CHAPTER 369: CHAPTER 366 MYSTERIOUS VEIN

"What the hell?"

Looking at Mine Chief Zhuang, who bowed deeply with a satisfied expression on his face, and the slightly excited Meat Cutting workers around, Hu Ma suddenly had a thought. The situation is developing in a way that doesn’t match my expectations at all...

Even Zhou Datong and others nearby, like Calculation, realized things weren’t quite right. They curiously glanced around, unable to maintain the tense atmosphere from before.

"You start with these grandstanding words, lifting me up so high that I can’t come down."

Hu Ma raised his voice a bit, not hiding the caution in his heart, and said, "To put it plainly, I’m just here to audit, with only this bit of skill up my sleeve. I can’t pretend to be in charge. Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here? Did you offend the Witches outside?"

"We’re all just trying to make a living. Who would dare offend them?"

Mine Chief Zhuang saw that Hu Ma didn’t appreciate the flattery and sighed. The intention to deceive faded from his mind. He slowly said, "In the past half month, quite a few things have happened in the mine. It all started with that vein..."

"Master..."

Suddenly, two of his apprentices behind him called out, looking somewhat nervous.

Not only them, but even some of the apparent small leaders and managers among the Meat Cutting workers seemed visibly affected.

Mine Chief Zhuang paused slightly.

Seeing this, Calculation coughed, and Hu Ma caught on. He sneered and said, "Mine Chief Zhuang, we’re all from the Shousui Path. We respect you as an elder and speak to you politely. Why are you hesitating and stalling?"

"In the Shousui Path, we respect our lineage and follow the rules. For an apprentice to speak out of turn while their Master is talking, in our order, that’s considered disrespectful to one’s elders..."

"..."

Unexpectedly, Hu Ma addressed the issue so directly that the two apprentices beside Mine Chief Zhuang paled slightly.

But Mine Chief Zhuang understood. Hu Ma was highly skilled, with many trump cards. Judging by his lineage, it was bound to be one with many rules. His own apprentices’ behavior had indeed brought shame upon their Master.

He paused slightly and said, "Indeed, I was overthinking. Please don’t blame me, Great Shousui."

"It’s not that I wanted to hide anything. It’s just that these strange occurrences, to explain them, I have to start with this vein. They are truly, truly peculiar..."

"..."

Hu Ma glanced at him, then sat down at a nearby table. He grabbed a wine jar, poured half a bowl of wine, and invited Calculation to sit down with him. Then he said to Mine Chief Zhuang, "Take your time. I have all the time in the world."

The onlookers felt a bit awkward at the young man’s brazenness, yet they couldn’t help but respect him.

After all, in the earlier confrontation, Hu Ma had already won. They might not respect his age, but they couldn’t ignore his skills.

Mine Chief Zhuang sighed lowly, saying, "I’m not an inexperienced man. Ever since I mastered my skills, I’ve been guarding this Blood Food mine. I’ve seen and eaten all sorts of things."

"But this particular vein, I truly don’t understand."

"It must have been about two months ago. We found a meat pit. Around it were mostly Black Tai Sui, heavy with malevolent energy, and nothing worth harvesting, so we left it untouched. However..."

"However, because the society’s quotas were heavy, we thought we’d try mining there, to test its quality. We never expected that, even though it was Black Tai Sui, the more we cut, the more vibrant the flesh became. After cutting a few sections, the flesh had turned green. After a few more, it turned red."

"..."

Hearing this, Hu Ma’s mind stirred. Were they cutting Blood Tai Sui?

This was valuable stuff...

Not only him, but everyone around, including Zhou Datong and Calculation, quickly raised their heads and looked over.

"Indeed..."

Mine Chief Zhuang met the gazes of Hu Ma and the others, paused slightly, then sighed and admitted frankly, "It was originally Black Tai Sui, yet it turned out to be Blood Tai Sui. Moreover..."

He seemed to force a bitter smile and said, "The more we cut, the more vibrant and plump the flesh became, even oozing fresh blood. It was, quite simply, the highest quality Blood Food we’ve ever seen..."

"To be honest, it even attracted a group of evil spirits who howled through the night. We had to perform a grand ritual to disperse them."

"..."

Hu Ma listened, genuinely surprised, and hurriedly asked, "So, how much did you harvest in total?"

Blood Tai Sui was a rarity. In the usual Blood Food mines, unless it was one of the large ones, they might only produce a few dozen pounds a year, treated like treasures. Huozi ridge was originally just a small mine, so an allocation of twenty pounds would have been an astronomical figure for them.

But now, it seemed they had secretly struck it rich?

It was hard not to be excited. Considering why he was here, if there truly was a rich Blood Food mine that the higher-ups didn’t know about, wouldn’t the quantity he needed be resolved in one fell swoop?

"Not much, really..."

Seeing the surrounding gazes become more eager, Mine Chief Zhuang’s face showed slight embarrassment as he said, "Just a few baskets..."

"A few baskets?"

Hearing this, Hu Ma almost lost his composure.

The last time he saw Blood Tai Sui being measured in baskets was at the Dongzi Li Family...

"...That’s not important!"

Mine Chief Zhuang hurriedly said, "We knew Blood Tai Sui was precious and didn’t dare to be careless. But unexpectedly, after cutting for only a short while, we found the flesh changing again. Within the bloody substance, strands of golden patterns appeared, sparkling beautifully..."

"Golden Pattern Tai Sui?"

Hu Ma felt his heart skip a beat. He was already somewhat numb, and he looked suspiciously at the tall, robust Mine Chief Zhuang before him.

Golden patterns in the Blood Food meant Golden Jade Paste...

Back when he saved Xiang from the Dongzi Li Family, he had used exactly this.

Later, what the Dongzi Li Family gave him in return was of even more superior quality—the best among the Blood Foods he had ever tasted.

Suddenly, a sense of caution arose in his heart. Something wasn’t right...

This was just a medium-sized Blood Food mine. Occasionally uncovering something good was reasonable. But listening to Mine Chief Zhuang, how could all the world’s treasures have converged here?

"But this is where the frightening part begins..."

Before Hu Ma could voice his doubts, Mine Chief Zhuang sighed quietly, his voice trembling slightly as he whispered, "That Golden Pattern Tai Sui, we naturally knew its value. We all said it was Master Tai Sui’s blessing, allowing us poor souls to finally strike it rich."

"But who would have thought, the deeper we cut, the more distinct the golden patterns became, and the more fresh blood oozed out. That kind of quality, for those of us who have been in the mines for over a decade, was truly rare..."

"..."

"Such a thing can happen?"

It was Hu Ma’s first time hearing of such a situation. His heart pounded as he asked, "What happened next? As you went deeper, what else did you cut?"

"That’s the crux of the problem..."

Mine Chief Zhuang stuttered, "We... we don’t know either. That vein... we’ve already sealed it up..."

At this, Hu Ma couldn’t help but frown. Calculation, Zhou Datong, and the others all looked at Mine Chief Zhuang with unfriendly eyes, not bothering to hide their suspicion.

"HEH HEH, this Mine Chief here doesn’t seem very honest, does he..."

Calculation, from a distance, gave Hu Ma a meaningful glance and chuckled softly, "This season’s Tai Sui tribute should have been completed a month ago. The Meat Cutting Craftsmen should have been sent back—those who farm to their farming, those who rest to their rest."

"How is it that only your mine didn’t release its people? And you claim to have accidentally cut a Blood Tai Sui at this time? I suspect you might be secretly hoarding it, planning to pocket the goods yourselves, right?"

"So, if you cut something valuable from that vein later on, I imagine you wouldn’t dare let the Red Lantern Society know..."

"Am I correct in saying that?"

"..."

As he said this, Mine Chief Zhuang’s face turned slightly awkward, but he couldn’t refute it.

No one was a fool. It was common for those guarding the mine who unearthed something valuable not to report it. Besides, this Blood Food mine was undergoing a change of ownership, making the accounts and management particularly chaotic.

It seemed this place rich in Blood Food wasn’t a recent discovery. Rather, it had been found long ago but concealed. They waited until their tribute to the Red Lantern Society was handed over, then secretly kept the workers to cut out the good stuff for themselves, turning it into their own treasure.

The Red Lantern Society had planned from the start to discard them once their use was over—first agreeing to their terms, then finding their own people to take over.

Those in the mine weren’t stupid either. They knew they might be replaced by people sent by the Red Lantern Society, so they were taking this opportunity to line their own pockets!

However, these were things everyone understood tacitly. Calculation merely pointed it out without pressing the matter.

"Sigh..."

Mine Chief Zhuang seemed somewhat helpless. He looked at Hu Ma, bowed slightly, and said, "Manager Hu, your Master, this expert known as Second Master Zhou—my knowledge is limited, I’ve indeed never heard of him."

"But all Shousui in the world are one family. Perhaps my Master knows him. Perhaps the two Old Masters are even acquainted. So, I don’t consider you a man of the Red Lantern Society, but a Great Shousui of our Path."

"These words, I will only speak to a Great Shousui."

"The Red Lantern Lady, besides the green-clothed evil ghost, is nothing special. That Evil Ghost isn’t my ancestor, so who cares about him?"

"But we also know that once the Red Lantern Society takes over, no matter how nice their promises sound, this Blood Food mine will no longer be ours to control."

"We didn’t know when you people taking over would arrive, so we just thought to grab a few more benefits before then, to at least secure the future livelihood of our brothers."

"This Blood Vein, we did indeed discover it earlier. We hid it and didn’t report it, just thinking of cutting out something at the end for everyone to share. But that we could cut out such good things later, that was truly beyond our expectations..."

"The most crucial part is, when we were thinking of making one last push, to see what lay deeper in the vein, then..."

"..."

Seeing the dignified Shousui now looking so peculiar and finding it hard to speak, Hu Ma also frowned and said in a low voice, "Then what?"

Mine Chief Zhuang was silent for a good while before whispering, "It got haunted..."