"So this is your big bro—is he a merchant too?" Antonia approached closer, sizing up Zeig's appearance.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, she caught sight of the white lance and was immediately shocked.
"Wait, you—you're…" She pointed at Abyss Flower, eyes wide.
"That's right, I am the flower of Belobog." Zeig smiled faintly.
He kicked the wheelchair toward Antonia and asked:
"What's the situation now? I heard a bunch of robots took over the vein—what's their goal?"
Antonia caught the wheelchair, glanced at the evil spirit knight, and sighed:
"I don't know. Maybe their target is this vein too."
She gazed toward the depths of the vein:
"Seele and Oleg should still be there. Earlier, a group of outsiders went in too—including a little girl dressed as a Silvermane Guard. Mysterious physician… why don't you go take a look?"
Zeig thought for a moment.
After using Abyss Flower to heal all the miners here with a quick burst, he headed deeper alone.
Antonia watched Zeig's retreating back and murmured:
"No mistake—he really is that physician."
She turned back to ask Sampo:
"So, who's this evil spirit knight the physician tied up? Is it a Fragmentum creature?"
Sampo stroked his chin, carefully examining the evil spirit knight's face—it somehow looked human.
So he reached out and pulled away the blue-and-white cloth gagging Cyrille's mouth.
"Cough cough… cough cough cough… thank you." Cyrille, her face completely blackened with soot, spoke.
"Huh, it's a human?" Sampo observed.
Seeing this, Antonia found a towel, dampened it with water from her canteen, and helped wipe Cyrille's face clean.
After cleaning her up, she exclaimed in shock:
"My god, it really is a person."
Sampo instantly understood everything:
"Oh~ You're the one who brought big bro's clothes, right? No wonder he suddenly started acting all cool—turns out that patient gown was with you!"
The patient gown had been balled up—and was exactly what had just been stuffed in Cyrille's mouth.
Cyrille, still shaken, kept replaying the earlier scene in her mind.
"Big Bro Zeig, he… he… he peed and pooped right in front of me. I… I… he… he actually did it standing up…"
Sampo said matter-of-factly:
"Isn't standing the right way? I do it standing too."
Antonia also said matter-of-factly:
"Yeah, I like standing too—though that's when I'm showering."
Instantly, everyone present except Antonia was dumbfounded.
"What's wrong?" Antonia scratched her head. "Is there something wrong with standing?"
"Big sis boss, don't say random stuff—keep quiet for a bit." Several miners behind her quickly interrupted.
Cyrille continued:
"No, Big Bro Zeig isn't like you—his arc was curved, and it went really far."
Sampo had a sudden realization:
"Oh, I get it! You mean his thingy is crooked!"
At that moment, a miner jumped up to refute:
"No, Mr. Sampo—even if it's not crooked, it can still go far, right?"
Another miner added:
"Crooked or not has nothing to do with distance. It mainly depends on whether the function is intact and how often it's released late at night—whether it's frequent or not."
The previous miner frowned:
"Bullshit—I rush facing Leader Oleg every day and it still goes far!"
"That's an exception, and yours is stop-and-go—distance doesn't even matter anymore."
"So what if it's stop-and-go? Like yours pissing into your own shoe downwind is so great?"
"Sorry, I'm a girl."
…
By the time Natasha arrived, she found no injured miners here—but the arguing had grown even more intense.
The content of the argument was as follows.
"I could fucking spray from the Great Mine all the way to Rivet Town!"
"Come on, come on—spray! You spray! I'll watch you perform! If you don't reach, I'll fucking cut yours off!" He pointed at the man's crotch and cursed.
"There are girls here—I'm not comfortable."
"You're such a bragger. Last time I saw yours split into forks—quit pretending!"
Amid the chaos,
Natasha listened blankly to these people's statements, stunned like a wooden chicken.
"Doctor Natasha, perfect timing!" At that moment, a miner walked over.
His eyes shone as he said:
"Hurry and prescribe some medicine for those guys! One splits into forks, another is stop-and-go, and a few piss on their own shoes—real fucking losers!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, you're proud of your 6 centimeters? I think you're the one who needs a doctor!"
"Heh, pencil dick!"
Listening to these remarks, Natasha instantly felt bewildered.
Silently, she took out a bottle of Liuwei Dihuang Wan:
"You all… share this. Medicine is running low in the lower district."
…
At the edge of the Great Mine vein.
Seele, March 7th, Dan Heng, Bronya, and many Wildfire members all stood here, confronting Svarog.
The tall robot silently observed the crowd. Behind him, the vast clusters of Geomarrow veins glowed with dazzling fluorescence.
Like treasure, quietly awaiting the destined one to claim it.
A white-haired little girl gazed at the Geomarrow veins from afar and softly said:
"Mr. Svarog, the vein is so big. Clara has never seen so much Geomarrow…"
What answered her was Svarog's mechanical synthesized voice:
"Calculating—based on average mining efficiency, this vein can sustain Belobog's energy supply for two hundred thirty-one days, with a margin of error of seven days." Svarog's voice was emotionless, yet somehow conveyed a hint of gentleness.
"I have already halted the dispute between vagrants and miners and temporarily secured the mining area. Assessment—within thirty days, barring unforeseen variables, no large-scale armed conflict will occur."
Clara said softly:
"I understand Mr. Svarog's intentions, but… the mining team and everyone in Wildfire still don't understand Mr. Svarog… If we could do more for everyone…"
Svarog's mechanical voice sounded again:
"My mission is to preserve the lower district. Trust from a minority of samples is extraneous in calculations. Human behavior always deviates from rational computation, Clara…"
He slowly turned to the crowd opposite.
"Their presence here is the best proof."
Seele stepped forward first and said:
"Svarog, I still haven't settled the score from last time—and now you're sticking your nose in here too!"
Svarog's voice remained calm:
"Seele, affiliated with Wildfire… Your resistance is futile. The calculation is clear: remaining in the lower district is the optimal survival strategy."
"Impressive." A praising voice came from behind Svarog:
"Didn't expect there'd be someone sensible here. Svarog—he really, I'm crying dead."
"Huh?" Clara turned at the sound and saw a long-haired man sitting on the Geomarrow, casually chipping away with a mining pick while praising Svarog's words.
"Here we go again." Seele frowned:
"What calculation results, survival strategies—I've got no time for your long speeches. Hurry and pull back your small-fry underlings, or don't blame me for getting rough."
The long-haired man shook his head, raising and lowering the pick:
"Is this the pursuit of freedom? She really—I'm crying dead."
"Um… big brother, this Geomarrow belongs to the miners. Could you not mine it?" Clara climbed over to Zeig's side and persuaded.
"Oh, I know! It's just—I've never mined before, so I'm trying it out." Zeig looked up at Clara.
Noticing what she was wearing, his eyes instantly widened in amazement: "Little sister, how come you're even tougher than Seele! Running around barefoot like that."
Clara's face immediately turned red as she stammered:
"I-I…"
From below came a mechanical voice:
"Clara is protected by a Path; warmth is not a concern."
"Oh, I see."
"…"
"?"
Zeig lowered his head and met Svarog's red gaze—three eyes locking.
Svarog: "…"
…