"What the... only 4 hours of rest for each employee a day? Even the worst capitalists aren’t this cruel!"

In the hall on the first floor, upon hearing the base commander announce the great endeavor plan starting at dawn the next day, Wang Zhifan suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed.

It’s not that he personally couldn’t handle such high-intensity work hours, but he doubted whether his 100 miners and 20 security squad leaders could withstand it.

If these people drop dead from such inhumane working conditions, his team’s monthly death quota would definitely be exceeded. How could he possibly clear this level then?

"Let’s first see the specifics; if this base commander insists on being stubborn and tormenting people, we’ll have to use some methods on him."

After thinking it over, Wang Zhifan kept calm on the surface but had already decided not to let anyone interfere with his level-clearing goal.

Thus, in the first-floor hall, this month’s end summary meeting concluded quickly with the angry words of the base commander.

The old white man in the black suit didn’t speak for long before choosing to hastily end the meeting and leave, quite unlike the authority figures Wang Zhifan remembered who were obsessed with meetings.

"Isn’t that old guy convening another smaller meeting for us captains?"

Based on his experience, Wang Zhifan had expected that after the general assembly, the base commander would hold an internal meeting with captains like him who each managed over a hundred people, but that wasn’t the case, making him suspect that the supposed security teams’ status in the base wasn’t as high as imagined.

While he was narrowing his eyes, pondering on this subtle situation, a white youth dressed in a blue security uniform and carrying a weapon suddenly approached, lowered his voice, and asked:

"Captain, where should we send the miners next? Should they go back to the dormitory to rest or head straight to the mines?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhifan glanced sideways at him standing nearby and calmly replied:

"How much time is left until midnight?"

The security team member immediately glanced at his digital wristwatch and quickly answered:

"Reporting to the captain, there’s less than two hours left."

"Then arrange for the miners to go back to the dormitory to rest, make sure they eat their fill if they haven’t, and be ready to start work at midnight sharp."

"Understood!"

After the exchange, the security team member went back to notify the others and started organizing their team of 100 prisoner miners to leave the first-floor hall in an orderly fashion.

Almost simultaneously, most of the other mining teams in the hall also began to evacuate, leaving only a few being lectured by their security captains.

In the gradually emptying hall, the stern commander contrasted with the silent prisoner miners, giving off a distinct atmosphere of militarized corporate management.

"According to the level’s description, these miners should all be criminals, but from a glance, there don’t appear to be any particularly unruly ones among them. The collective discipline is quite decent, suggesting that the security team doesn’t go easy on them during daily management."

Wang Zhifan didn’t leave the hall immediately. He observed silently for a while before preparing to leave and gather more necessary information.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to leave, a security captain who had just finished lecturing his own team approached him, waving—a sign that he probably recognized Wang Zhifan and was familiar with his role.

"Mr. Wang, why haven’t you left? Aren’t you supposed to be heading into the mines with your crew by now?"

The man who approached was a rare Asian among the 16 security captains, appearing to be about thirty years old, skinny yet agile. His name tag on the uniform indicated his surname was Qian and his given name was Aaron.

"Haha, gotta give the subordinates some rest time, right? ... Aaron, do you think that old man’s lost it, allowing only 4 hours of rest starting next month—who can handle that?"

Even though Wang Zhifan didn’t know the security captain in front of him at all, he understood that the other party recognizing him was undoubtedly part of the level’s inherent setup, so he pretended to converse with familiarity.

"Who can say no!"

Sure enough, the lean and agile captain named Aaron shared Wang Zhifan’s sentiments. A hint of irritation flashed in his eyes as he continued:

"I heard that the old guy was severely scolded over communications by people above him today, saying he got a hell of a lashing, which probably led to him coming up with this crazy rule! We should steer clear of him for now, and after a few days when his anger subsides and he realizes this rule isn’t sustainable, then we can band together to negotiate with him. We might have a decent chance to get him to revert the work hours."

"Exactly, that’s my plan too."

"Hey? Where did you get that long sword on your waist? Looks pretty nice! Bet it wasn’t cheap! Never saw you bring it out before."

"This is my family heirloom, usually kept in the cabinet. But today I thought I’d take it out for some air."

"You’re quite particular about these things! But you better keep an eye on it, be careful not to let a miner steal it and sell it to the store for booze; that store owner is a heartless bastard..."

...

The two chatted for a while longer, with Wang Zhifan inconspicuously gathering some needed information, such as the location of the mine, his work and rest areas, and potential risks of the job, before parting ways with Qian Aaron, each returning to their own tasks.

"Turns out the ore mined now can be counted towards next month’s performance, no wonder most of the mining teams have already gone to work... But still, miners need to rest, early mining isn’t all benefits."