Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 500 The Happy Days of Receiving Paycheck

Early morning, in a remote mountain valley not far from the mine.

Black Hawk lay on the carpet, his blue eyes fixed on the tent roof above him.

The pile of charcoal he had set aside before going to sleep had long since burned out, leaving the entire tent devoid of heat, and his breath was a thin, white mist.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head, with veins bulging. The pain was so intense it felt like my head was about to split open in an instant.

Black Hawk struggled to pull a stack of pills from under his pillow and stuffed them all into his mouth without thinking twice.

A few seconds later, the symptoms subsided, and Black Hawk collapsed onto the carpet, completely exhausted.

"Why... is it the world that's sick, but I'm the one taking the medicine..."

After a long while, Black Hawk touched a small knife under his pillow and muttered, "To do big things, you ultimately need guns and explosives."

He quickly got up, dressed, put on a cotton hat, and rummaged through the corner to find a rather large black box containing a fuse, battery, wires, meter, and pliers.

Next to the black box were several cans of gasoline with a strong smell and some cut water pipes.

All that's missing are the detonators, but we should get them tonight. Hopefully, we'll get a good quantity. Black Hawk closed the lid and stepped out of the tent.

Hearing the commotion, Elke crawled out of the tent and followed Black Hawk. Although everyone considered him Black Hawk's most trusted confidant, Elke knew that he was terrified of the man before him at all times.

Whenever he thinks about escaping this extremely violent gang, the scene of Black Hawk stabbing that innocent driver to death in front of him without any expression flashes through his mind.

Elke was certain that if he tried to escape, he would end up like that unfortunate driver once he was caught.

Even worse, because Black Hawk has a particular fondness for making an example of someone.

Thinking of this, Elke couldn't help but shudder.

“Mr. Black Hawk, do you have a mission for us to carry out since you got up so early?” Elke asked respectfully from behind Black Hawk, bowing low.

"Today is payday for the Chinese dogs, and they'll all be drunk tonight. Elke, I want to entrust you with a very important task. Can you guarantee you can complete it?"

Black Hawk turned around, his cold gaze falling on Elke.

Elke felt a chill run down his spine and buried his head even deeper: "I will definitely finish it."

Black Hawk nodded in satisfaction, feeling that he had done a good job of disciplining the previously disgusting criminal in front of him.

"When you're cleaning up the coal mine, you're in charge of keeping one person alive. Have him call 110 on his own phone and say there's a fight in the mine and the police need to come. Yeah, don't say it's just a fight, if it gets too serious, there will be a lot of police coming. Just say you caught a thief in the mine and need the police to come and deal with it."

Black Hawk spoke calmly.

Elke grew colder with each word, his body trembling uncontrollably. His warm fur hat slipped off his head and down his face, as if taking away the last drop of color from his skin.

He instinctively tried to deflect the question: "Mr. Black Hawk, didn't you say that a sandstorm would come in the middle of the night and cause all cell phone signals to drop? How am I supposed to make a call then?"

"Once we've killed everyone, the sandstorm will be over, and we'll be able to make calls again." Black Hawk said, arms crossed, his face indifferent.

The cold mountain wind blew against Elke's head, making him shiver even more violently.

Gong, who had only been out of prison for a few years, had dilated pupils and a fearful expression.

Why wasn't I as excited as I had imagined?

All that remains is fear.

Nighttime, in the mine work area.

The machines roared, and the noise of people filled the air. Workers kept emerging from the elevator doors at the mine entrance, covered in dust and sweat, but their eyes shone with excitement. Today was payday at the mine, and as usual, there was no overtime tonight.

Even the security guards at the gate ran downstairs to the office building, their eyes shining as they lined up at the back of the payroll line.

"Old Li, aren't you watching the gate?" someone noticed the security guard and asked jokingly.

Old Li waved his hand dismissively: "Who would be so bored and idle as to wander around our poor mountain village so late at night? Don't worry, not even ghosts would come!"

"Ha ha!"

The line to receive their wages was filled with laughter and joy.

An elderly worker strode down from the second-floor finance office. He had his safety helmet folded back around his neck, revealing most of his white hair. He wore a miner's lamp and a self-rescue device, and his face beamed with obvious satisfaction.

"Old Zheng, why are you here to collect your salary without even taking off your gear? How much did you get? How much are you planning to keep for yourself this time?" Young Shao Min, who was in line, teased him with a squinty eye.

"Fourteen thousand! Aren't you little rascals envious? The mine provides room and board. I'll keep five hundred for cigarettes, and send the rest to my wife."

Old Zheng is quite old, probably in his fifties. He looks much older because he has worked underground in the mine for many years, and his face is covered in wrinkles when he smiles.

However, he spent the longest time underground, knew the most, and was the kindest in character.

When new workers came to the mine, he would take them down with him. Over time, nearly half of the miners were nominally his apprentices, which is why he was highly respected in the mine.

In the mine, Lao Zheng's only hobby was smoking.

"Your wife only has two kids, do you really need so much money? Don't work yourself to the bone and end up benefiting Old Wang next door!" Shao Min continued to tease, which was his way of expressing respect and closeness.

Old Zheng raised his arm and swung his fist a few times, but he didn't really care. They were all brothers from the same mine, seeing each other all the time, and after working together for so many years, they had become like brothers.

They lived in a remote mountain village, working from dawn till dusk every day in the mines, jokingly saying that playing cards was their only form of entertainment.

"Tohti! Instead of laughing at me, why don't you hurry up and find yourself a wife and get married? You're already so old, yet you're still acting like a child!" Old Zheng admonished seriously.

"All the girls who operate the winches at the mine are wonderful, and I'm just waiting for you, Lao Zheng, to introduce me to someone! Lao Zheng, when are you going to introduce me to someone? I've already prepared a matchmaker's red envelope for you!"

"Haha! I've prepared red envelopes too!"

"Tohti, I heard everything you were planning in Urumqi!"

Everyone burst into laughter, their eyes shining with newfound light.

It's clear that when the conversation turns to women, everyone's demeanor changes from how they were when they were receiving their wages—this is typical for coal miners. Many of the coal miners here are from other places, with little education, and they all believe that although making a living in the mine is tiring and dangerous, it's a job that can earn a lot of money, much better than working in a factory tightening screws.

That's how it is in coal mines; it's mostly men, with very few women. So, the few women who are there always become the focus of the miners' conversations. The men, after spending a lot of time together, don't talk about anything else; it's all about who has a wife, who's promiscuous, who's having an affair, and so on.

Making unfounded rumors is a good topic of conversation when you're tired from work. Talking about these dirty jokes gives you energy to work and makes time pass faster.

Although they tell dirty jokes, once you spend time with the coal miners, you'll find that they are all very kind and resilient, because lazy or lazy people would never come to the coal mine to endure this hardship.

Tohti ran over and stuffed a pack of new cigarettes into Old Zheng's hand: "Old Zheng, you keep this for me, okay? If I don't have money to buy cigarettes at the end of the month, you have to pay me back."

Old Zheng knew what Tohti was thinking.

Ever since Tohti was promoted to a permanent position under his guidance, he would find various excuses to give him alcohol and cigarettes every month when he received his salary.

Cigarettes and alcohol are cheap items available at the mine's supermarket, but the sincerity shown by this gesture over the years is truly precious. Besides, Tohti also has to support his younger siblings' education and his elderly parents' medical expenses, which adds up to a considerable amount.

(End of this chapter)