Thirty li to the northeast of Nanyang Prefecture City, there was a small mountain called Tangshan.
At the foot of the mountain ran a river known as the Fenxi River, which wound its way around the mountain.
The Tangshan Army was stationed to the south of Tangshan and north of the Fenxi River.
On the official road, more than ten ox carts, loaded with heavy goods, moved slowly towards the small Tangshan.
Chen Mu sat on the right side of an ox cart, behind him the cart was filled with bamboo baskets holding all sorts of seasonal vegetables, oil, salt, and condiments.
The journey went smoothly, and even though the ox carts were slow, by morning, the convoy had arrived at the Tangshan Army’s camp.
“Dawang, don’t wander around once you’re in the camp, just keep your head down and work,”
“Even though we are part of the Laborer Camp, the rules are still strict.”
“If you break military law, I can’t protect you either,” Sun Enqi said seriously.
“I understand, Uncle Qi,” Chen Mu replied, his head slightly lowered as if he didn’t dare to look directly at the other, answering in a dull tone.
Pleased, Sun Enqi nodded, sizing up his nephew. He couldn’t help but shake his head in self-mockery: “I’m worrying over nothing.”
“This nephew of mine looks like an honest person; how could he possibly cause trouble?”
His expression softened, and he patted Chen Mu on the shoulder, “Come on, I’ll take you to register and settle in. Otherwise, we can’t make your iron bracelet.”
“Iron bracelet?” Chen Mu asked, puzzled.
“Hmmph, like this one.” Sun Enqi raised his left hand.
Chen Mu looked and saw a dark iron ring, an inch wide, wrapped around the other’s wrist.
“This has our identity number engraved on it. Without this, you can’t get your pay.”
Chen Mu suddenly understood.
“It must be the identity tag inside the camp.”
“Alive, it’s convenient to distribute pay by name; dead, it’s convenient to build a tombstone and bury the person.”
Chen Mu pretended not to fully understand, nodding honestly.
He was now just an honest kid from the mountains, not understanding but also not daring to ask.
The two entered the camp, and as far as the eye could see, there were dense, grey-white tents everywhere.
“Uncle Qi, where is the Tangshan Army located?” Chen Mu asked curiously.
Sun Enqi shook his head with a smile, “The Tangshan Army is not here; they are located halfway up the mountain.”
This place… all laborers? So many people?
But… It’s good that there are many people! Makes it easier to hide.
…
Two days later.
At an open area by the Fenxi River, in the logistics area of the Dingyou Camp.
Thud, thud, thud…
A series of heavy sounds like a knife chopping on a wooden stump echoed.
Chen Mu, holding a thick-backed kitchen knife, was chopping root vegetables on a stump, quickly cutting them into walnut-sized pieces.
Thanks to Sun Enqi’s care, Chen Mu successfully blended into the logistics unit of the Dingyou Camp, becoming a vegetable chopping laborer.
Glancing at the short, chubby guy next to him sweating profusely, Chen Mu quietly adjusted his muscles, also causing sweat to form on his forehead.
“Can’t stand out from the crowd.”
Observing the other’s chopping speed, Chen Mu slightly adjusted his own.
He made an effort to maintain a speed where for every two cuts by the other person, he made one and a half.
“Perfect.”
He now needed to lie low and absolutely not stand out, to be a qualified vegetable chopping laborer.
“That settles it.”
Having fixed his chopping rhythm, Chen Mu began to focus on his breathing.
The Fifth Rank Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique’s Breathing Method had three hundred sixty variations, and a slight mistake meant starting over from the beginning.
“Luckily, I have proficiency.”
He could quickly enter the correct breathing rhythm.
In his mind, amidst the fog, tiny silver threads began to flicker, change, and grow.
Chen Mu quickly became immersed in it.
Yet, the movement of his hands did not change, mechanically chopping, chopping, chopping…
…
The chubby guy next to him was named Zheng Yuan, a fitting name as he had a round face, round legs, and a round stomach. His fingers were as plump and smooth as radishes.
He was one of only two vegetable choppers in the logistics army of Dingyou Camp.
Zheng Yuan glanced at the slow-witted young man next to him and nodded almost imperceptibly.
The new laborer was the head chef’s nephew, someone not to be provoked.
He had been worried that the other would work sloppily, making him do more work. But after observing for two days, he was unexpectedly satisfied.
Slower than himself yet not lazy. After three to five days, once he builds up some strength, he’ll become an excellent helper.
Glancing at the other’s chopping speed, Zheng Yuan shook his head slightly.
“After all, I was a bit slower than me, and I might have to help him later.”
“Forget it, if I have to help, I have to help. After all, he’s the nephew of the head chef.”
An hour later, Zheng Yuan stopped and stretched his arms.
Glancing at Chen Mu, who was still cutting vegetables, he shook his head, “With that many vegetables, and no reasonable rest, this kind of hard work won’t do.”
“Rookie, once he gets a taste of the hardship, he’ll learn.”
Two hours later, Zheng Yuan stopped again to flex his wrists.
Surprised by the rhythmic chopping noise that hasn’t slowed, he turned his head.
“He’s still got good stamina.”
Three hours later, Zheng Yuan rested.
Chop chop chop…
Five hours later, Zheng Yuan, massaging his back, took another break.
Chop chop chop…
After half an hour, Zheng Yuan was drenched with sweat. Listening to the dripping sound next to him, which was as steady as a metronome, even though the kitchen knife felt like it had gained twenty pounds, he didn’t dare stop chopping.
“Push harder, I can’t be outdone by a newbie.”
Thinking this, he turned to look at the newcomer.
And then he saw the other’s empty bamboo basket.
Zheng Yuan: “…”
At this moment, Chen Mu also came back to his senses, looking at his bamboo basket with a slightly vacant gaze.
“Done? Oh.”
Noticing the gaze from the side, Chen Mu turned to look and saw Zheng Yuan’s stunned expression and his two full baskets of vegetables.
“Finished! Ah…”
This definitely blows my cover!
“Ahem… Back in the village, I used to chop for the chefs at the banquet. You wouldn’t know, but for such a large banquet, there were only two of us chopping.”
Zheng Yuan’s face remained expressionless: “Oh, I used to chop at the Four Seas Tower, too. You wouldn’t know, but for such a large establishment, even with three master chefs, there were only two of us chopping.”
Chen Mu: “…”
…
In the end, the problem was perfectly solved after Chen Mu helped chop another basket of vegetables.
Short and stocky Zheng Yuan looked at Chen Mu with complete satisfaction.
He even secretly advised Chen Mu not to chop so fast and to learn to take a proper “rest,” supposedly a secret of the Four Seas Tower.
Chen Mu accepted the advice gladly, imitated it, and then truly integrated into the Dingyou Camp’s Logistics Army.
…
Two days later, at the entrance of the Dingyou Camp.
A group gathered, forming a long line of forty or fifty people that slowly inched forward.
Chen Mu, with his head slightly lowered and looking meek and timid, blended into the middle of the queue.
Today was the day they were scheduled to be fitted with the Iron Bracelets.
Passing laborers paid no particular attention, giving the scene a glance before moving on.
“Are they still inscribing it on the spot?” Chen Mu looked in surprise at the tent at the front of the line.
There was a long table set up.
Behind the table sat two people, one an old man with a goat beard checking ledgers, and the other, a man in a grey outfit, was responsible for fitting the Iron Bracelets.
Next to the middle-aged man was a bronze box, from which he occasionally took out an Iron Ring.
He would write something on the interior of the Iron Ring with a brush before fitting it onto someone. Read new chapters at M-V-L
“Is it etched with special corrosive liquid?” Chen Mu realized.
He had previously thought it was engraved manually.
“At this point, the alias of laborer Sun Dawang was successfully adopted,” Chen Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
There were considerable risks involved with his disguise and infiltration.
“Being here to wear the Iron Bracelet means the identity verification had passed.”
Now it was good, he would be able to go north with the army while looking for a chance to get a hold of the Thousand Mechanism Token and avoid the control of the Tangshan Army.
“Turning people into mummies, tsk tsk… The methods of these natives are truly terrifying.”
“It must be some special Magic Artifact.” Chen Mu remembered Kui Tuo’s description.
“Being a laborer is better.”
“Those haughty big shots definitely won’t care about the identity of a laborer.”
As he was thinking, the middle-aged man finished preparing an Iron Ring and pulled up the laborer’s left hand to fit it on.
Inadvertently, a faint black line flashed out from the inside of the bracelet. If not for Chen Mu’s seven Shape Cultivation transformations and his extraordinary vision, he might not have noticed it at all.
Then he just watched as that black line darted into the laborer’s arm in a flash.
Chen Mu: “…”
“Fuck!”