale. He pulled out the pickaxe with trembling hands and wiped the blood off Wang Ji's clothes. This was his first time killing someone. He tried to convince himself that this was self-rescue. If he didn't kill him and the ore was really taken away, he would be whipped to death.

Xiao Lin took a deep breath and took out a dagger and a few taels of silver from Wang Ji's arms. He suddenly thought that there seemed to be a small grocery store next to the third-floor attic, which should be convenient for miners to buy some supplies. Thinking of this, he stuffed the silver into his arms.

Xiao Lin, who was about to leave, suddenly saw the miner who was stabbed before, looking at him in disbelief. Although he was covered in blood, he was not dead yet.

With a sigh in his heart, Xiao Lin walked in front of the man.

"You are going to die anyway, so I will send you off and save you some pain." After saying that, Xiao Lin grabbed the dagger stuck in his chest without hesitation and pulled it out violently. A stream of blood spurted out, but Xiao Lin was prepared and did not stand in front.

The man's eyes froze for a moment, and he died with his eyes open. Seeing that the man had died, Xiao Lin also took out a few taels of silver from him, carried a bamboo basket on his back, and walked quickly out of the mine.

Xiao Lin's heart was pounding all the way. He felt that his hands were shaking constantly, but his brain was unusually calm. He was thinking if Xiang Kun returned and saw that Wang Ji and the man were dead, would he suspect himself, and how he should deal with it.

On the way back, although there were a few miners walking out of the mine, there was no killing for ore. It seemed that the biggest overlord of the No. 3 mine was Mr. Xiang Sanye. This made Xiao Lin feel even more uneasy, but he did not regret doing so, because he knew that if he did not dig enough ore for the task, he would also think of killing for ore.

After leaving the mine, it was actually dark. He looked up at the slightly white sky in the east and walked towards the hut with a bamboo basket on his back.

No disciples of Bailian Hall collected ore at night, so he could only wait until daytime. When he returned to the hut, there was still no one, which made him smile bitterly. He had been here for almost a month, but he didn't even know who his roommate was. However, he put down his heart. The dagger that killed Wang Ji was still in his arms. Although it had been wiped, there must be residual blood stains.