Annan remained somewhat uneasy, wondering if the players could truly bring Celecia back without complications.
Celecia was a celebrity in the underground world.
Known as the “Digger among Diggers” and the “Poppy in the Deep Rock,” she was strong, free, and beautiful — not greedy or weak, but full of desire and fortuitous. She embodied the spirit of young individuals who steadfastly pursued their dreams, constantly venturing into uncharted territories.
Undoubtedly, she was a superstar who fully conformed to the values of the underground world.
Regardless of gender, regardless of age… Everyone wanted to be Celecia, everyone also wanted to have Celecia.
Every child had dreams of adventure.
Some as grand as epics, others as sweet and romantic as fairy tales.
But as they grew up, that dream of adventure faded. They realized traveling and adventuring weren’t as great as they had imagined. They also recognized that they had their own life paths to follow… And when they saw they were short on money, time, energy, and skills, those unrealistic adventure dreams just naturally drifted away.
However, the Silver Brigade was different.
They were the living legends.
Owing to Celecia’s influence, many young people aspired to become Diggers.
If the underground world had a unified government, then Cerecia would surely become a spokesperson-level senior figure—simply to allow her and her team to continue their adventures, they would be given a substantial amount of funding.
If the story of “Silver Brigade” ended, it might lead to the development of the underground world to slow down and stagnate.
Digger was not an easy job to begin with.
Even the word “danger” didn’t quite sum it up.
A set of exploration equipment including lanterns and positioning anchors, as well as only enough rations and water for a week—they didn’t have tents, let alone even sleeping bags.
To have additional equipment, the person had to go to the only designated store to buy it himself.
That included tents, sleeping bags, portable bandages, nutritional supplements, additional light sources, anti-cut gloves, and other series of equipment “convenient for Digger’s exploration operations”. The variety was quite complete and reliable.
However, it would cost a lot of money to buy all of them. Take bandages, light sources, and other goods as examples. Their prices were twice as expensive as similar items on the ground.
In fact, the underground world had the most convenient transportation, termed as the “center of the world.”
Due to the subway system connecting various countries, the prices of many goods here were not much higher than in their places of origin. They might even be much cheaper, given the lower costs associated with bulk importation. The underworld also had a ‘Wise’ system, making it the place with the highest number of wise people among the authorities of various countries—without equal.
These Wise had indeed developed many advanced equipment for exploration and excavation. The level of advanced technology was superb. These products were undoubtedly at the world’s leading level.
However, ironically, the equipment available to most “amateur Diggers” wasn’t affordable. Worse still, they were more expensive and were even limited…
However, no matter what, ‘Diggers’ was the only way for those in the underground world who were not smart enough, lacked talent, or had not received higher education to become a big shot—it was essentially a gamble with their lives.
And from this point of view…
On the one hand, the Wise hoped that Digger could help them explore more land; on the other hand, they did not want the number of Diggers to become too large — at least they must always control the overall number of Diggers to be less than the Wise.
The Wise controlled many aspects like law, healthcare, education, etc… but security, finance, and most importantly, the rights to the cities, were all in the hands of the Diggers.
Generally, the Diggers were usually aware of their own limitations and would not overly interfere with the policies implemented by the Wise. If the Digger they were assisting was too foolish or tyrannical, the Wise would leave that place.
So a city might not have Wise, but it must have its own Digger. Even if the ownership was sold to the Wise and the Wise served as the Digger or the original owner met with an unexpected death, there would still definitely be a Digger. It was just a matter of whether the Digger was within the city.
But no matter what, one thing couldn’t be changed— Digger was much richer than the Wise.
So? All they could do was control the number of Diggers.
How to control it?
It was simple… just control the amount of “quality equipment” on the market.
They used the legend of Celecia to lure a large number of young people who lacked the skills in learning, research, or politics and couldn’t make it into the ‘Wise’ class, into becoming Diggers. At the same time, they further controlled the amount of ‘quality equipment’ available on the market, ensuring that only a few could become Diggers.
What about the rest of the people?
They would naturally meet their demise.
After each resupply, every Digger could receive a beacon that marked their coordinate through a ritual, so they could ‘save their progress’ for when they returned.
And just in the first month of the Diggers’ expedition, the “disappearance” rate was as high as 70%. On average, each Digger was able to install less than three beacons.
In other words, even with the extensive experience of many Diggers and the group efforts of ‘exploration teams’ diluting the data with a large number of positioning beacons, the vast majority of Diggers still lacked the ability to return three times.
In the first month, numerous Diggers would either surrender to despair or perish in the oppressive darkness of the underground.
In their so-called ‘epic and romantic’ exploration careers, they were kicking the bucket way more often than people in a war zone.
Their survival rate was even strictly controlled. Wanting to unearth something valuable without the right gear was just a pipe dream. After all, this was not a single-player game… If they fell behind in efficiency, others would snatch up the ‘treasure’ first.
Of course, over time, these novice Diggers would come to understand the stark reality of the Wise’s conspiracy. However, if they lived long enough, they could also gradually collect a full set of equipment… for example, from the corpses of the dead.
When they truly became a “Digger” and returned home, their positions immediately changed.
It wasn’t just the Wise who were unwelcoming of additional Diggers; the Diggers themselves didn’t want competition clawing at their own authority — their power was equal. Just one more person meant seeing their own influence halved. And if two more Diggers came into the picture, they could even directly snatch away a city.
No matter how much they hated the conspiracy of “controlling the number of Diggers” back then, they would either actively or silently carry the conspiracy forward.
It was a genuine slaughterhouse.
The tunnels were dug by a vast number of ‘aspiring Diggers.’ Generation after generation of young people spent their lives in search of wealth, but the title of ‘Digger’ could only be claimed by the first person to plant their mark at the destination.
With a stroke of luck, a few might experience the epiphany early enough to return with their lives intact. However, those less fortunate would merely become piles of bones, ultimately to be interred by the Bone Burying Grandma.
From this point of view, Celecia could also be considered one of the murderers, or at least an accomplice.
She had done nothing. This tradition had been formed for generations before she entered the underground world. However, the survivors who were full of hatred would not be unreasonable.
—The deeds of Celecia, the “Captain of the Stone”, had led to a new wave of emerging “Diggers” in the underground world.
A large number of children lost their parents.
A large number of parents lost their children.
The wife who lost her husband, those who lost their siblings… While the underground world was ushering in an unprecedented wave of development, different tragedies were also being staged here.
In fact, more people wanted to end Celecia’s life than those who fell in love with her.
Not to mention… Celecia had already forsaken the power of destiny that the ship ‘Silver’ brought her, returning to the Silver Rank.
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