Chapter 1912: Work
Silverstreak gasped. “There’s so much of it,” she said, looking around at the massive walls lined with Aullazire patches.
“More than I expected,” the older Threadreaper said.
“Everyone says that,” the Major said with a light chuckle to his tone. He seemed to be entertained by the others’ reactions. “We can’t stay here for too long as you’ll need to start your job soon.”
“Are we leaving already?” Silverstreak asked.
“No, we’re going further in,” the Major said. “You need to understand how the miners here work if you are to protect them.”
The carriage they were on went down the slope before them, moving down into the enormous cavern that led to another shaft further away.
The teams were already going at it further down the shaft, running machinery that pulled crystal-laced rock free in slow, deliberate pieces. There was no room for carelessness here. While smaller Aullazire had value, large intact ones were worth a different order of magnitude. There was simply no comparison, as a larger Aullazire would allow for a larger suppressor, which was not only cost-effective but also lasted much longer.
As for the smaller ones, it didn’t matter how large they were since they were all likely going to be crushed and micronized into powders that could help with the spray-based suppressors as well as the serums to enhance someone’s powers or to awaken them.
As a result, not a single spot on the wall could be left behind.
They would rather haul away tons of rock instead of missing just a few grams of Aullazire.
“Do you know how much has been mined until now?” Threadreaper asked.
“If you mean just Aullazire, I cannot answer you that,” the Major said.
“Oh. Then can you tell me how much ore you haul out of here each week?” he asked.
“About 6 tankers’ worth. Sometimes it’s 8 tankers. Each one is capable of carrying upwards of 200 tons, so about 1200 tons each week.”
Ning was thoroughly surprised by that number, but then it was mostly rock in the end. There wasn’t nearly enough Aullazire in those to likely even reach half a ton.
“Most of that is wasted, isn’t it?” Silverstreak asked. “Since they are all just rocks. Not even coal.”
“Not really. We extract the Aullazire, and what we don’t need is returned to the company, who then sells it to brick or cement factories. It’s not all a waste.”
The Major took them until the end of the shaft where the miners worked in the darkness with just overhead lamps and hardhats with lights attached to them.
After showing them around the place, the Major asked the group to decide who would take what shift.
The three heroes talked, quickly deciding on a schedule. With Silverstreak being a vampire, she decided to take on the night shift, while Threadreaper was to take on the day shift. Since Ning had no issue with either, he was left with the rest.
It was 8 in the morning, so to start with, Threadreaper and Ning would take charge.
Threadreaper stayed in the mines, while Ning walked around outside near the tankers. Silverstreak went to rest, for her turn would come in another 8 hours.
Ning’s presence caused a lot of stir up above as they recognized him as the man who had gained the highest potential rank until now. He had also been in the news a lot lately, so many knew about him.
Ning was surprised when a group of soldiers came to him with papers, asking for autographs for their children. He hadn’t expected to be this popular already.
He didn’t slack in his work, however, and kept watch over the tankers.
The job wasn’t as demanding as he had thought it would be. Since this was a military base now, no one even knew what was going on here. He mostly lazed around the place, with people bringing him food from time to time.
When his 8-hour shift came to an end, Threadreaper walked out of the mine and replaced him.
At 4 pm in the afternoon, Ning retired to his quarters to rest for the next 8 hours. Eight hours later, at midnight, he left for the mines where he would replace Silverstreak, who would then relieve Threadreaper of his duties.
For the next three days, he moved between the shafts and the surface, keeping an eye on the loaded tankers and the terrain inside the mines. There were no foreign agents from other governments, or Numbers sent by Tritus. Either none of them knew about the mines, or they simply did not care.
Ning understood why that could be the case. No one wanted to attack a place with hundreds of tons of rocks when they could just wait to attack after it was all processed.
Was that what the others were waiting for? Maybe.
Ning’s only companions in this time happened to be the miners and the soldiers. He rarely met with the other two heroes due to their schedules. Those two, however, never once slacked in their duties and almost always came to replace him right on time.
It wasn’t until 3 days later, when they were set to leave, that he finally met with the other two for long enough to have a conversation.
Their next duty started from there. They would have to stay with the tankers until they were taken to a refinement facility. Threadreaper appeared to know a lot about these travels, and upon asking, Ning learned that he had been doing government transport contracts for more than twenty years now. Back then, even though heroes being involved with government operations was still controversial, he still did those jobs.
As such, he knew the routes and the risks that came with this.
Ning only learned later that Godhood had replaced them along with Prism-Eye, and one other hero had come to replace them. He wished he could talk to Godhood and learn about what had happened to Calvin, but that moment was gone.
They all got onto the tankers and departed from the mines.