Meng Chao found the relationship between Lu Siya and Lin Chuan even stranger.
"Oh," he said and took the Blood Jade Essence.
"By the way, do you know how crystals are formed?"
Lu Siya held his hand and refused to let go. She stared at him and said, "The scientists on Earth have conducted a lot of research on the crystal mines in the Other World, and they've come up with all sorts of strange guesses about how they were formed. One of the most popular guesses is that crystals are the corpses of powerful intelligent life forms from the ancient civilization that once ruled over the Other World. After billions of years of geological changes, they were smelted, compressed, and condensed under high temperature and high pressure.
"In a sense, crystals are fossils, and they're the fossils of the ancient people.
"When we mine crystals, we dig out the corpses of the ancient people. The Red Radiance Jade mine we're looking for is the blood vessel of a huge ancient giant. The Blood Jade Essence in your hand is the bone marrow or heart blood of the ancient people.
"It's no wonder then why the resonance of crystals can interfere with a human's vitality magnetic field and cause us to go through spirit energy deviation. It's because we've disturbed the ghosts that have been sleeping for billions of years and heard the ravings of the ancient people!"
Meng Chao suddenly felt that the Blood Jade Essence in his palm was a little hot.
"Of course, there's not a lot of proof for this hypothesis, but the coal, oil, and natural gas on Earth are indeed formed by the ancient people through a long period of geological changes. The modern civilization on Earth is built on the foundation of coal and oil industries, and it relies on mining the corpses of the ancient people to obtain the motivation to continue moving forward.
"Do you understand what I mean? The path of human civilization moving forward has always been paved by billions of corpses. It's like that on Earth, and it's even more so when we come to the Other World. It doesn't matter whether it's our corpses, the corpses of our enemies, the corpses of the ancient creatures from billions of years ago, or the corpses of even more people who are bound to be sacrificed in the future. Without sacrifices, there will be no civilization.
"So, I hope that you won't learn from Lin Chuan's petty kindness. Instead, you have to understand that you have to step on corpses and move forward regardless of the cost. That's how human civilization has always been, and it's even more so if you want to climb to the peak of human civilization and become the strongest among billions of people!
"Please pass my words to Lin Chuan. I will pay three times the compensation for all the people who died in the mission, and I will also pay the Red Radiance Jades they deserve from my own pocket. I will compensate their families with double the compensation, but if we run into danger again, I will still lead the charge. I won't stop until I reach my goal!"
Lu Siya flung Meng Chao's hand away and closed the tent from the inside.
Meng Chao returned to his and Lin Chuan's tent and handed the Blood Jade Essence to Lin Chuan. Then, he repeated Lu Siya's words to Lin Chuan. Of course, his words were not as intense.
Lin Chuan held the Blood Jade Marrow in his palm and injected a wisp of spirit energy into it. Instantly, a blood-red mist seeped out of the gaps between his fingers and surrounded his arm.
Under the nourishment of the red light, the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon a thin layer of scab formed.
Lin Chuan sighed in relief and drank a high-calorie nutritional fluid made from superbeast blood. Some color returned to his face.
Perhaps it was because Meng Chao's expression was a little strange when he told Lu Siya's words, but Lin Chuan stared at him for a long time before he suddenly frowned and said, "Are you bewitched by that woman?"
"Of course not! How could I be bewitched by a woman?!" Meng Chao denied it.
But when he thought about it, he felt that his words were a little ambiguous, so he added, "That's not right. I might be bewitched by a woman, but I'm definitely not a woman like Ms. Lu. Um, that's not right either. She's indeed a very charming woman, and I might be bewitched by this type of woman as well, but I'm definitely not her. She invited me to join Sky Pillar Corporation, but I rejected her offer."
"Why?" Lin Chuan asked. "A job in Sky Pillar Corporation is something many superhumans dream of, and they can't get it."
"Can I tell you the truth?" Meng Chao asked.
"Of course!" Lin Chuan said.
Meng Chao said. "Because I think that your relationship with her isn't clear. There's a high possibility that you've gone through a melodramatic drama of love and hate. But in the end, for some reason, you parted on bad terms. She can't get you anymore, so she wants to use me as your substitute.
"I'm a hot-blooded young man with great ambitions. For the ideals in my heart, I don't mind fighting for twenty years less, but you're also involved in this. You're my neighbor, my senior brother, and my idol. I don't want our relationship to be ruined because of Ms. Lu. She's a woman, and she's not as important as the brotherhood between men of steel."
"…"
Lin Chuan sucked in a deep breath and said with a complicated expression, "You're thinking too much. Lu Siya and I are just friends. Besides, even if we really have some other relationship, she won't look for you and use you as my substitute."
"Why?"
Lin Chuan touched his peerlessly handsome face.
"Oh, I understand. Then, Big Brother Lin, are you suggesting that I join Sky Pillar Corporation so that I can get closer to Ms. Lu and work together on some projects?"
"This is your own path. No matter what you choose, I'll support you. I just want to give you a piece of advice. Your life is your own. No matter who it is for, it's not worth it to fight so hard," Lin Chuan said.
"Just now, to save Lu Siya, you fought against that undead. It was too dangerous. Even if you want to gain her favor so that you can go to Sky Pillar Corporation and realize your ambitions, there's no need for you to be in such a hurry.
"By the way, did I tell you about my dad? Why did a poor boy like me go to the same high school as Lu Siya and even become best friends with her?"
Meng Chao was a little stunned. "Ms. Lin said that your father saved her father's life."
"Is that what she said? Heh, that's not entirely wrong."
A complicated light shone in Lin Chuan's eyes, and he said softly, "My father was a normal miner in a mining company under Sky Pillar Corporation. He wasn't educated or skilled. The only good thing about him was that he could endure hardships and had great strength." To support the five of us, he worked in the dark, humid mines with strong radiation and monsters. Since he was nourished by the crystal mine all year round, his arms became deformed and swelled up. They became thicker than his thighs, and he became stronger. Gradually, he became the best miner in his team.
"At that time, Lu Siya's father had just joined the mining company under Sky Pillar Corporation and was in charge of the mining operations in the area my father was in.
"Even though he was from the Lu family, the competition in the family was very fierce. He had to rely on his performance to stand out and have the chance to control the entire mining company. From there, he would have the chance to sit on the throne of the highest authority in Sky Pillar Corporation.
"Lu Siya's father was talented and was a top-class mine explorer. He also came up with a lot of amazing ideas. He organized and modified the exploration and mining process at that time, which greatly increased the efficiency of mining.
"My father was the most capable miner at the grassroots level under him, and he also admired him a lot.
"But if he wanted to stand out among the dozens of mining spots in the mining company, it was clearly not enough for him to improve the mining process on a small scale and my father's hard work.
"At that time, Lu Siya's father relied on his sharp instincts and discovered a new crystal mine near the mining spot he was in charge of.
"There was a high possibility that this crystal mine contained a lot of spirit energy. It was sandwiched between two mining spots, and the person in charge of the other mining spot was Lu Siya's father's competitor in the corporation. No one knew whose side the winding crystal mine would lead to in the end.
"To prevent other problems from arising, Lu Siya's father did not report his discovery to the higher-ups of the corporation. Instead, he formed a mine exploration team in private. He wanted to map out the entire crystal mine before doing anything else. The team members he brought with him included my father."
Meng Chao was engrossed.
He remembered that Lin Chuan had once mentioned that his father died in an accident when a mine cave collapsed. That should be the reason.
Just as he expected, Lin Chuan smiled and continued. "At that time, my father had been working in the mining spot for a few months and did not go home. It was almost my birthday, and we were supposed to have a family reunion. He even asked a worker to buy a plush teddy bear from Earth from the secondhand market. He wanted to give it to me as my birthday present.
"He treasured the teddy bear a lot. Once he bought it, he could not bear to part with it even for an inch. When he went underground to carry out a mine exploration mission, he stuffed the teddy bear into his chest as a talisman … or as a remembrance of his family.
"Unfortunately, the talisman didn't seem to be very effective. They ran into superbeasts underground, and during their fierce fight, the crystals resonated with them. Spirit energy surged out of them, and the mine cave collapsed. The exit was cut off.
"In the end, all the normal miners and low-grade mine explorers died. Lu Siya's father was the only one who managed to escape. He even brought with him the birthday present my father prepared for me. It was a stuffed teddy bear from Earth.
"Based on what he said in the press conference he held after the incident, during the final moments, he and my father supported each other and searched for light.
"But even though my father's arms were deformed and swollen, he was still a normal person. He could not withstand the pressure from the walls, the friction from the stones, and the torture from hunger and suffocation. He did not manage to last until the end.
"He could not save my father, so he could only fulfill my father's final wish and bring the teddy bear out.
"This is a really touching story.
"As a son of a rich family in the Lu family, during the critical moment when the mine cave collapsed, he still remembered that a normal miner wanted to give his son a birthday present. The news spread out, and Lu Siya's father instantly gained the favor of a large number of citizens. Even Sky Pillar Corporation's reputation rose.
"Even though the mine exploration team was practically wiped out, they completed their mission and mapped out the reserves, direction, and composition of the mine. They obtained the right to develop it first.
"Because of this, Lu Siya's father rose through the ranks in the corporation. He rose through the ranks, and he became the general manager of the mining company. It was a blessing in disguise.
"But my father never returned. All that was left of him was a gray teddy bear that had lost all its fur."
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