Chapter 1: A Miner Reincarnated as a Miner
Li Yanjun had one rule in life: Don't die underground.
A given rule that every miner should abide.
"Zone 9's dry. Move the ore to Conveyor B," came the crackle over his cheap, company-issued radio.
Yanjun clicked his tongue. "Of course it is. Why not just dig into hell while we're at it?"
He trudged deeper into the mine, boots crunching over loose gravel, headlamp flickering like it was powered by prayer. The tunnels stretched on forever—damp, dark, and just depressing enough to make you reconsider your life choices.
Not that he had many. Mining was all he knew. His dad mined. His granddad mined. Hell, if reincarnation was real, he was probably a pickaxe in his past life.
As he neared the central furnace chamber, a wave of heat slapped him in the face. Not warm. Not hot. It was more, like the f*cking breath of satan.
He was still 20 meters away but the heat of the furnace—nicknamed "The Iron Demon" by the workers—was roaring like a hungry beast. Yanjun narrowed his eyes. "Did someone crank this thing to maximum overheat or what?"
He tapped the control panel.
It fizzed.
The gauge spiked. Yellow, then Orange, then Red.
If Yanjun listened to the lectures back in the day, he might've known that when the furnace hits the red mark, you need to immediately turn it off, well unless you have tungsten as your skin then you're good.
When the gauge hits the red mark, the whole room where Yanjun is staying became a sauna in the hot summer.
Sweating he cursed."Who the hell made this furnace? Satan himself?"
The gauge is still rising. So is the temperature of where Yanjun is standing.
"It's surprising that this thing is still worki-"
Then–the gauge jumped back to zero.
He jinxed it before he even finished what he's about to say.
"Oh, that's definitely not good."
Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Tools rattled. A loud CLANG! echoed behind him as a crate collapsed onto the conveyor's auto-start lever.
The furnace door hissed open.
A wave of heat sweep all over the room, slowly melting every rocks it touched.
And something... pulled.
"Hey, wait, WAIT—!"
Too late. His boots slid. His arms flailed. And land directly in the miraculously running conveyer belt. He tried to grabbed at the control panel, but all he caught was the full-body sauna experience.
As he was slowly being sucked into the belly of the Iron Demon, a bunch of strange symbols lit up on the furnace wall—not something the company installed, unless HR started worshipping cult artifacts.
He tried to get up, but to be only disappointed by his weak knees. His skin was slowly melting, and he's slowly losing his consciousness. It's only a matter of time before he became a human paste.
Slowly but surely he's getting closer and closer to the hungry furnace.
After 15 meters, his hair and skin all melted but as much as this hurt, no scream escaped in his mouth.
Oh no, he can't scream, his tongue and vocal cords has long dissolved with his saliva.
It's only 10 more meters until his inevitable death but somehow he's still conscious despite having his body melting at visible speed.
He long accepted that he's gonna die one day but he did not expect a slow death like this.
'There's no way I got killed by a f*cking furnace.' Yanjun cursed loudly in his mind.
5 more meters and his fate is sealed.
3...
2...
1...
He was about to drop in the hell hot furnace. But then–
[Primordial Forge Recognized.]
[Binding Initiated.]
And then he burned.
Or at least, he should have.
But instead of death, there was a sudden stillness.
Silence.
And then—he can open his eyes again?
Lying in the cold stone beneath his back, a cave above his head, and the faint glow of unfamiliar ore in the walls.
"…Wait. I'm still underground?"
Yanjun paused. And jolted as he realized what happened.
Sweating, he recalled being swallowed whole by a f*cking furnace of satan.
He tried to move his body and slap himself in the face.
Pah!
"Ouch!" He squealed when his slap landed in his face.
"Hiss... I am not dreaming..." Yanjun said with a red slap mark visible on his cheek.
This is obviously the reincarnation he often read in some fantasy novels!
Just by thinking about it, a crooked smile appeared in his face, who knows what kind of imagination he's running in his mind right now.
But then he remembered that this is not the ordinary world, monsters may roam this place, just like in the novels. Now is not the time to be amazed, he needs to ensure his safety first, he clenched his fists, still trembling from the pain he somehow survived. Whatever miracle spared him… it wouldn't come twice.
So he quickly settled down and suppressed his excitement.
"First I need to figure out where am I and what's my purpose as the protagonist of this wor-"
As he was talking, a pickaxe went flying and hit him directly in his head making him immobile and laying on the ground again.
Then–the ground trembled and a bulky man appeared in Yanjun's field of vision.
"What the hell are you waiting for miner Xing Yan?!" The bulky man shouted at the laying Yanjun.
"Xing Yan? Is that my name?"
When the bulky man heard the question, a couple of veins popped out on his head,
"Who else do you think have that stupid name?!" The bulky man shouted again.
'This bull man is too fierce.' Xing Yan said in his mind.
"Your peers have already started the test, yet you're still laying here, who do you think you are?"
"Test? What test?"
Yet another vein popped out on the bulky man's head.
"On the count of three, if you don't start digging with your pickaxe and mine the designated quota,"
The bulky man cracked his knuckles.
"Let's just say you're not gonna have the ability to mine anymore."
This crazy bull is too fierced! TOO fierced! Xing Yan's expression clearly display that phrase.
He was about to ask a new question when he realized something.
'Wait... pickaxe? Mine?'
"…F*ck. Am I a miner again?!"