"Move it!"
"Stop dawdling!"
"And you, didn't you eat? Even my dog is more useful than you!"
The words had barely faded when a long whip sliced through the air with a whistle, landing on the tattered clothes of a laborer. With a crisp CRACK, a glaring bloody welt appeared on the ragged, stooped figure.
As if the scent of blood awakened his cruelty, the whip-wielding Inspector beat the man wantonly a few more times. He then stepped forward, kicked the ragged, stooped man to the ground, and began raining down fists and feet. The man's wails and pleas for mercy grew ever more piercing.
The surrounding laborers watched with fear on their faces, but they dared not speak out despite their anger. They all kept their heads down, resuming their work with numb expressions, terrified of drawing the Inspector's ire and bringing disaster upon themselves...
Such scenes were a common sight throughout these sprawling mines.
To wear an Inspector's uniform was to be a god in this mining camp!
Chu Mu also wore this Inspector's uniform.
Come to think of it, he had officially been wearing this Inspector's uniform for three or four days now...
'Three days? Or four?'
Silently, Chu Mu retracted his gaze and looked up at the somewhat gloomy sky, the question suddenly popping into his mind.
After a moment, Chu Mu let out a self-deprecating laugh. He took a deep breath, and his expression returned to one of calm.
His face was as placid as an old well; no one could guess what Chu Mu was thinking.
The scene of the Inspector's brutality was still playing out before him, yet Chu Mu was like an outsider, completely ignoring it.
The mountain range was vast. In several days, the area Chu Mu had covered was likely just a drop in the ocean.
Several mountains stretched out, some with open-pit mines descending in funnel-shaped terraces, others with winding tunnels that spread through the mountainside like an anthill.
Chu Mu was stationed in the Nanshan Iron Ore's Mine A Area, which was also its only open-pit mining site.
He stood at the summit, looking down. The entire pit was laid out before him, with countless laborers swarming like ants, quarrying and transporting Ore Materials.
Inspectors, like Chu Mu, were positioned at various points around the pit or patrolled in teams, supervising the working laborers.
As for the scenes of cursing and whipping right before his eyes, they were all too common in this mining area. He could see several just within his line of sight.
The greatest of human evils is to make things as difficult as possible for others within the smallest scope of one's power.
And in this era, any constraints on power, or any fetters and deterrents against the abuse of power... were nonexistent.
In the few days since becoming an Inspector, the greatest thing Chu Mu had learned... was the evil of human nature.
There were many things that he, a person from another world who had lived in a peaceful and prosperous age, had never encountered.
After all, in the information age, with the advancement of civilization, the darker side of society and the wickedness of human nature were confined to a very small scope.
But this era...
The sights and sounds of the past few days swirled in his mind, and a strange sense of relief once again welled up in his heart.
He had to be thankful. Thankful that upon arriving here, he had immediately been given the uniform of an Inspector.
Otherwise...
Chu Mu looked at the laborers toiling not far in front of him.
Right now, there was no famine, no natural disasters. The environment could even be considered peaceful.
'This should be considered... a man-made disaster, right?'
Chu Mu felt an inexplicable depression in his heart. He took a few deep breaths, finally managing to suppress the pitiful bit of mercy at the bottom of his heart.
A small fry needs to know his place. One must act within one's capabilities. To do what is beyond one's power is just asking for trouble.
As his thoughts drifted, Chu Mu began to walk, wandering around the mining area before him.
The entire Mine A Area was divided into eighteen sub-zones, from A1 to A18.
The team Chu Mu was in was responsible for Zone A1 Mine Area, which was a large section on the top level of the mine, on the Southwest side.
The duties were quite simple: supervise and guard the laborers.
Supervising, of course, meant overseeing the laborers' work. Guarding meant preventing them from escaping.
Zone A1 Mine Area originally had over eighty laborers. Recently, the county sent reinforcements, adding nearly thirty more.
Chu Mu's team, including the team leader, had a total of eighteen people.
Eighteen Inspectors watching over more than a hundred laborers was clearly more than enough.
Although more laborers were expected, news that the Nanshan Inspection Office was planning to expand had already spread.
Besides, the world was at peace, so the Inspector's uniform still carried a great deal of deterrence!
"Lighting the fire! Everyone, clear out! Clear out!"
As he was wandering, Chu Mu suddenly stopped and looked toward a roaring fire not far away.
Having been in the mines for a few days, Chu Mu knew exactly what was happening.
It was nothing special, just a method for quarrying ore.
The principle was the same one from his past life: thermal expansion and contraction.
First, they used a large fire to heat the rock, then doused it with cold water for rapid cooling. The thermal shock would cause the rock to shatter. This method was called "fire-setting."
Although it was inefficient compared to the large machinery and explosive excavation methods of his past life, fire-setting was still a huge improvement over chipping away purely by hand.
'Maybe I could figure out how to make gunpowder?'
A sudden thought struck Chu Mu.
But just a moment later, Chu Mu pushed the idea to the back of his mind.
He only had a rudimentary understanding of gunpowder. As a lowly Inspector, if he had that kind of time and energy, he would be better off reading a few more books or practicing his martial arts.
Thinking of martial arts, Chu Mu couldn't help but look toward his team leader, that hulking man built like an ox.
Less than a hundred meters away, under a large tree, he could see the figure of his team leader.
He wasn't wearing the standard-issue Armor of an Inspector. Instead, he was bare-chested, practicing his punches one by one. The force of his fists stirred the air, even creating whistling sounds as they cut through it.
Sweat streamed down his body under the blazing sun. His knotted muscles coiled and bulged, making him look like a lean, explosive bear at first glance.
In both his past life and this one, Chu Mu had never seen any True Martial Arts. But judging by the power of his team leader's practice, anyone who wasn't blind could tell that this was definitely the real deal!
The kind of True Martial Arts where one punch would leave him flat on the ground!
This wasn't an illusion. On the very day he joined the Inspection Office, Chu Mu had seen his team leader fell a tree as thick as a thigh with a single punch!
If a tree trunk couldn't withstand it, what chance did human flesh and blood have? One punch would probably make a person explode! Literally explode!
With True Martial Arts right in front of him, how could Chu Mu not be tempted?
In his previous life, during the information explosion, what man hadn't dreamed of god-like Martial Arts!
Especially when it was so close, who could resist such a temptation!
'It's too difficult...'
Gazing for a moment, Chu Mu sighed and shook his head to himself.
He wanted to learn, but how could the other Inspectors not want to as well?
The position of Inspector was already a quasi-military one. Having a move or two of True Martial Arts up one's sleeve was a good thing no matter how you looked at it.
There were plenty of Inspectors who sucked up to the team leader. These past few days, he had even seen Inspectors from other teams fawning over his team leader, obviously hoping to be taught a move or two of True Martial Arts.
Although, from what he had gathered these past few days, his team leader probably wasn't the only one in the Nanshan Inspection Office who knew True Martial Arts, it was clear that, for now at least, none of them were people he could get close to...
...