"Siwang," Yufan said, his voice unusually calm.
"I can give you the most valuable thing down here:information."
He lay back on the bed with a sigh,folding his hands behind his head as if they weren't trapped in a hellish mine.
"So,"he continued, turning his head to the side with a lazy smile.
"How about we work together?Escaping would be much easier if we do." His head twitched, and he slapped his forehead a bit.
"He can help us escape,don't worry," he spoke to himself.
Omari narrowed his eyes.
"He's unstable...his mind is slipping. But information is valuable."
He kept his tone neutral, "That depends on what you actually know."
Yufan rolled onto his side,propping his head on his arm.
"The stamina pills they give us," he whispered,
"are laced with a euphoria drug. That's why they make us feel so good and the mining seem so easy. The high only lasts about thirty minutes... but those thirty minutes..." He started to giggle.
"Unforgettable...So unforgettable! Ha ha ha HA!" his laughter erupted, raw and unhinged as he stared blankly at the ceiling before tossing a pill into his mouth. "They want us to chase that feeling. They never give us enough, so we're always begging for more—it's even in our meals. They're addicting us so completely that we'll never want to leave. Mining will be our only way to get our fix. What a master plan... these pills make this hell feel like paradise."
A muffled laugh escaped him as he stared forward at the walls.
"Don't worry,I'll finish telling him everything, heh he he."
Omari stiffened.
Yufan continued speaking.
"Remember that old man that gave you water?He walked out of here and no one stopped him. They knew that he was already addicted to the pills; he came back the next day and begged to come back to the mines."
Omari's jaw tightened.The mines were worse than he expected. His shock deepened with each word.
"He lost an eye and a leg for leaving,but he was still happy to come back here. I know a lot about how things work down here; I found ways of collecting information, and if you let me in on your plans of escape, I'm sure we can help each other."
Omari rubbed his chin,thinking.
"I do need information...And he clearly has plenty."
"Fine,"he said at last.
"Breaking into the Spiritualist Realm is the only way out.We'll need a massive amount of spirit stones. Each month, starting today, find twenty-five and take three flame stones from each. Anyone who refuses..." He paused, his voice lowering.
"Kill them."He turned and walked out, leaving Yufan staring blankly after him, shocked into silence.
Omari went to his room, counted the loot before stashing all the flame stones under his bed. He lay on his bed, his mind occupied.
"So that's how they've kept this going for so long;they use drugs. They get us obsessed to the extent that we can't live without this drug. I need to escape quickly before I get sucked in."
A memory of how he felt after consuming the stamina pills danced around in his mind.He remembered the feeling very well; he yearned for it.
"As long as I keep my consumption of the pills to a minimum,I'll be fine," he murmured, throwing a pill in his mouth.
He lost himself in laughter,though nothing around him was funny. A rush surged through him, warm, soothing, almost tender, wrapping around his mind like a velvet glove. But beneath the pleasure lurked a strange hollowness, a sense that something was slipping away. His smile widened anyway. He couldn't stop it. He didn't want to.
The ominous green energy erupted in his body,rushing all over. His eyes glowed and the high he was enjoying started fading quickly.
"This evil energy,what's it doing?" he gritted his teeth. Without waiting for the good feeling to disappear, he threw another pill in his mouth. The good feeling didn't last for even a minute before it vanished.
"What's going on?"he murmured and threw three pills down his throat. He closed his eyes and focused on the amazing feeling that came from the pills. The feeling was different. Something was wrong. He snapped his eyes open and before he could move, his bed caved in and he screamed, falling into a pit of darkness.
Omari woke up sleeping in a dark forest.He started walking forward and one of his victims from before appeared from behind a tree. His body rotten and grotesque.
"You will rot here;you will die in those mines," Omari's first victim spoke.
Omari walked backward away from the man.
"This is not real;you're dead," he uttered, his voice rising.
Behind other trees,the rest of his victims came out. Their heads peeked out first as their murmurs rang out.
"He's definitely dying in the mines."
"The cursed child will meet his well-deserved end in the mines."
"He deserves to die;that bad omen must not live."
Omari looked around as if they were everywhere.
"I won't die...I won't die like this... I'll live to prove you wrong," he yelled.
In the mine,he was on his bed fighting as if facing a bad dream.
In another room in the mine,Yufan stood over a miner who lay on the ground in fear.
"Please don't take my pills;take all my spirit stones, please just leave my pills," the miner shook, begging for his pills.
"Just take the spirit stones and let's go.Taking his pills will only add to our problems. Escaping should be our top priority," Yufan spoke, his back resting against the rock walls.
Heh heh heh!Yufan who was standing over the begging miner laughed, his head twitching. He slowly turned to face Yufan who was resting his back against the rock walls.
"Heh heh heh,but they feel so good... We are taking all his pills... ha ha ha ha, you just need to shut up and watch me save us. We got caught because of you, didn't we? Ha ha ha ha," his creepy laughter echoed as he spoke.
The miner looked at the walls,confused because no one was standing there. Before he could say anything, Yufan turned his attention to him, raising his leg and stomping the miner in the head.
"Give them!Give them! Give them all!!" Yufan yelled with a wide, creepy smile on his face while stomping on the miner until he passed out.
The next day,Omari snapped his eyes open, waking up from his nightmare, his whole body drenched in sweat. The morning sound of something hitting a metal sheet rang out and all the miners grabbed their pickaxes, running to their posts.
Some ran while frantically laughing as if happy to mine.Omari grabbed his pickaxe and walked to his post. On his way there, his eyes met with Yufan's for a few seconds; he nodded at him, but—
"Siwang!I got the stuff; operation Sneaky Mouse is working perfectly!" Yufan yelled, waving his hand.
Omari quickly looked away,shaking his head.
"Sneaky Mouse?What nonsense; he's completely lost it. I might have to get rid of him after he's served his purpose." The day went by quickly, and with the help of the pills, mining was fun for Omari and some of the miners who had a lot of pills.
While mining,Omari looked around, noticing how hard most miners were digging. Some even laughed to themselves as if crazy while mining. One of the miners' bodies started shaking and he dropped to the ground, dead. His body couldn't handle the pills.
Omari noticed that in other tunnels,the mining sounds were louder and faster. He released his sense to check the tunnel. His eyes widened in shock.
"What!Spiritualist realm cultivators. They look like they've lost their minds for a while now. They are just mindless workers."
He gritted his teeth."This damn evil energy; the effects of the pills have already been removed."
He pulled out two more pills and threw them in his mouth.Surprisingly, the evil energy did not try to remove the effects this time. A sharp pain exploded on his back. He turned around with a smile.
"Heh heh heh,relax, I'll get back to work now; was just boosting my stamina with these amazing pills," he spoke.
After a while,a sound rang out and it was time for the miners to eat for the day. They all ran forward, getting in line, holding their bowls. Omari was already respected in the section of the mines he was in. While cutting in line, he looked around, seeing how skinny most miners were.
Most of their bones could be seen through the flesh.
"That can never be me;I need more food if I want to keep my body healthy and in shape."
When he finally reached the top where the food was being dished,he cut in line with only two people in front of him. No one complained when they saw him, they all looked down, respecting him.
It was time for Omari to get his food.He extended his hand and watched as the Spiritualist realm cultivator put one scoop of porridge into his bowl.
Next!The cultivator yelled.
Omari stood there,not going anywhere. He stared at the cultivator.
"Another one,"he spoke, telling the cultivator to give him another scoop of porridge.
"Hey kid, move. Be happy that you're even getting fed," the cultivator snarled with a disgusted look in his eyes.
"I said ANOTHER!" Omari roared and leapt on the cultivator with a brutal punch.