Pale lights, muffled roars hidden under the ground, dull sounds from the friction between machines... Ronggui quietly felt all of this.
Xiaomei was the shortest.
Someone deliberately stood in front of him in the queue. The person was already standing in front of him, and after a while he turned around arrogantly, lowered his head, and said to Xiaomei contemptuously: "Sorry, I didn't see you! You... are really too short--"
Ronggui's first reaction was to grab Xiaomei. He reflexively worried that Xiaomei would resist because of this. After all, he only had a head left, and he had no capital to help Xiaomei.
But he quickly realized that he no longer had hands to hold Xiaomei.
However--
Xiaomei did not react to this.
He did not even look up at the other person, standing woodenly in the same place without any reaction.
It was as if the man in front of him did not exist.
No reaction is more effective than any reaction to some extent. Seeing Xiaomei's lack of reaction, the man might have wanted to take advantage of the situation and provoke her further at first. However, he soon remembered that this was a place where he was waiting for work, and he would suffer no good consequences if he provoked her. So, he clenched his fist and turned around again.
The people standing behind Xiaomei, after finding that Xiaomei was so "enduring", laughed one by one and all got in front of Xiaomei.
So they queued for a long time, and finally got a little closer to the front, but they fell back to the end of the line again.
Xiaomei's expression was as calm as ever, but Ronggui suddenly felt that Xiaomei in front of him had become scary.
It was obviously just a shabby and short robot, and it was obviously a partner who lived together every day. It was obviously hanging on his chest, but at this moment, Ronggui suddenly felt that Xiaomei was very far away from him.
Xiaomei's body is short, but her soul is in the clouds, which is higher than the mountains and farther than the clouds. It is a place he cannot look up to. There is no sadness or joy in her eyes. She is indifferent to worldly affairs. Everything in the world has nothing to do with her, just like... just like the gods in the sky!
Ronggui finally thought of the most appropriate word.
Although she was standing in the crowd and there were so many voices around her, the figure Xiaomei left behind was extremely lonely, as if she had experienced hundreds or even thousands of years of loneliness.
Such Xiaomei made Ronggui feel strange and scary.
But...
Xiaomei is Xiaomei! He has even seen Xiaomei without underwear~
Ronggui soon stopped being "afraid".
He decided to chat with Xiaomei.
Before, he didn't speak because he was afraid of attracting other people's attention: a robot holding a head looks weird, right? It would be bad if he was bullied because of being weird, but now it seems that he can't escape the fate of being "bullied" whether he speaks or not, so what is he enduring?
"Xiaomei, you can endure it better than me... Although I should praise you for enduring it, after all, we can't beat the other party now, but... I'm still a little angry..." Ronggui first praised Xiaomei's handling method, but he was a straight-forward person after all, and he began to express his emotions without saying a few words of praise.
"Why are you angry?" Xiaomei's voice sounded from above.
"They are too bullying. I have been bullied since yesterday. This place is not good, really not good..." Obviously, he wanted to comfort Xiaomei, but Ronggui revealed some dark thoughts in his heart.
Perhaps Xiaomei's performance was too calm, so Ronggui couldn't help but indulge himself a little.
After listening to Ronggui's nagging, Xiaomei was silent for a moment, and then suddenly read out a long sentence.
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Ronggui didn't understand it at all!
Didn't understand a word!
But who is Ronggui? He often doesn't understand~so he is a humble person.
Then he humbly asked Xiaomei for advice: "Xiaomei, what did you just say? I don't understand."
"It's the language of the Western Laiisa tribe. The Laiisa language is known as the most beautiful language in the world. They are proud of their language. That race has produced many poets and famous poems. I just read a sentence from one of the poems." Xiaomei rarely spoke a long paragraph.
"Oh... I didn't expect you to be a cultured person, Xiaomei." Ronggui sighed and continued to ask: "It's really nice to hear. Then... what does that poem say?"
In fact, Ronggui has no interest in poetry. He just wants to flirt with Xiaomei and talk more. After all, Xiaomei looks much more normal when she speaks~
"..." Xiaomei paused for a moment, and then slowly said: "Everyone's fate has been arranged by the gods."
"Don't mind if someone is ahead of you, because the place behind him is yours."
"There are gullies ahead, there are holes ahead, there is death ahead, and you are the only one in the safest place."
Xiaomei has tried her best to explain in a way that Ronggui can understand, but-
"?" Ronggui still has a question mark on his face.
"..." Xiaomei was silent, and then said: "To put it simply, don't worry about gains and losses, don't worry about the order of the moment, everyone's fate is predetermined, there may be disasters ahead, there may be terrible disasters ahead, and the reason why the person who took your place took your place is because death is his predetermined fate."
Ronggui was stunned.
"This... this poem is so vicious! It's simply a curse! I thought poems were all very noble and educational!" Ronggui's memory of poetry still remains in the elementary school textbooks, those ancient poems carefully selected for the flowers of the motherland to study seriously.
"Poetry is a way to express one's feelings, and it is an expression of emotions..." Xiaomei said lightly, but - So far, their conversation was also heard by the person who interrupted them before. The person was just idle and listened to the chat between the two "weak chickens". He didn't care much when he heard Xiaomei's "curse poem", but he was probably bored, so he wanted to spread it to let others know. "This dwarf cursed us! He said that a terrible disaster would happen ahead, and those who took his place would die -" For fear that what he said was not eye-catching enough, he deliberately quoted out of context. "Hey? That's not the case -" Ronggui hurriedly tried to interrupt the other party, but before he could finish his words, even the man just now couldn't finish his words, the ground under their feet suddenly shook terribly! Many people squatted on the ground reflexively, covering their heads and squatting down. This is the instinctive reaction of people when they discover unknown changes. Only Xiaomei did not move. He just stretched out a palm and gently placed it on Ronggui's face, covering Ronggui's "eyes". "What's wrong? What's wrong?" Ronggui, who couldn't see anything, shouted anxiously.
Time seemed to have passed for a long time, and Xiaomei finally removed her hand from his face.
Hurriedly, Xiaomei adjusted her position, and Ronggui finally saw everything around him.
The tall people who were originally in front of them were gone.
No, they didn't leave or disappear, but...
Ronggui looked at those people with gray heads and heads squatting on the ground curiously. After a long time, he connected those people with the arrogant guys who were high above before.
There was a lot of dust on their heads. If you look closely, there was also dust on Xiaomei's face. He understood why Xiaomei put her hand on his face just now: Hmm~ Help me block the dust? Xiaomei is so considerate!
However, this was the thought that flashed through his mind when he saw the people around him. A moment later, when he saw the people on the ground who raised their heads, all raised their faces with gas masks, Ronggui could feel the strong emotions of the other party through the thick masks.
Fear?
Nervous?
Panic?
Fear? Yes, it was fear!
Those people squatted on the ground, holding their heads, looking at him with fear!
Wait——
They were not looking at him, but...
Xiaomei?
Ronggui looked up at Xiaomei in confusion, and then...
"Mine No. 4 collapsed!!! Someone just went in! A scream suddenly broke the silence, and Ronggui looked forward in the direction of the sound.
This time, there was no one blocking the way ahead, and his sight passed through the layers of people without any obstacles, and he had a clear view of the scenery ahead.
This was also the first time that Ronggui saw clearly the place where he had lined up for a long time.
In front of him was a funnel-shaped piece of land, black land, very deep, at least Ronggui could not see the deepest part at a glance, and on the wall of the "funnel" there were layers of lines, which looked like lines from a distance, but in fact they were roads for miners and mining vehicles to enter and exit.
All kinds of dull sounds underground came from the deepest part of the "funnel". There, it was the mine where he and Xiaomei were about to work.
At this moment, sirens were coming from the bottom of the mine. They were the sirens on the emergency rescue vehicle that would only appear when an accident happened.
The sudden hole just now was caused by there, there... collapsed.
"God, the man who just cut in line and took his place was assigned to the No. 4 mine!"
"Oh my God!!! His words came true!!!"
The man closest to them, the man who had jumped up and said that Xiaomei cursed the others, suddenly made a sound with his big feet in fear. This time, no matter what, he didn't dare to call him "dwarf".
Guided by his words, everyone remembered what happened before the earthquake. Although the man's words were a little out of context, there were still many people who heard a few words. After all, Xiaomei and Ronggui did not hide their conversation.
I don't know who was the first to jump up and run away. There was the first person, and soon there was the second one. Not long after, all the people who had been in front of them disappeared.
There were only dull knocking sounds and the sound of sirens in the air.
All the miners who applied for the job ran away, leaving only the two of them.
Hmm... one and a half?
The little episode on the applicant's side also attracted the attention of the original staff of the mine.
The vehicle transporting the injured whizzed past them. Not long after, a short, hunched man walked over from the front with his hands behind his back.
The gas mask on his face looked particularly thick, and Ronggui couldn't see his appearance at all.
"Rather than a curse, it's better to say it's a prophecy. Did you foresee the occurrence of this disaster?" Standing next to Xiaomei, the man spoke.
The voice was very vicissitudes, and he should be a middle-aged man.
He was not tall, and he was only a head taller than Xiaomei when he stood in front of her.
Xiaomei raised her head slightly and looked at him: "How is it possible?"
"Hehe..." A low voice came from under the mask worn by the other party. Without answering Xiaomei's words, the man continued to ask: "Then guess, are those young people who just entered dead?"
"..." Xiaomei quietly supported Ronggui and said after a while: "No."
"Hehe, you predicted it right again, they are not dead, it's just that the big guy who entered first took someone else's position and was hit by a stone. He was injured the most seriously, but it's nothing more than two broken bones."
The word used by the man was very interesting, he used the word "again".
Xiaomei didn't answer again.
The man walked to a small metal table next to him and said, "Do you still want to work here? Everyone else has left, and you are now the first in line." Seeing Xiaomei didn't move, the man said, "Don't worry, you won't be assigned to the No. 4 mine where the accident just happened. After this incident, although the people who went in are fine, the miners will definitely be scared. The number of applicants will definitely decrease in the next few days, and we will increase wages! Will you come?" Xiaomei finally walked over slowly. After filling out the form in his hand and handing it to the other party, he received a small card from the other party. He was assigned to the No. 7 mine, and with a salary three times the usual points, Xiaomei became a miner.