Chapter 1: I Don't Want to Die

  A sturdy pickaxe with a worn-out handle, continuously tapping on the rock wall with varying degrees of force and precision, the "ding-ding-dang" sound echoing endlessly in the narrow and deep mine tunnel. The entire tunnel was filled with only one tall and slender figure, repeatedly striking the same motion.

  Gradually, under the yellowish glow of the magic light, the white rocks on the rock wall have gradually cracked and fallen off.

  "It's okay, it didn't break completely." Xiao Hong furrowed his brow and let out a soft hum as he carefully inserted the sharp beak of the pickaxe into the gap and gently pried out a palm-sized piece of white jade stone, trying to keep it intact. He then extremely carefully placed it in the wooden box's compartment.

  He reached into his pocket with a slightly rough hand, and Xiao Hong took out a white jade stone the size of a chess piece. Unlike ordinary white jade, it had mysterious and profound patterns on its surface. With a burst of inner energy, the patterns turned orange-red, which was the Time Magic Pattern. Different colors represented different times.

  This is also the finished product of jade - magic pattern, which is closely related to this world, whether it is life or war.

  "There's probably still half an hour left, and I'm short three blocks. I must hurry up." Xiao Hong hummed softly, wiping the sweat from his forehead, adjusting the glowing magic pattern wrapped around his head, and carrying a pickaxe to search for the next white jade stone.

  Xiao Hong can now clearly feel that the temperature around him has started to rise continuously, and it has already reached over 40 degrees. If he can't leave here before dusk, the scorching lava will boil the underground water, and this place will become a huge steamer, where people are bound to die.

  So Xiao Hong must seize the time, and identifying white jade is a very experienced job, after all, most of the white jade will not be exposed directly in sight like just now, but hidden in the rocks.

  Once a misjudgment is made and a common rock is dug out, all previous efforts will be in vain, wasting time and energy.

  However, fortunately, Xiao Hong has been collecting white jade for three years, and although his experience is not top-notch, he can be considered a seasoned veteran.

  Identify and collect, how to completely preserve the white jade inside the rock has already been explored a set of its own routines.

  In the blink of an eye, half an hour's time can be said to have passed in a flash. The temperature in the mine tunnel has begun to rise sharply and is approaching sixty degrees. The surrounding air is also becoming scorching hot, and the air entering the nostrils has become boiling hot.

  It can be said that at this point, time has become extremely urgent. However, Xiao Hong, who is squatting on the ground and striking rocks, has a calm gaze.

  Here, Xiao Hong has been here for more than a day or two. He grasps time with precision.

  Suddenly, Xiao Hong's expression changed drastically, a hint of strange color flashed in his eyes, and his face became slightly painful. One hand tightly grasped his chest, with great force.

  "Didn't expect it to happen at this time, bad luck."

  At the moment when his instincts grasped his chest, Xiao Hong made such a sound, and then gritted his teeth again to tightly grasp the pickaxe, seizing every moment to throw out the rock in front of him with cracks, and then pried it out. Quickly put the rocks into the wooden box, just the tenth one.

  Ma Li quickly sealed the wooden box, slung it over his shoulder, and with a hoe in hand, he sprinted towards a distant glimmer of light. Although his expression was somewhat pained, his footsteps seemed unusually agile.

  Time is running out for Xiao Hong, and even a second's delay at night will cause him to be scorched by the constantly rising heat waves, or even die directly.

  Behind Xiao Hong, the scorching heat wave was like a beast's big mouth, swallowing him up. Now all Xiao Hong could do was quicken his pace, and if he stumbled, he would undoubtedly die.

  As the bright light in front of him drew closer, Xiao Hong's expression remained unchanged. With a sudden leap, one hand grasped the rope hanging at the entrance of the mine tunnel, while the other hand holding the pickaxe dug into the rock face. With a burst of strength, he agilely flipped out of the mine tunnel.

  With the faint glow of luminescent fungi, the tunnel below was distorted by heat haze.

  "Hiss..." Xiao Hong, who was lying on the upper mine tunnel, let out a faint breath, his forearm aching slightly, with only a small burn mark. This was due to the few seconds he wasted clutching at his chest earlier.

  For Xiao Hong, who often mixed up the four layers of the mine tunnel, his grasp of time was usually accurate to the second.

  "See, I told you Brother Hong would show up at the last minute. Come on, come on, each of you give me ten copper coins, don't try to cheat!"

  At this moment, a sharp and piercing voice suddenly entered Xiao Hong's ears. Such a distinctive voice, Xiao Hong naturally knew who it was, that is Li Le.

  Covering his chest, Xiao Hong struggled to get up from the ground and ignored Li Le as well as those idle guys standing beside him. He staggered slightly towards the second floor. The third floor of the mine had many more people, all of whom were young and dressed in tattered clothes. Above the third floor, there was no danger at all.

  Enduring the severe pain in his chest, Xiao Hong crawled out of the mine shaft. A gust of refreshing air blew across his face, cool and gentle. He couldn't help but take a deep breath, letting the clarity soothe the intense pain in his chest.

  At the half-mountain waist of the mine entrance, a slightly worn-out building group lies below, with a central stone yard where white jade is polished into shape. The surrounding old buildings wrap around it, leaving only a faint yellow glow between the sky and the ground. The giant light magic patterns standing around the stone yard also slowly lit up.

  This is Dongcheng Quarry, where Xiao Hong has been working for three years.

  After descending the mountain, Xiao Hong handed over the raw white jade stones he had collected and exchanged them for two silver coins, which is equivalent to 200 copper coins. This is four times what an ordinary miner would get. The reason is that the white jade stones Xiao Hong collected are of high quality, only found in the fourth layer of the mine. Similarly, entering the fourth layer requires risking one's life, and a single mistake can be fatal, with no chance of escape.

  Xiao Hong chose this job because... he really needed money.

  After receiving his wages, Xiao Hong walked towards a secluded corner of the building complex. There was an old and worn-out wooden hut located on the edge of the quarry, with one side leaning against the mountain forest. The area was not very large, about 20 square meters, and it looked insignificant and unnoticeable among the nearby stone buildings.

  He pushed open the broken wooden door, and with a thud, Xiao Hong fell directly to the ground, his face twisted in agony as he struggled to hold back the pain. His hands clutched at his chest, his body curled up into a ball, and large beads of sweat rolled down his face. Despite his efforts to suppress it, a low moan escaped from his nostrils, a sound that was both painful, lonely, and heartbreaking.

  As for Xiao Hong's room, it was also extremely simple. Next to a worn-out wooden bed was an old wooden table. On the wall opposite, there was a bookshelf filled with stacks of tattered books. Beside it were bundles and bundles of books, neatly stacked.

  Most of them are about medicine and tattoo making.

  Five minutes had passed, and Xiao Hong, who was struggling in agony, stretched out his trembling hand, felt around on the desk, and managed to grab a small medicine bottle. He then took a green pill into his mouth and lay quietly on the cold ground, unable to move an inch due to the pain and exhaustion.

  These small pills were concocted by Xiao Hong himself through trial and error, but they had no effect on his own illness; their only use was to relieve pain.

  Xiao Hong originally lived in a remote mountain village. Four years ago, a strange disease broke out in the village, and everyone in the village died, including Xiao Hong's parents and sister. The initial symptoms were pain, followed by massive internal bleeding - death.

  Xiao Hong was the only one who survived this disaster, but he was also deeply troubled by this disease, with deep-seated pain that often recurred. Using the family's remaining savings, he visited several somewhat famous doctors, and the result was always the same: terminal illness, certain death, it was just a matter of time.

  Facing a life as fragile as a candle in the wind, Xiao Hong did not give up. He began to study medicine on his own and rescue himself, no longer relying on anyone else. He firmly believed that my fate is determined by me, not by heaven!

  After a year of exploration and learning, a pharmacist told Xiao Hong that there was a type of jade spirit grass that could help with his condition, but it would only provide relief and not cure it.

  Even so, for Xiao Hong, it was a kind of hope. However, the Yuling grass was not cheap, one plant needed twenty gold, which was equivalent to two million copper coins.

  However, Xiao Hong did not give up. To survive, he came here and became a miner. Whatever could make money, he would do it, and also actively learned medicine and magic tattoos.

  It's just a pity that, for Hua Tuo, he has made some achievements in medicine, but as for the control of magic tattoos and their creation, progress is indeed slow. The reason for this is that his own strength is not enough, because the strength of the internal force directly determines the degree of control over magic tattoos and the power of creating them.

  It wasn't until more than ten minutes had passed that the pain in his chest began to subside and showed signs of calming down. He often felt unbearable pain, which was a major characteristic of Xiao Hong's illness.

  He slowly got up from the ground, Xiao Hong sat in front of the desk, opened a book about medicine, and began to study it carefully. He was very clear that this was the only way to save himself, wanting to live, he had to make progress, and cure himself.

  But the books he has now were not bought by himself, but picked up. Every time when students near graduation from college, such books would be thrown away as trash by students, and can be seen everywhere around campus. But in Xiao Hong's eyes, these books are treasures, especially those slightly old books, because on them, there are records of students' notes during class.

  I remember last year, Xiao Hong also picked up a teaching note from the Magic Academy lecturer, and at that time, Xiao Hong was excited for several nights.

  Life is sometimes so wonderful, it's this lingering affection for "life" that allowed Xiao Hong to crawl back from the gates of hell time and time again.

  "Cough! Cough! Cough!!"

  Suddenly! Just as Xiao Hong was studying books with the dim light, he couldn't help but let out a few violent coughs.

  "Pffft!"

  The next moment, a splash of fresh blood directly from Xiao Hong's mouth sprayed onto the book, forming red spots.

  "This..."

  Seeing such a red dot, Xiao Hong couldn't help but let out such a sound, his face turned pale, his eyes involuntarily widened, and he was petrified on the spot.

  After so many years of medical studies, Xiao Hong was very clear that once he vomited blood, it meant that a massive hemorrhage was imminent, and his life would not last more than three days. With this thought, a hint of despair emerged in Xiao Hong's eyes, his hands trembled involuntarily, and the corners of his eyes turned slightly red.

  "Is it really... hopeless? I don't want to die..." Xiao Hong couldn't help but utter these words. After three years of desperate accumulation, Xiao Hong had finally saved up 18 gold coins, just two short of the amount needed to buy the Yu Ling Grass. However, getting those last two gold coins in just three days was almost impossible.

  At this thought, Xiao Hong's heart turned pitch black, devoid of light, all hope crumbling in that instant.

  Dong dong dong.

  Just then, a very casual knock at the door suddenly sounded.

  "Is this Xiao Hong's residence?" a strange voice came from outside the door.