The rules of the mine not only offer many benefits, but also severe punishments.

Once, a support group omitted some pile placement data on a submitted blueprint.

That day, Valentine, holding the overlooked support diagram, stood solemnly in front of the mine's drawing board, quietly waiting for a whole hour.

The miners didn't know what happened, but no one dared to speak up.

Only after the workers had all ascended and left did Valentine speak in a deep voice: "Did any of you notice that several pieces of data weren't drawn on this section? No one checked it?"

As soon as he spoke, the surroundings fell into dead silence.

His face was ashen, and he heavily slapped the diagram onto the plank wall at the opening of the shaft, reprimanding harshly without mercy:

"Technical drawings must be precise. This isn't a spelling mistake—it's writing names on a gravestone!"

For a moment, the entire mine seemed shrouded in a chill, silenced briefly.

Later, Kael privately learned that the problematic support diagram was picked out personally by Louis from over thirty densely filled pages of records.

He flipped through them repeatedly, without uttering a word of nonsense, just furrowed his brows, and then wrote two words with a pen—"Reprimand."

This made everyone understand that Louis's management of the mine was strict to the extreme, and any slight negligence could not escape his eyes.

Therefore, no one dared to be careless, and all cherished this hard-won work and order.

The mine thus operated methodically under this scientifically rational welfare guarantee and strict reward and penalty system.

Of course, this does not mean everything went smoothly.

...

At the central fault section, within the ninth shaft corridor, the third workgroup was advancing the operations.

It was a section of seemingly calm and structurally complete rock formation.

The group technician confirmed that there were no obvious cracks on the rock surface, then according to the blueprint, implanted a Magic Explosion Bullet, set the wiring, and quickly retreated back to the safety bend.

"Ignite—"

The fuse was lit, and the bullet activated, giving a low muffled sound, then rocks burst out.

However, in the next second, deep within the rock layer that should have collapsed, suddenly caved in a pitch-black hole.

It was as if some sort of void-like "cavity" was hidden inside.

"...Something's wrong!" The lead foreman was about to raise his hand to warn when the ground suddenly shimmered with a metallic icy glow.

Crack.

A spider-like creature silently slid out from the mine seam.

The creature's entire body was crystal bright, its carapace reflective like polished crystal, with six slender sharp limbs carrying barbs, creating a dry and harsh metal screeching sound while crawling.

"It's a Magical Beast!!!" someone exclaimed in terror, but before the voice faded, other mercury-like figures leaped out from the hole, swiftly occupying various parts of the corridor.

Eight Mirror Guts Spiders.

Their crystal-backed shells constantly refracted, disrupting the lamplight, plunging the entire corridor into a "Light Domain blur" in the blink of an eye.

Torches appeared to be covered by layers of ripples, the lights became chaotic, and the craftsmen instantly lost their sense of direction.

"Don't run around, retreat toward the supports!" The foreman shouted loudly.

But it was already too late.

One young craftsman just turned around and was instantly pierced through the chest by a spider limb, blood sprayed on the mine wall, leaving a bright red streak.

Another tried to ignite the spare explosive bullet for defense, but amid the Light Domain chaos, misconnected the fuse, was impaled through the back skull by a spider limb as soon as the ignition stick was raised.

Screaming and crashing sounds echoed in the corridor, and in under a minute, the entire craftsman group was torn apart and dragged away in the fog of light and confusion.

In the end, only a single fallen mine lamp remained, flickering faintly at the blood-stained mine entrance.

A few hours later, an inspector arriving to patrol stood at the entrance of the corridor, face ashen.

The magical beasts were long gone, only the mottled bloodstains, twisted tools, and the miners' uniforms that were gnawed to bits evidenced that the third group had once existed there.

This was the first incident of a "demon attack resulting in the entire group being wiped out" in the history of the Star Forging Mine.

The news reached the administrative office before the night had fully fallen.

Louis unemotionally listened to the report, then immediately issued a terse order: "Seal off the main passage of the ninth shaft. Assemble the knight squads, descend into the shaft within three minutes."

The order was fully prepared by the rescue unit in under five minutes.

Twelve Red Tide Knights appeared at the main shaft entrance, clad in red plate armor, wielding long spears.

"Form two four-man combat units, four on the perimeter for reconnaissance and cover, stagger the searchlights—prepare to descend into the shaft."

Valentine stood at the shaft's edge, watching this group of knights swiftly get geared up and descend into the shaft, finally letting out a slight sigh of relief: "If only they had been down there earlier, maybe it wouldn't have happened."

Underground, as soon as the lights probed into the catastrophe stricken fault corridor, the front instantly lit up with a cold radiance.

Torchlight refracted off the walls, revealing the entire corridor sealed off by layers of densely packed silver shining threads — they intertwined like steel wires, wrapping tightly around the rock walls, supports, and voids, emitting a slightly cold glow, akin to a spider-woven tomb curtain.

"...It's a magic spider web." The deputy captain squinted, voice extremely low.

"Cut through, advance." The captain commanded without hesitation.

"Prepare! Open up the formation!"

The knights in the front row gripped their war axes tightly, a stripe of crimson Fighting Energy burst from his shoulder, instantly entwining the weapon.

Flames ignited along the axe blade, casting a wave of scorching brilliance.

"Break!"

The first axe swung down, fiery blade lighting spun up a blistering whirlpool, burning the spider silk inch by inch, severing it while also forcing out several bright facets in the surrounding light.

At the moment the spider silk was cut, several swift sliding shadows suddenly flashed from the deep end of the passage.

Like mercury, they darted across the rock wall with incredible speed.

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