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墨書 Inktalez
A sudden "knock, knock" echoed from outside the window. The Mute Blacksmith pressed his soot-blackened face against the window frame, gesturing with his fingers—first pointing to the sky, then to the ground, and finally drawing a pentagram on his chest.
Lin Dahe followed him into the cellar behind the blacksmith shop, where the musty smell mixed with metallic rust hit them hard. The mute moved aside a pile of scrap metal, revealing a hidden compartment. Inside were five finely crafted steel chisels, three rock hammers, and several threaded iron pipes—clearly mining tools manufactured by the Ministry of Works from a previous dynasty!
"This... this is..."
The mute suddenly tore open his shirt, revealing a prominent "工" (Works) emblem tattooed on his chest. The system immediately recognized it: [Heavenly Revelation Era Armory Craftsman Mark]. The blacksmith then pointed to a wooden box at the back, which surprisingly contained half a barrel of well-preserved Black Powder!
"Boom—"
A thunderous sound suddenly roared from the direction of the Western Mountain. The two rushed outside to see the night sky illuminated by an eerie orange glow—it was coming from the Zhou Family Mine!
In the grain field before dawn, over twenty young men took turns swinging hammers. Steel chisels sparked against the limestone, but their progress was painfully slow. Lin Dahe wiped his sweat and suddenly remembered the "Soil Softening Agent" formula rewarded by the system.
"It needs an acidic solution..." He stared blankly at the quenching pool in the blacksmith shop when a flash of inspiration struck him, "Vinegar dregs! Aunt Wang's leftover mash from brewing vinegar!"
By the evening of the third day, this tunnel over a hundred paces long had taken shape. Villagers reinforced the ceiling with wooden planks while women and children formed a long line passing rocks. The Mad Old Woman sat at the entrance spinning thread, humming an off-key tune as the shadow of her spindle slithered along the rock wall like a snake.
"The spring should be thirty paces directly west." Lin Dahe examined the rock layers with a torch when he suddenly heard Cui Xiaoman's sharp voice from behind: "Who?"
Deep within the tunnel, pairs of glowing green eyes flashed by—it was Zhou Family's trained Treasure Mice! These creatures had their claws covered in black powder, clearly there to sabotage their work.
"Block them!" Lin Dahe shouted just as the ground began to shake violently. Debris rained down from above as a dull collapse echoed in the distance.
"The mine has been breached!" One-Armed Veteran crawled in covered in dirt and grime. "The Zhou family intentionally collapsed the old passage!"
Before anyone could regain their composure, a shout came from the entrance: "Those who mine without permission will be punished with one hundred strikes!"
The torchlight illuminated the County Magistrate's official robes, making them appear purple. This thin old man held up Lin Dahe's drawn map of the tunnel, his goatee twitching as he said, "The Western Mountain is a royal mining vein; you all..."
"My lord!" Zhou Liangzhang suddenly pointed at fresh chisel marks on the rock wall. "This is an attempt to steal silver ore!"
The County Magistrate squinted at those sparkling rock layers and suddenly sniffed: "Nitre?" He turned sharply to Lin Dahe, "Privately refining gunpowder is punishable by extermination of nine generations!"
The Mad Old Woman's spinning wheel fell silent. The old woman trembled as she stood up, her bony finger pointing at the jade pendant on the County Magistrate's waist: "So white snow... so red plum..."
The County Magistrate froze as if struck by lightning. The piece of sheep-fat jade was carved with none other than Snowy Plum Blossom Painting! The Mad Old Woman suddenly began singing a strange nursery rhyme:
"Snowflake Ointment, red plum blossom,
Fat and big are mice in official granaries...
Father eats hearts, mother eats paws,
Leave a tail for the county office..."
The County Magistrate's face turned pale instantly; he stumbled back two steps in his official boots: "You... you are..." He suddenly bellowed, "Return to the office!"
Zhou Liangzhang tried to stop him but was met with a slap from the County Magistrate: "Get out of my way! I won't wade through this murky water!"
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