Chapter 385: Chapter 384: The tunnels

“This place is very desolate, ha?” Victor asked as he leisurely passed through the wide empty tunnels with Zoe who wanted to pull back her hand from his grasp a few times, but each time she managed to pull back, he would find a sneaky way to grab it again!

“Usually you would be seeing all kinds of carts and workers transporting ores all through these tunnels, but due to the recent attacks, we issued a lockdown order, all miners shall stay in their villages temporarily, and all required mining quotas had been suspended,” Alto explained as he tried hard not to mind the romantic drama unfolding between his two companions. Not his business… 

“Oh… How is this exactly managed?” Victor asked as he inspected the walls and noted that they were gradually moving deeper underground. He never went down to this place in the past. 

“The mines are composed of three main large channels, with 3 to 5 side channels at the end of each. At the end of each of those 13 channels, a mining village was created as a central hub and a resting place for the miners… although most of those guys are family criminals they needed a place to sleep and live while they were not working!”

“So my brother is at one of those villages?” Victor asked.

“Ah…. Not exactly…” Alto hesitated.

“What do you mean?”

“The villages might get overpopulated at times, so we relegated some of the people there to minor outposts… Your brother is at the most desolate one,” Alto said slowly, strangely enough, Victor didn’t seem offended, making Zoe who was listening frown. She had met that guy Luke once when she first awakened, he seemed like a decent kid… Still, she had a feeling that Victor, who appeared completely stoic, was very glad.

“How long until we reach the nearest village?” Zoe asked. 

“Ah… three hours, and to the place where young master Luke is at, we will need 6 more…”

“What?” Zoe was shocked. “This place is that big?”

“Ah… Yes…” Alto sighed. “Don’t worry, we will take a rest on the way there!”

“That’s not the problem!” Zoe sighed, “How many people work here?” she asked.

“About 70,000… I am not sure...” Alto said.

“WHAT?” Zoe was shocked. “Where did you get all those people?”

“Some of them are family members and servants who committed grave mistakes, others are slaves who the family gets from….” Alto didn’t explain further.

You are reading story The Young Master in the Shadows at novel35.com

“The family has many enemies, and those enemies have families!” Victor said. “When killing someone we need to pull the roots to avoid future problems…”

“But that’s cruel!” Zoe, who understood what he meant, said. “What about the children?”

“Those of the first generation will be forced to work here for life, after that they are given a chance to work their way out and even redeem themselves and their parents once they are old enough…” Alto said. “Though many never leave this place…” he sighed.

“...” Zoe frowned, she didn’t like this.

Victor said nothing. This was the reality of their family… No, all the other powers. They all have dark cruel secrets that they inherited from their ancestors. Systems that they needed to keep their power.

They needed many servants and agents and although they got replacements from the outside every once in a while, the best way was to raise them by themselves.

He sighed.

The next few minutes were silent. 

“Oh, by the way… Are those miners' girls pretty?” Victor asked all of a sudden, making Zoe who was feeling a little down, quickly pinch his hand. PERVERT!

“All the pretty ones got selected young to work for the maids department…” Alto told the truth, “The ones left here are not bad though… Even the ugliest girls would look pretty in a certain light! And the illumination condition around here is not ideal…” he added. Speaking of experience.

“True…” Victor nodded, totally ignoring Zoe’s pinches as he looked up at and observed the magical gems that illuminated this place.

At first, he thought they were an artifact especially created for that purpose, but as they walked further inside, he began to notice many of those Gems naturally growing out of the walls.

---