The roar echoed throughout the mountain hollow, and all the rat spirits and miners were so terrified by the oppressive atmosphere that they lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to breathe.
Only Jiang Yuan was still diligently fighting monsters. He had to first clear away the oak bats circling around to prevent greater casualties. Anyway, the threat from the Mouse King had already dropped to its lowest; why hesitate to fight monsters and collect slime?
"How dare such a mere human be so bold?"
"Who knows what kind of bewitching drug that blind man fed to the King, daring to come at us!"
"Luckily, luckily, he killed that bloodsucking monster, so we don't have to worry about being bitten to death."
"I hope we won't be beaten for no reason anymore, that rat tail is really fierce..."
......
Jiang Yuan, the center of attention, received various wary and admiring glances. Seeing the threat levels from many supervisory Flame Rats rise sharply, he killed the last oak bat threatening humans and collected a bit of slime. Then, he said loudly, "King, calm your anger. I have a small suggestion that can both punish those stealing employees and speed up the mining process to improve efficiency."
The Flame Rat leader, who was about to strictly punish without leniency, glanced at him upon hearing this, "Oh? Let's hear it."
"Colleagues!" Jiang Yuan stabilized himself with the zhaomu stick and scanned the room with an empty gaze, speaking sincerely, "I truly think about our team. The boss requires mining, so we must consider mining as our primary task and complete it perfectly to live up to the boss's expectations and trust.
Without workers putting in effort, how can mining proceed?
All supervisory colleagues should put aside their selfish thoughts and small calculations. As long as we do our main job well, the boss will not treat us unfairly!
I know what I'm saying might invite dissatisfaction and retaliation. But think about it, as a part of the team, the more diligently we work under the wise leadership of our boss, the more benefits the team gets, right? The more profit, the better the employees' conditions can get! Out of consideration for everyone's long-term benefits, I dare to speak the truth and am not afraid of offending anyone.
Those purposely making excuses to kill miners for their desires, don't wait for the King to check one by one. Stand up and admit mistakes, join the mining team, and make amends. Know that correcting a mistake is a great virtue."
The Flame Rat leader nodded slightly, "Making amends is an option. Those who stand up now to help with mining, I will not pursue it further. If I find out otherwise..."
Its claw wrapped in flames clenched tightly, making a crunching sound, and it coldly swept its gaze over the mining field, completely unleashing the Mouse King's pressure.
A bunch of little things far from Foundation Establishment dared to deceive me? Without some punishment, they might just make a fool out of me. Where is the King's majesty? How will they obey in the future?
Under terrifying oppression, including the overseers caught on the spot, three more guilty Flame Rat supervisors scuffled to stand up.
"Very good, you are indeed excellent." The Flame Rat leader walked to Jiang Yuan's side, patted his shoulder, and promised, "Now let me see what teamwork coordination you speak of. If it goes well, I will definitely not treat you unfairly!"
It needs Spirit Stones, a large amount of Spirit Stones to purchase its desired weapon that can significantly boost its combat power. Once the weapon is in hand, there would be no demon to rival it in Lushan, and it would gather more followers to become the overlord of the mountains.
How spectacular would that be!
Yet it had found this Spirit Stone-rich mine early on and captured so many humans to serve as miners, but they had been slow to uncover much ore.
Not until tonight did the blind man reveal the root cause. The Flame Rat leader was eager to have him adjust something to expedite the mining of more ore!
Having already earned the enmity of a few well-fed rats, Jiang Yuan didn't mind increasing that hatred a bit more. Besides, having passed a tough interview and found a simple job with demons, he had to seize the opportunity to do some good deeds.
With the Mouse King around for backing, he directly assigned the erring big rat spirits to the most labor-intensive task of extracting enormous ores, citing numerous miner injuries and lack of strength as reasons.
The other humans were given different responsibilities. They continuously divided the large stones mined from the mountain until they were smashed into pieces.
The overseers, who had mingled among the miners to select suitable people to feast on, were all removed and stood around the edge of the mining field. Firstly, this created enough room for streamlined operations; secondly, they were stationed several meters apart to prevent whispering, supervising one another to ensure no one found ore to stash, prevented miners from escaping, and did not interfere with mining work without orders.
After Jiang Yuan's adjustments, although no ore was mined for the time being, the entire mining site underwent a major transformation compared to its previous chaotic state filled with screams and scattered piles of rocks.
Everyone and every demon had their own roles, proceeding methodically. The mine exhibited the organized look that a workplace should have.
The constant clanging of mining rang out; he roamed around the mining field, killing the oak bats that kept respawning, and during downtime, he secretly took out his damaged pickaxe from the tattered Storage Bag to help the elderly, weak, and sick workers knock on some stones, reducing their burden while also sneaking in quite a bit of "goods" into the Storage Bag.
After all, it's an exploration and farming game. Based on Jiang Yuan's experience, stones and wood count as basic building materials. They would definitely come in handy for upgrading houses in the future, so he took every opportunity to stock up a bit more.
The mining site, transformed from chaos to bustle, pleased the Flame Rat leader.
"King, we've mined a piece of ore!"
"There's another piece here!"
"I've also dug up some ore!"
The Flame Rat leader personally oversaw, and those subordinates who had erred worked hard to showcase themselves, fervently smashing stones down the mountain. Being demons, endowed with broad shoulders and strong waists, they were far more powerful than human miners, so it wasn't long before successive good news rolled in.
The faintly glowing ores of various sizes accumulated in baskets, and the total harvest in just a couple of hours was more than the sum of the past few days, making the Mouse King excitedly slap its thighs, repeatedly praising the blind man as a rare talent in team management.
As time passed bit by bit, it quickly became 5 a.m. With a long night of work behind them and his Storage Bag filled with 999+ stones and nearly forty slimes harvested, Jiang Yuan wondered.
At night, the mouse spirits wander in the wilderness; when morning comes, would the wilderness vanish with dawn? Where would the mouse spirits go? If he stood still, would he be taken away by the wilderness? Where does the wilderness disappear to by day?
Before he could figure it out, the Flame Rat leader, basking in the joy of ore refinement, suddenly froze, its expression growing serious as it sniffed the air. Then it roared, "Damn! Why does it have to be now!"
It got up and stuffed all the ores from the basket into the Storage Bag hanging from its waist, calling out, "Those stupid birds are coming to ruin my plans again. Today, I'll let them know how formidable we are. Follow my orders and form a formation!"
At its command, the Flame Rats, who were either mining or standing guard, immediately sprang into action. The blazing torches swayed, and the air took on a tense sense of urgency.
"Blind man, take the miners into the cave to hide. Battles between demon beasts aren't for you weak humans; it's better to stay out of it to avoid being accidentally struck and leaving no trace." Usually, the Mouse King wouldn't care about the survival of these slaves.
But today, having just gained such a valuable talent in the blind man, who elevated the mining efficiency by organizing the team, it didn't want to lose manpower at a critical moment to derail the mining plan.
Those foolish birds coveting the mine for a long time were not worth fearing. The Mouse King didn't mind extending some protection to its useful slaves.
It gave a signal, and two trusted Flame Rats followed, herding the miners into the cave.
"Wiped it out in just a night? That's me!" Jiang Yuan responded casually, jubilant inside.
Pretending that the noise was too chaotic to discern directions, he "fumbled" closer to the guard rats to check their health bars while pondering if his Talent Skills in the wilderness game had been enhanced.