Chapter 1 What the Hell?

Looking at the bowing Zhuang Mining Boss, his face full of gratification, and the surrounding flesh-cutting workers who were also showing slight excitement, Hu Ma suddenly felt that the situation was developing in a way that was different from what he had imagined.

Even Zhou Datong and Old Abacus next to him realized that something was wrong. They looked around curiously, the tense atmosphere from just now impossible to maintain.

"First, you're using polite words to put me on a pedestal, making it impossible for me to get down."

Hu Ma raised his voice slightly, not hiding the wariness in his heart, and said, "To put it bluntly, I'm just here to check the accounts. I only have this little skill. I wouldn't dare to act important. Tell me what's going on. Did you offend the witchmen outside?"

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

Seeing that Hu Ma didn't appreciate the flattery, the Zhuang Mining Boss sighed. The intention to deceive was naturally lessened. He slowly said, "In the past half-month, a lot of things have happened in the mine. It started with the vein..."

"Master."

Suddenly, the two disciples behind him called out, looking somewhat nervous.

Not only them, but even some of the flesh-cutting workers who looked like foremen and stewards showed slight unease.

The Zhuang Mining Boss paused slightly when he heard this.

Seeing this, Old Abacus coughed. Hu Ma understood and first sneered, saying, "Zhuang Mining Boss, I saw that we're all in the Shou Sui business, so I respected you for being older and spoke properly. Why are you being so hesitant? If your disciple has impure thoughts, in our sect, that would be considered disrespectful to the master."

""

Never expecting Hu Ma to call him out directly, the two disciples next to the Zhuang Mining Boss's face changed slightly.

But the Zhuang Mining Boss understood that Hu Ma was skilled and had many tricks. Seeing his lineage, he must have a background, and the rules must be strict. His performance was indeed embarrassing his master.

So, he paused slightly and said, "Indeed, I was overthinking it. Great Shou Sui, please don't blame me."

"It's not that I want to hide anything, it's just that these strange things started with this vein. It's really, really strange..."

""

Hu Ma glanced at him, sat down directly at the table next to him, picked up a wine jar, poured half a bowl of wine, and invited Old Abacus to sit at the table as well. Then, he turned to the Zhuang Mining Boss and said, "Take your time. I have plenty of time."

Seeing this young man so casually, others felt a little awkward, but they couldn't help but be impressed.

After all, Hu Ma had already won in the earlier exchange. They couldn't respect his age, but they couldn't help but respect his skill.

The Zhuang Mining Boss sighed softly and said, "Logically speaking, I'm not ignorant. Since learning my skills, I've been guarding this blood-food mine, seeing and experiencing all sorts of things."

"But this vein is the only one I truly don't understand."

"It was about two months ago. We found a meat pit, surrounded by mostly black taisui. It was filled with evil energy, and there wasn't much to harvest, so we left it alone. But..."

"But because the association's quotas were heavy, we thought of harvesting some there to test the quality. Unexpectedly, it was clearly black taisui, but the more we cut, the fresher the flesh became. After cutting a few pieces, the flesh turned blue, and after cutting a few more, the flesh turned red."

""

Hearing him say this, Hu Ma's mind suddenly stirred. Were they cutting blood taisui?

This was a good thing!

Not only him, but even Zhou Datong and the others next to him, as well as Old Abacus, hurriedly looked up and glanced over.

"That's right."

The Zhuang Mining Boss met the gazes of Hu Ma and the others, paused slightly, and then sighed, admitting, "Indeed, it was originally black taisui, but we cut out blood taisui. Moreover..."

He seemed to be smiling wryly, saying, "The more we cut, the fresher and plumper the flesh became, even oozing fresh blood. It was simply the highest quality blood-food we had ever seen."

"To be honest, it even triggered a group of evil spirits to wail at night. We had to perform a grand sacrifice to disperse them."

""

Hu Ma couldn't help but be surprised and hurriedly asked, "Then how much did you cut in total?"

Blood taisui was a rare item. Usually, these few blood-food mines, unless they were large ones, could only produce dozens of pounds a year, treating it like a treasure. And this Huozi Ridge was originally just a small mine. Giving them twenty pounds was an astronomical figure.

But now it seemed that they had secretly made a fortune?

He couldn't help but be excited. Thinking about what he was here to do, if there really was a rich blood-food mine that the higher-ups didn't know about, wouldn't the amount he needed now be solved immediately?

"Not much."

Seeing the people around him looking over with increasingly anxious eyes, the Zhuang Mining Boss's expression was slightly awkward, saying, "Just a few baskets."

"A few baskets?"

Hu Ma almost couldn't hold back his breath.

The last time he saw blood taisui being measured in baskets was when he was at the Dongzi Li family!

"That's not important!"

The Zhuang Mining Boss hurriedly said, "We also knew that blood taisui was a treasure, so we didn't dare to be careless. But what we didn't expect was that after cutting for a short time, we discovered that the flesh had changed again. Streaks of gold had appeared in the blood, shimmering beautifully..."

"Golden-veined taisui?"

Hu Ma felt his heart jump, already a little numb, and even looked at the tall and sturdy Zhuang Mining Boss in front of him with a suspicious expression.

If gold veins grew in this blood-food, it would be golden jade paste!

Back then, he used this to save Xiang, the girl from the Dongzi Li family.

And what the Dongzi Li family gave him later was an even higher grade, already the best of the blood-food he had ever eaten.

For a moment, he suddenly became wary. Something was wrong.

This was just a medium-sized blood-food mine, it was reasonable to occasionally dig out something good, but listening to the Zhuang Mining Boss, it seemed like all the good things in the world had come here?

"But the frightening thing is also here."

Before Hu Ma could raise his doubts, the Zhuang Mining Boss sighed softly, his voice trembling slightly as he whispered, "We also knew the power of the golden-veined taisui. We all said it was Taisui Old Man blessing us poor people, allowing us to stumble upon a fortune at the end of our lives."

"But who would have thought that the further we cut, the more obvious the gold veins became, and the more blood that oozed out. The quality was rare even for those of us who have been in the mine for more than ten years."

""

"There's such a thing?"

Hu Ma was hearing this for the first time, his heart pounding as he asked, "What happened next? What did you cut out deeper inside?"

"The key is here."

The Zhuang Mining Boss stammered, "We, we don't know. We've already sealed the vein."

At this moment, Hu Ma couldn't help but frown. Old Abacus, Zhou Datong, and the others all looked at him with unkind eyes, not hiding the suspicion in their hearts.

"Hehe, this Mining Boss isn't very honest."

Old Abacus winked at Hu Ma from afar and whispered, "This season's taisui should have been worshipped a month ago, and the flesh-cutting craftsmen should have been sent back to farm or rest for the year."

"How come only your mine hasn't released people? And you happened to cut out a blood taisui at this time? I think you're secretly keeping it for yourself, right?"

"So, if you cut out anything good in this vein later, I suppose you wouldn't dare let the Red Lantern Society know."

"Is that right?"

""

As soon as he said this, the Zhuang Mining Boss's face became a little awkward, but he couldn't refute it.

Everyone was smart. Those guarding the mine often didn't hand over good things they cut out. Moreover, this blood-food mine was in a period of transition between new and old owners, with the most chaotic accounts and management.

It seemed that this mine hadn't recently discovered a place with blood-food, but had discovered it long ago, but had hidden it. After paying the tribute to the Red Lantern Society, they secretly kept the workers to cut out the good things for themselves.

The Red Lantern Society had been planning from the beginning to kick them to the curb after they were used, first agreeing to their terms, and then finding their own people to take over.

The people in the mine weren't stupid either. They knew that they might be replaced by people sent by the Red Lantern Society, so they took advantage of this opportunity to enrich themselves!

However, everyone knew about these things, and Old Abacus only pointed it out without being too aggressive.

"Alas."

The Zhuang Mining Boss was a little helpless, looking at Hu Ma, bowing slightly, and saying, "Manager Hu, your master, this expert called Second Master Zhou, I'm ignorant and haven't heard of him."

"But all Shou Sui are family. Maybe my master knows him, and maybe the two old men are even friends. So, I don't treat you as someone from the Red Lantern Society, but as a great Shou Sui in our business."

"I'll only say these words to a great Shou Sui."

"Red Lantern Matron only has the Qingyi Evil Ghost, that's nothing. That evil ghost isn't my ancestor, who cares about him?"

"But we also know that once the Red Lantern Society takes over, no matter how good they sound, we won't be able to control this blood-food mine."

"We don't know when you people taking over will come, so we thought of earning a few more before that, so that the brothers will have something to eat and wear in the future."

"We did discover this blood vein before, and we hid it without reporting it, just thinking of cutting out something in the end for everyone to share. But we really didn't expect to be able to cut out these good things."

"The most important thing is that when we thought of going all out to see what was deeper in the vein, we..."

""

Looking at the dignified Shou Sui, now with a strange and unspeakable expression, Hu Ma couldn't help but frown and said in a deep voice, "Then what?"

The Zhuang Mining Boss was silent for a long time before whispering, "It's haunted."

End of Chapter