Dharma Ring: Selling dung beetles at the border

The miners stared at Patch cautiously, while using their staffs to quickly hook up a few pieces of barbecue, stuffing them into their mouths and gnawing fiercely.

Some of them have no teeth in their mouths, but that doesn't stop a piece of ribs from going in and only bones coming out.

Seeing that the diners were alright, the others started to help themselves to their meals after waiting for a while.

However, there were still many miners who did not take action. Their focus was not on Wuming and Patch, but on a large sack that was constantly squirming not far away.

They looked at the delicious food with fascination, but like people waking up from a dream, they would turn to look at the sacks, like well-trained dogs, waiting for the master's order to eat.

All the miners had faces full of smoke and dust, and their eyes were lifeless. Even the miners who gnawed fiercely on meat did not have the light of wisdom and agility in their eyes, but more of a fierce look forced to survive.

Wuming ignored the tangled miners. He squatted in front of the big sack and communicated face to face with several multi-handed bugs.

This bug is a genus of corruption, a zerg species born from scarlet corruption.

The nameless noise was so loud that it attracted all the miners in the mine, and naturally also alerted the corrupt family members who were guarding the miners.

Wuming uniformed all these corrupt relatives, tied them up and put them in cloth bags, except for their heads.

The densely packed insect heads were squeezed together and screamed.

Hey, do you understand me? Wuming squatted in front of them and made gestures.

What are you doing? Patch asked.

I'm communicating. Wuming said, Can't you tell?

Those are bugs, Patch said.

They are using weapons, and they will also act as overseers to watch over the miners, and my method of banning spells is effective on them, which means that the essence of the silk thread is a kind of spell. Wuming said, They don't seem to be creatures without intelligence. .”

Wuming looked at Patch: Have you seen the talking bug before?

Patch said: How do I remember that you are the kind of person who can kill all the talking bugs?

Wuming covered his face and smiled sheepishly:

Oh, I can't help it. Who made them talk too much?

Wuming suddenly turned around, staring at the corrupt family members like a tiger:

Can you talk? If you can't talk, I can only treat you like a bug. If you can talk but can't talk, I can only treat you like a bug.

Wuming picked up the sword and gestured at the mouth of the bag, calculating at what level he could cut off the heads of all the insects with one sword.

One of the bugs suddenly let out a sharp whistle, and then the sound gradually became deeper.

The mouthparts of the Corrupt Familiar are constantly vibrating and changing, producing various syllables.

After a while, the Corruption Family stopped their ever-changing syllables, paused for a while, and said:

I can.

This is a somewhat old and rich voice. Although it is a bit unclear, it is indeed human language.

Very good. Wuming applauded.

He showed no surprise at all when he spoke to the insect, and went straight to the point:

You seem to be working as overseers. Why are you exploiting these miners? Who do you work for? And how much are you paid?

We don't work for anyone, we only serve the goddess. said the Corrupt Family.

So you are working for the goddess? Wuming said, Who is the goddess of the Zerg tribe? The big bug?

The corrupt family members shook their heads:

The goddess abandoned us, we work for ourselves. The ores here can strengthen our weapons, we need to strengthen our weapons, we want to survive.

Although the bugs can speak human language, they obviously can't speak it well, and their meanings are still somewhat confusing.

But Wuming could still feel the desire to survive from their words.

Wuming nodded empathetically:

Well said, for survival.

He continued with a smile:

I also want to survive and strengthen our weapons. Just give us this mine, okay?

The insects chirped and forgot to speak human words, obviously not agreeing with Wuming's proposal.

Wuming negotiated with the insects in a serious manner.

After a long time, he got up and returned to Patch and the miners:

We have negotiated and they are willing to give up the ownership of the tunnel. They have too few people and cannot use too much ore. As long as we regularly give them some metal products and the supplies they need. We will probably give them 20% of the revenue. Twenty-eight points, we made a lot of money.”

Patch was surprised: Why are you still negotiating with them? Haven't you already won?

You said you wanted me to be considerate of others. I put myself in their shoes and thought it was not good to just take advantage of others. Wuming said.

He said to the miners:

Don't worry, your treatment has been negotiated. They will no longer monitor you and rely on violence to make you work. In the future, your treatment will be much better. We will exchange wine, meat and other materials for your ore. If you don't want to do it, you can also follow Let’s go back and I’ll send others to mine.”

Patch still felt something was wrong and had a feeling that something was wrong:

Really believe in bugs? Aren't you afraid that they will act against you and cause trouble in secret?

The mine is here. My proposal will not harm them. This is cooperation. If we cooperate, we will both benefit, otherwise we will lose together. Wuming said.

Wuming looked at the miners:

And you said it, these people are domesticated. But they are not domesticated by the ore, but by the corrupt relatives. As slaves, they dare not even eat without the order of their master, even if their master has been tied to In the sack.

Patch raised his hand and drew the knife on his neck:

Maybe it's just because their master is still alive. Try killing them.

It's no use, this is Galid. Wuming said.

He learned about Galid's situation from the mouths of insects. This place was located in the Ionian swamp, and countless insects swarmed out of the swamp.

Unless Wuming has enough troops to guard the entrance of the cave and reject all corrupt relatives, even if he kills a few bugs in the cave, new bugs will continue to come in and enslave the miners again.

This place is like the land under the light of the golden tree, where the noble golden people belonging to this land grow, forming an absolute advantage over other populations in the border tributaries.

Patch understood what Wuming meant and no longer insisted.

I hope they can trust you, Patch said. Although I know you are willing to accept anyone who comes, you are even crazier than I thought for accepting a bug so easily and negotiating business with a corrupt relative.

What happened to the Corrupt Family? Wuming asked.

A miner was stuffing food into his mouth when he suddenly coughed violently and spurted out a lot of blood.

What's wrong? Wuming hurried over to treat the miner.

He quickly clarified to other miners: We didn't poison.

But faced with this clarification, the miners did not react.

In other words, they didn't react when they saw the miners vomiting blood.

It’s time to eat, it’s time to drink.

This is the 'what's wrong', Patch said. Corruption kin are born from corruption, and corruption is incompatible with other creatures. Corruption is extremely poisonous to these people.

Wuming looked at the blood mixed with stomach acid from the minced meat.

He looked again at the miner's mouth.

The inside of the mouth was rotten, and blood was pouring from the sores.

This kind of rot is not the same as the gradual withering of the immortals. It has a bright red color and seems to have strong vitality. It is a bit like a ripe persimmon that fell from the tree and smashed to pieces.

The miners' mouths exuded a strange fishy stench. It has a combination of rotten meat and a pungent aroma.

But Wuming couldn't smell the smell. He moved closer to the miner's mouth and studied the sores.

The tip of his ring finger stirred up a small flame and inserted it into the miner's mouth to illuminate it.

At the same time, the flames emitted rounds of golden light and warmth.

Under this light, the ulcers in the miners' mouths were gradually repaired.

But the repairs were quickly curbed.

The nameless and unbelieving people send the flames to the fester.

The tongue of fire licked the festering sores, burning the ulcers on the mouth, and the miners screamed in agony.

Wuming held the miner, preventing him from moving, and concentrated on burning the ulcer.

But the ulceration was still not contained, and white slurry erupted everywhere under the high temperature, even splashing on Wuming's body.

When the other miners saw the slurry, they moved their bodies a little away, but not too far away.

Their faces were still expressionless, their faces full of wrinkles, like clay sculptures or rock.

That thing is contagious. A miner reminded Wuming, But if you stay here for a long time, you will always get it.

Wuming took his finger out of the miner's mouth and looked at the festering wound that was still not healed.

At this time, the miner was close to collapse, and his strong body that was originally used for mining suddenly lost weight.

Nameless judgment: It seems to absorb its own vitality to grow, so the treatment is ineffective. The energy of the treatment will also become its nourishment, and cauterizing the wound will also extract the power of the host to survive...

Interesting. Wuming said.

He dipped his fingers into a few drops of the white liquid, dripped it along the mask into his mouth, savoring the feeling.

When the others saw Wuming putting the source of infection in his mouth, they all took a few steps back in fear.

Aren't you? Patch also couldn't bear it, I don't think you've abused your body like this.

The nameless chirping mouth:

It's okay, it's nothing serious.

He stretched his body and jumped lively:

This power is a bit strange, but it's useless to me.

It's really okay? Patch said doubtfully, Don't be like the kind of person who is infected with the virus but doesn't do anything to harm everyone in the end.

I'm not trying randomly. Wuming said, If you use the flame to bake the ulcerated area, you will find that the miner's physical strength is consumed rapidly, and his vitality is used to make up for the loss of the flame. Although this shows that the flame cannot simply cure this It is a kind of corruption, but it also shows that flame can indeed restrain corruption.

Wuming snapped his fingers at Patch:

So you understand, who am I? Can I be afraid of this thing?

Wuming's lively activity also caused discussion among the miners. The miners, who were originally dusty and dull-eyed, regained some energy at this time.

Do you have a solution to the corruption disease? they asked.

No, I just said it's useless to me, but I can't cure it yet. Wuming said honestly.

The miners' eyes darkened.

We can do some research, and maybe we can find a special medicine. Wuming said, If you are afraid, just leave. I will find someone else to mine here.

The miners were silent for a moment:

No need, we stay here because it is relatively safe.

Yeah, it's full of scarlet corruption outside. If you really go out, you'll be infected before you can go anywhere else.

Don't worry about this. We have a teleportation array that goes directly to the safe area. Wuming said, You all know magic and are very healthy. You are needed in many positions. You can choose for yourself. Of course, the salary will be much lower.

Wuming said: If you want to leave, just raise your hand and I will help you make arrangements.

In the mine, hands were raised, and many people also raised their hands, as if they were praying in the posture of the Corrupted Family.

Their eyes sparkled with hope.

Forty-three people... Okay, please pay five hundred runes each. Thank you. I'll make arrangements for you. After counting the number of people, Wuming greeted them loudly.

As he spoke, Wuming used his long sword to record the number of people on his armband for memo.

After Wuming finished carving the words, he looked up again and found that all the hands he had raised before had been put down again.

The miners stared at Wuming, somewhat silent.

What's wrong? Wuming felt that the silent atmosphere was a bit strange. This was not the atmosphere that one should have when escaping from the dead.

The miners hesitated, not wanting to tell Wuming.

In the end, after Wu Ming pursued the question relentlessly and threatened him with food, a miner finally told the truth:

Um...let us pay the money first. You look like a liar.

Huh? Wuming couldn't believe this answer, and his voice was long.

Patch laughed wildly.

The miners quickly said:

We don't want to doubt you, but people have lied to us like this before. As a result, the money was gone, the people were gone, and they were beaten. Moreover, runes are rarely useful here, and many people don't have five hundred runes. …”

Wuming sighed and said patiently:

Where is this?

The tunnel. The miners were stunned.

That's right, this is a tunnel. What is this place? It's dark and the slaves are not allowed to escape. There is no teleportation array or even a blessing here. You can't get out of the cave. I think special means will be needed to arrange for you to get out of the cave.

Wuming twirled his fingers: Special means cost money!

The miners murmured: That's what the liar said too.

Wuming jumped: I have the force to wipe out you, and I also gave you a lot of food - those two bites of meat are more than five hundred, okay?

Some miners still had pig legs stuffed in their mouths, but suddenly their mouths stopped moving. They looked at Wuming, then at the meat in their mouths, and reluctantly put them down.

But we really don't have the money, they said.

This is not about money! Wuming glared, This is about my credibility! I can advance the money to you first, and then pay it back to me when you have earned enough, but credibility is very important! I operate with integrity!

Can I put it on first? The miners' eyes lit up.

Wuming said a lot, but when he heard this sentence, he was a little depressed.

Patch suppressed a smile: Okay, you get them away first, and they will naturally believe you.

Wuming clicked his tongue and walked up to the corrupt family members, tightening his pockets again.

He took out another bag and filled it with forge stone and pyroxene.

He did not collect much. The ore produced by the miners was often transported out of the cave immediately, and there was not much finished ore that had been mined in the cave.

These are considered exchanges for food. Let's go back and prepare the teleportation props first, and we'll be back to pick you up right away.

The two of them returned to the bone fragments and were about to activate the teleportation array when the entire mine began to tremble.

What's wrong? Is there an earthquake?

Wuming looked around, grabbing the bag and refusing to let go.