Chapter 1: Bald Chicken

“Catch it.”

It’s been half a month since Qiao Zhiya fell into this barren land full of rocks. During this half month, he was constantly watched by a group of strange guys who were tall and huge. Every day, he worked hard to transport the stones, tiring his thin arms.

However, that was not the point. The point was that he could not understand what those people were saying, he didn’t know the objects they used, and they ate an extremely unpalatable food that he had never tasted before. More importantly, there was no magic here— the air was twisted and dry, and filled with something that made him very uncomfortable.

This was definitely not his beautiful and lovely hometown. The black hole that appeared suddenly half a month ago seemed to have brought him to the center of a villain’s base camp and caught him as soon as he landed.

What was that black hole? Was it a teleportation magic array made by an evil magician? What was the purpose of that evil magician to build a magic circle so close to the dwarf village? Other than him, were other people also sucked in? Would his father and mother go out to find him after he disappeared?

He was messily thinking about something, but his hands were not slow. He was pretending to be struggling to pick up a crimson stone, while paying attention to his feet, he walked towards the metal trailer not far away.

“Oh, it’s been half a month. Why is this kid still so strong?”

“The radiation from the red tin mine is only harmful to the spiritual power and it doesn’t affect the body. Isn’t it normal for him to be strong?” 

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“R vbkdj kv’p clnywpl bl shlalyvp, ps R vssj vbl zkclavu vs alewnl bkp qsse.”

“Slewnl bkp qsse? Ps usw xlyd vyjl yzz bkp qsse? Tybyby.”

Mbl pvaydtl yde rlnwzkya dskplp nswze cl blyae dlyacu yde Ckys Hbkuy tzydnle yv vblx. Ekvb y iwknj tzydnl, bkp tygl pvsrrle sd vbl vball vyzz pkzbswlvvlp vbyv olal vktbvzu oayrrle kd rasvlnvkhl nzsvbkdt, bl zsolale bkp blye, yde nsdvkdwle vs oyzj vsoyaep vbl vaykzla.

Gzvbswtb bl nswze dsv wdelapvyde vbl nsdvldv sq vbspl rlsrzl’p osaep, cwv sdzu cu zkpvldkdt vs vblka xyzknkswp vsdl, bl jdlo vbyv bl xwpv cl pvyahkdt ytykd vseyu— yqvla yzz, vbkp jkde sq vbkdt bye dsv byrrldle qsa vbl qkapv vkxl.

Fweeldzu, bkp pbswzela oyp bkv. Tl vwadle bkp blye vs vbl pkel yde bkp pktbv byrrldle vs xllv y oalvnble xkeezl-ytle xyd obs oyp yzps zkqvkdt y asnj. Tl pkzldvzu qasodle, vbld qzkdnble ypkel ralvldekdt vs cl pnyale, yde csole bkp blye.

“Nkvvzl Ywvl, nsxl vs xl yv dktbv, R’zz tkhl usw qsse, yde usw pvyu okvb xl qsa sdl dktbv, bso ycswv kv?” Ekvb vbl pzknj vsdl yde vbl ekptwpvkdt tzkdv kd bkp lulp, yzvbswtb bl nswzed’v wdelapvyde, kv’p elqkdkvlzu dsv y tsse-dyvwale iwlpvksd.

Ckys Hbkuy aykple bkp qkpv kvnbkdt vs bkv psxlsdl. Qzydnkdt shla vbl xlvyz akdt sd bkp oakpv, bl nswze sdzu pwrralpp bkp kxrwzpl, prlle wr bkp rynl, yde rwv vbl pvsdl kd vbl vaykzla. Tl vbld ayd cynj yaswde vbl xkeezl-ytle xyd yde nsdvkdwle vs xshl pvsdlp.

Ekvb vseyu’p xlvyz vaykzlap rkzle wr, Ckys Hbkuy, vstlvbla okvb svbla rlsrzl obs olal dsv olyakdt rasvlnvkhl nzsvbkdt, oyp eakhld cynj vs vbl rkv kd vbl taswde cu vbl cye twup kd rasvlnvkhl nzsvbkdt.

After half an hour, dinner came down and Qiao Zhiya didn’t get anything. The middle-aged man who had hit him before smiled and then started looking at him with that disgusting and blatant look.

He frowned, waited for the person who served the dinner to leave, got up, and walked deeper. He found a cave that can fit his figure and blocked the entrance with a boulder.

When the noise outside was separated by the stone, his tense nerves relaxed slightly. The cave was very dark, but fortunately, dwarves were good at seeing things at night, so he wouldn’t be groping in the dark.

He took out the last piece of dry food from the magic storage ring on his left upper arm and ate it to fill his stomach. He touched the metal ring on his limbs and took out the pocket hammer given to him by his mother, controlling his strength and aiming at his feet. He carefully pounded at the metal ring on his ankle.

Half a month was enough time for him to figure out the surrounding environment, the food in the storage ring had all been eaten, and if he would not leave, he would definitely be dragged to death here.

These metal rings were put on by the bad guys after they caught him. The function was unknown, but they were definitely not good things. The others who wore them showed pain after wearing the metal ring. Although he realized that these metal rings had no effect on him, it was better to take them off before fleeing just to be sure.

The metal ring was stronger than he had imagined. Because he was afraid of being noticed when the sound was too loud, he minimized the force on the hammer, so his progress was very slow. 

About a quarter of an hour later, a crack finally appeared on the metal ring, and at the same time, there was a sound of being moved from the stone blocking the entrance of the cave.

He looked up at the motionless stone, his mouth turning into a flat line. He bowed his head expressionlessly and continued to beat the ring.

When the person found out that he couldn’t move the boulder blocking the entrance, he yelled in frustration. Qiao Zhiya acted as if he heard nothing and continued hammering at the metal ring in a regular interval until small cracks appeared.

He didn’t know how long it took, the cursing outside stopped, and the metal ring on his ankle showed signs of breaking under his continuous beating.

“Damn, I don’t know how the little devil managed to lift this thing! Brothers, help me remove this stone and everyone will be happy today!” The shouting started again. This time, with a few more echoing sounds, and the big rock at the entrance of the cave started to move slowly. Qiao Zhiya stopped and looked at it very unhappily. The hand holding the hammer tightened, he frowned and thought about it. He suppressed the idea of ​​tidying up these people, turned around, and knocked another big rock from the cave wall with a hammer to block behind the previous rock.

Obviously, they were all controlled and oppressed by the bad guys. These people didn’t want to unite and run away. Instead, they fought and bullied each other. They were full of malice who wanted to find satisfaction from the weak ones—a group of people who didn’t know how to save themselves, but would only drag bad things around!

He gritted his teeth and cursed in his heart. He then observed this cave he could use for hiding temporarily and listened to the noise getting louder outside, worrying that it would attract the bad guys in protective clothing. He simply got up and walked to the deepest part of the cave and touched the cave wall covered with hard rocks and raised his hammer.

The plan couldn’t keep up with the changes. If he didn’t run today, he would only have two results: Either the bad guy in the protective clothing would find the cracks in the metal ring, thus, he would be more closely controlled; or he would have a conflict with the middle-aged man, bullied, or exposed his strength, and catch the attention of the bad guys in protective clothing.

No matter what he chose, it would be over. Therefore, it was better to run away! Although this cave was not the escape route he had previously planned. However, his hammer was still here, and if there was no way, he could smash a way!

After he no longer suppressed his strength, those hard stones, under the dual force of his strength and hammer, were as crisp and fragile as freshly baked biscuits, and shattered when hit. 

One meter, two meters, three meters… There was more and more rubble behind him. The noisy sound was gradually turning inaudible and only the sound of a hammer hitting the stone wall could be heard in the dark stone path. Realizing that the surrounding air was getting thinner and thinner, he frowned, took out a small tank device from his storage ring and then took out the large breathing mask attached to it and put it on his face.

Dwarves were good at mining and  used to carry various mining tools. Although he was a mixed race, he was more similar to his mother and grew up in a dwarf village. Thus, his habits were more biased towards dwarves and he liked to carry around various kinds of tools and gadgets in his storage ring. 

He was now very grateful for this habit. This strange barren land was different from all the mineral mining areas he knew. The minerals were actually laid on the ground with nothing underneath, only piles of hard rocks without energy. The reacting hard rocks could not be broken by ordinary tools, while the bad guys in the protective suits monitored above the ground. Without his tools, it would have been impossible for him to escape.

His thought was interrupted by a crisp knocking sound, and the stone wall, which should have been shattered immediately, blocked him, silently mocking him in contempt. He regained his senses. He hurriedly took the small hammer to his eyes and checked it. After confirming that it was not broken, he looked at the suddenly hardened stone in front of him and frowned.

Different from the gray-brown stone that was smashed before, what the hammer failed to destroy was a small piece of crimson stone wrapped in the gray-brown stone. He raised his hand and lightly touched it, quickly perceiving an uncomfortable familiar feeling as he always felt it during his half a month of stay.

He immediately determined that the red stone and the ore he had transported during this time should be the same thing, but this stone was darker in color, harder, and made him feel more uncomfortable.

The stone that should have only existed above ground suddenly appeared underground. It was weird, but it was not the time to study this. The road was blocked and he had to find a way to get rid of this stone.

He raised his hammer to increase his strength and beat it a few times. Some cracks appeared on the red stone, but it remained strong and not broken. He was a little anxious, there was not much air in the storage ring, and he couldn’t stay underground for too long.

Get around it? Or… he looked around and tightly gripped his hammer — since he couldn’t smash the red stone, he would just pry it out! Who knew how many pieces of this kind of red stone were in this area. If there were many things everywhere, wouldn’t it be a waste of time? Based on his experience, such things as ore definitely appear in pieces!

Having this idea, he stopped smashing the red stone, but the gray-brown gravel around it. Half an hour later, a crimson boulder half a person tall was “stripped” from the rock wall by him. Before he could take a closer look, he threw the stone into the storage ring and continued to walk forward.

Afterwards, he came across a few of these red stones, all of which were “peeled” by him and stuffed into the storage ring. Fortunately, the red stones that he encountered later were not big, and he was also proficient in “peeling” them without being delayed for too long.

After walking for more than ten meters, the red stone did not appear again, and he successfully reached an underground escape point.

Taking a sigh of relief, he rubbed his wrist and began to smash rocks up diagonally along the escape point, slowly moving towards the ground. It was more than an hour later, when the air in the storage ring was about to run out, he pushed away the last smashed rock and stuck his head out of the ground.

Fresh air gushed over and he took off the mask on his face. He took a deep breath, put away all his tools, carefully climbed out of the hole, and blocked it with stones. He looked at the distant boulder surrounded by tall wired walls and the faint patrol crowd inside. He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Warning! Warning! Someone broke in! Someone broke in! Warning!” 

The harsh metal sound suddenly exploded, the lights around the barren ground turned on, and Qiao Zhiya stopped abruptly. He turned his head in horror and looked behind him.

What was going on? Where did the strange sound just come from? Why did the lights on the barren ground turn on? Did the bad guys in protective clothing found him running away and wanted to catch him?

Before he could think of a reason, the air in front of him suddenly twisted. A black metal giant and three iron gray metal giants appeared out of nowhere and fell in front of him, just blocking his retreat.

His pupils shrank sharply. He stepped back and looked up at the sudden appearance of these metal giants, his heartbeat almost stopped— and with all his knowledge, he swore that these metal giants were definitely not creatures that existed on the magical continent.

Unfamiliar language, strange machines, minerals that have never appeared before… All the different things he had seen in the past half month appeared in his mind, stimulated by fear. One thought was squeezed out in his left and right brain— Mama, this place was too strange. I may not be able to return home.

Inside the black mecha, Fan Xiangnan stopped his action, and looked at the scanner’s screen.

Sitting in the deputy chair, Chu Rong noticed his pause, turned off the light brain in his hand, and looked at him, “What’s wrong?”

“Sir.” Fan Xiangnan pointed to the middle of the screen, frowning slightly, “It seemed to be a small child.”

Chu Rong followed the direction of his fingers and saw on the screen a thin, awkward young boy in torn clothes who was looking up at them— his eyes widened with fear, his hands crossed at his arms,  forming a defensive posture for self-protection.

His face was dirty, his hair blasted comically, and his thin body… Well, like a frightened bald chicken.

“Catch it.” He gave a faint command and gently touched the metal shell of the light brain with an unreadable expression.