Chapter 769: Chapter 483: Entering the Mine and Inspection (Part 2)

"Hello, Captain!"

"Hello, Captain!"

"Yes, keep a good watch here. Notify me through the watch if there are any unexpected situations." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Wang Zhifan calmly responded, showing no sign of weakness or disadvantage despite not activating his mecha.

He raised his hand to look at the high-tech communication watch on his wrist, and following the directions on it, he headed towards the target area to begin a detailed inspection of his underlings—the miners. His figure swiftly disappeared into the vast, deep mining tunnel.

His first destination was at the southernmost eastern part of the mining area, a mineral-rich zone where various ores were hidden deep within the stone walls. More than thirty miners under his command were all using mechas to tirelessly extract there.

Leading them was a Black man appearing to be in his fifties. He piloted an advanced mining mecha five meters tall, working with hand and foot coordination while nodding his head to a tune and humming an unpleasant song. His expression showed deep involvement and delight as he efficiently grabbed the ores from the pile of crushed stones into the mecha’s mining compartment using its giant hands, completely unaware that someone had approached him from behind.

"Galka, a robber, has been involved in labor reformation at the base for twelve years, elite miner level."

Wang Zhifan’s communication watch displayed the miner’s information, indicating that this elderly Black man was worth paying attention to—an essential labor force within his mining team.

Taking a glance at the data, he slightly moved his feet to leave, choosing not to disturb the diligent old miner absorbed in his work.

The next batch under his scrutiny were two young white miners working together, both operating standard mining mechas, resembling two steel crabs striving to dig while chatting as they worked.

"Mike, did you notice the new women miners today? One of them caught my attention. I’m planning to win her over within three days."

"Which one? As far as I remember, none of them are that good looking. Although there are a few new women in other teams that are quite attractive, they almost make me want to commit a crime..."

"Which one do you think? The Black girl with the big rear and chest..."

...

The two chatted energetically, equally oblivious to Wang Zhifan approaching from behind. Wang Zhifan observed their work efficiency for a few seconds, thinking there was still room for improvement.

However, instead of punishing them directly, he turned away while notifying his subordinates via the watch to handle the situation, instructing them to separate the two for mining and apply some pressure, not allowing them to continue slacking.

He then arrived at the location of the third batch of miners in the surrounding area, where again two young miners gathered together, yet their conduct was even more excessive than the previous two.

One was operating a standard mining mecha, digging at a slow and irregular pace, while the other stopped labor altogether, sitting in the mecha cabin smoking a cigarette, not even pretending to be working, as if on a holiday.

"I say, David, this is so boring. Can’t we find a way to overthrow this damn base? I remember you mentioned someone outside being interested in this place; we can cooperate with them."

"Let’s wait a bit; that person hasn’t sent me a message for several days now. I’ll inquire about the plan again."

The two were speaking in lowered voices, but suddenly they felt a surge of force, almost getting simultaneously thrown out of the mecha cockpit, followed by the sight of whip shadows occupying their view.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

"Ah!!!"

"Stop slacking off!"

"Please, stop! I was wrong!"

"Will you keep slacking?"

"No, I won’t, Boss!"

"Ah!!!"

...

It turned out that Wang Zhifan, spotting their idleness, chose to personally punish them, using the captain’s whip to teach them the consequences of not working hard.

The specific process involved him using the captain’s communication watch privileges to directly open the mecha cockpit doors of the two, then jumping in with inhuman speed to pull them out and throw them to the ground, fiercely whipping them.

Throughout the process, the two young miners had no chance to react. They entered the punishment phase before they even saw who came, thus were utterly shocked upon seeing Wang Zhifan wielding the whip, unable to comprehend the situation or how he arrived so stealthily.

Wang Zhifan naturally saw no need to explain to them. After thoroughly whipping them, he issued a warning and left, notifying subordinate team members to supervise further, commanding intensified punishments should they continue slacking.

"David, that kid isn’t wearing a mecha! Let’s go against him!"

As Wang Zhifan departed, one of the whip-scarred miners stood up, gazing angrily at Wang Zhifan’s distant silhouette, attempting to incite his partner to attack using mining mechas.

He realized this foe appeared unarmored without the powerful protection of a mecha, implying they could crush him even with mining mechas.

"You’re crazy! That kid is highly mysterious! I suspect he might be the rumored supernatural ability user! We absolutely shouldn’t take the risk!"

The miner addressed as David, also in severe pain yearning for revenge, was knowledgeable enough to discern crucial information.

"A supernatural ability user? You mean he..."

For a moment, the other miner recalled incidents involving Wang Zhifan on the way to the mining area—events seemingly only a supernatural ability user could explain for the officer’s extraordinary actions.

Otherwise, it was hard to account for his unusually skillful movements, capable of easily repelling the War Roach Swarm encountered earlier, or the bizarre whipping incident that offered no chance for reaction as they were yanked out of the mecha cockpits to endure a savage beating.

"Yes, this captain is absolutely not to be trifled with; we must have full assurance before dealing with him."

With his partner halted from rashness, David replied in a lowered tone, indicating he would contact mysterious individuals externally for support.

But unbeknownst to them, their conspiracy was completely exposed to Wang Zhifan.

Not because Wang Zhifan could hear clearly from afar, but because he secretly stationed a Dream Me Avatar nearby to monitor the two’s activities closely.

"A murderer, a fraudster, plus an alleged mysterious person attempting to overthrow the mining base... What could possibly make this base worthy of such interest?"

From afar, the information from the avatar left Wang Zhifan perplexed.

He recollected the espionage option during the identity selection at the beginning of the replica. Perhaps the mysterious person mentioned by the two miners was indeed the spy option.Yet such contemplation led to another question: why would such a seemingly trivial mining base attract a spy’s interest, a detail unexplained even in the espionage identity briefing?"No matter; as long as I dispatch avatars for secret investigation, sooner or later, I will comprehend everything... It’s still more crucial to focus on clearing the replica... first to place those two on the death list."

As Wang Zhifan pondered, he sentenced the two to a deferred execution.

This decision stemmed from his captain performance metrics, which included a monthly death quota for criminal miners, requiring at least three deaths, not exceeding twelve.

Mandating the outpost captain to eliminate miners seemed initially to be intended for deterrence, thinning ranks to boost mining efficiency, but now perhaps the situation wasn’t as simple.

"The mining indicator of deceased miners isn’t cleared, so I’d best handle them at the month’s end upon maximizing their worth... this replica is indeed insidious."

As he delved deeper, Wang Zhifan recognized numerous underlying details within the replica necessitating comprehensive consideration to avoid neglecting important elements.

With such thoughts, he proceeded inspecting other miner activities, categorizing them into prioritized protection, intensified supervision, and stringent supervision, the last including those named on the death list.