Eventually, Jiang Beiran survived. He also knew that he had been cheated, and recognized the fact that he had been tricked into an illegal mine by some biscuits.
He laughed at himself for being so stupid. However, he was not resigned to his fate, because he still had the system. He could still turn the tables!
Although the system that had no user manual at all was extremely treacherous, Jiang Beiran thought he had figured out its peculiarities.
Basically, when choosing a quest with good rewards, one must be alert and treat it with extra caution.
The previous [Quest of Finding a Mentor] was one such example. Although the black-robed Taoist was a conman, perhaps not a Taoist of the Sect of Shying Fire at all, the goal of the quest released by the system was only to become his apprentice, and it did not mention what he would be learning during the apprenticeship. A man teaching one martial arts would be considered one's mentor; so would a man teaching one the art of deception.
Having realized this, Jiang Beiran reflected upon his hardships to learn from his mistakes. He thought that if he could have figured it out earlier, he should have acted smarter and tactfully pointed out the black-robed Taoist's scam. Perhaps then the black-robed Taoist would not have sold him to the illegal mine. Instead, the Taoist might have brought him along as he conned his way across the world.
However, he behaved like an outright idiot, deeply convinced of every word the black-robed Taoist had said. He even told the Taoist that he was an orphan and had run away from home. It was clearly telling the other party to trick him, as there would be nothing to worry about.
Every time he thought of it, Jiang Beiran felt like giving himself a slap. He would lament over the fact that his sweating and toiling away at the mine now was all a consequence of his stupidity back when he had faced the black-robed Taoist!
But he was no longer the same! He already knew that the system was not here to give him free welfare, so he would definitely be cautious after that!
...
The opportunity came a little faster than Jiang Beiran had imagined. In the second week that he suffered all kinds of inhumane abuse, his body was no longer physically sore to the point he couldn't sleep. He began to plan his escape. At the same time, four options appeared in front of him.
[Option One: Use the opportunity to escape down the mountain while the supervisors are drinking and eating at midday. Reward for completion: Forceful Fingers of Whistling at the Moon (Black Grade Low Tier)]
[Option Two: Quietly dig a passage to the outside of the mountain while working in the mine shaft. Reward for completion: Purple-Gold Tiger-Headed Hook (Yellow Grade High Tier)]
[Option Three: Rope in other workers with the intention to escape and discuss the grand plan of escape together. Reward for completion: Lotus Armor (Yellow Grade Low Tier)]
[Option Four: Hurry and sleep; you still have to get up for work tomorrow. Reward for completion: Random basic attribute point +1]
Jiang Beiran, who felt that he was getting the hang of it again, first excluded Option Four. Then he began to analyze the other three options.
For Option One, the supervisors would indeed get drunk at noon and not bother Jiang Beiran and the workers at all, so it did seem like a possible path to take.
However, Jiang Beiran already had a profound understanding of the fact that the most reliable criteria for judgment would be the reward alone, so the four words of "Black Grade Low Tier" instantly made him reject the option.
Having made several choices, Jiang Beiran had already understood the system's set of grades and levels. From top to bottom, it should be divided into Heaven Grade, Earth Grade, Black Grade, and Yellow Grade, because he had seen rewards of Earth Grade, Black Grade, and Yellow Grade. Each grade was then further divided into three tiers. Namely high, middle, and low.
The previous time, the option of becoming the black-robed Taoist's apprentice only offered a reward of a cultivation technique of Yellow Grade High Tier, and it almost killed him. This time, the reward was of a higher grade, namely Black Grade Low Tier. He was truly afraid that he wouldn't be alive to collect the reward after choosing the option.
Option Two seemed to be of the same difficulty level as the option of becoming the black-robed Taoist's apprentice, judging by the reward, but the content really made Jiang Beiran felt that it was unreliable.
What kind of place was the mine? It was a place of danger, where several supporting frames must be installed for every meter they moved forward to prevent any collapse. Secretly digging a passage to escape? Even if he could do it without being discovered, he was also afraid of being crushed alive halfway through the digging.
The last remaining option, Option Three, looked more plausible in terms of implementation. After a week of mining in the mountains, Jiang Beiran already knew that, just like him, almost all the people mining here were tricked into coming here. The resentment they harbored towards this place was immense.
Moreover, the supervisors here simply did not treat them as human beings. As long as they spotted someone pausing for a while, they would approach and give them a good kick.
Furthermore, despite mining being so difficult, the supervisors only gave them two meals a day. The food consisted of porridge as thin as water and buns as hard as iron, so all the workers could hardly contain their grievances anymore.
Besides, the reward of the option was of Yellow Grade Low Tier, definitely a reward of the lowest tier, which meant that it had the lowest level of difficulty, too. If he couldn't even handle a quest of this level, then he, Jiang Beiran, would be disgraced as a space traveler, and he might as well kill himself by smashing his head into a piece of tofu.
"I'll just choose Option Three!" he said.
After making his choice and activating the quest to escape, Jiang Beiran immediately began to prepare his plan for an uprising, during which he made full use of the various advantages he had as a space traveler. With the proclamation, "Kings and generals are made, not born!" he impressed the workers, who all bowed and worshipped him.
After that, Jiang Beiran said he killed a giant white snake last night while he was drunk, and at night he dreamed of an old woman crying, saying that her son, the White Prince, had been killed by the Red Prince.
The build-up again made the crowd of workers think that Jiang Beiran was the reincarnation of a deity here to save them, so they respected and worshipped him more and more.
Seeing that his crew of workers was growing, Jiang Beiran, who was drinking white porridge, laughed into the sky. Sure enough, as long as he was prepared, such a minor quest worth only a reward of Yellow Grade Low Tier would be a piece of cake, no?
Then the next day he was reported.
Needless to say, it didn't end well for him. If it wasn't that the supervisors wanted to better torture Jiang Beiran in order to deter those workers who had also dared to have such thoughts, Jiang Beiran would have been beaten to death on the first night.
Ever since then, Jiang Beiran completely switched to his shut-in mode. As long as options popped up in the system, he would always choose the last one, which had basic attribute points as its reward. He never dared to touch the other options again.
As a result, Jiang Beiran made it through two very safe months without illness or disaster, so to speak. Other than mining itself, which was still very tiring, no accidents occurred.
So, Jiang Beiran felt enlightened again!
The system was not so much to help him grow as to give him warnings. As long as he kept tapping the simplest option that would reward him with attribute points, he would be able to avoid all kinds of disasters.
Such a state was maintained until a fine sunny morning. Jiang Beiran climbed out of bed and was just about to go to the construction site when he heard a violent explosion by his ear!
At the same time, three options appeared in front of him.
[Option One: Stay in the house and don't move. Reward for completion: Forceful Palm of Swirling Clouds (Yellow Grade High Tier)]
[Option Two: Help put out the fire. Reward for completion: Big Spear of Misfortune (Yellow Grade Low Tier)]
[Option Three: Escape amid chaos. Reward for completion: Random basic attribute point +1]
"Hmm!? The options this time around are rather out of the box," he said to himself.
By right, based on the usual train of thought, choosing to escape at such an incredibly chaotic time was definitely the most unwise. After all, the supervisors were not stupid. They knew that someone would certainly take advantage of the chaos to escape, so they would definitely send someone to guard the halfway point of the mountain or the foot of the mountain. And when the escapees were caught, even if they were not killed, it would be almost impossible for them to escape a severe beating.
But in the two months, Jiang Beiran had experienced all kinds of torture and difficulties. It could be said that without the system's various options as hints, perhaps he would have died long ago. So, this time, he still chose to trust the system!
"I'll just choose Option Three!"