PDLP Chapter 4 Obtained Without Any Effort
Chapter 4 Obtained Without Any Effort
The sea breeze seeped through the gaps in the oxcart into the narrow, stuffy crowd, making it a little easier for Fang Jianqiu to endure, but Ye Lang next to him couldn't quite stand it.
His lips were already slightly pale, and his brows were furrowed, clearly indicating that he was not feeling well.
Fang Jianqiu didn't have any good solutions either.
If he hadn't created this small space, Brother Ye probably would have vomited long ago.
The oxcart lurched twice more, and the driver just kept whipping the oxen to urge them on, completely ignoring the road conditions.
After all, the guys in the car were just a bunch of breathing cargo.
......
They were jostled around in the wooden coffin for an unknown amount of time before they finally calmed down.
Judging from the shouts of the foreigners outside the car and the gradually slowing speed, Fang Jianqiu guessed that they had finally arrived at their destination, and the facts soon proved his guess.
Once the oxcart had come to a complete stop, the warped wooden door was pulled open.
Those foreigners, armed with guns and whips, stood outside the vehicle and shouted:
"Get out! Get out! They're all here! Hurry up! Don't waste the seats!"
(Everyone, come out here! Hurry up! Stop dawdling!)
These foreigners, having probably dealt with Chinese laborers for years, had somehow picked up a few broken Chinese phrases, mixed with a Cantonese accent, which sounded both comical and jarring.
Having traveled for so long, the foreigners were clearly in a bad mood, and they would slap or hit any slow-moving Chinese people they saw.
It was also accompanied by various impatient insults:
"Damn yellow pigs, they're both smelly and stupid!"
"Fuck you, speaking that insect language is an insult to my mouth!"
Meanwhile, the white foreigner riding a tall white horse completely ignored his subordinates' behavior, letting them beat and scold his "goods".
As long as we maintain a proper level of restraint and avoid inflicting damage that could affect the movement of the "cargo," then it doesn't matter.
In his view, this was a necessary means to make the "goods" obedient in the days to come.
Fang Jianqiu watched this scene expressionlessly. After more than half of the people in their car had left, he grabbed Ye Lang's younger brother, nimbly flipped over several still dizzy Chinese people, and blended into the crowd.
Bai Pi, who was standing next to the car, instinctively wanted to slap Fang Jianqiu, who got out of the car, to teach him a lesson, but his movements were indeed swift.
The white man, who was also a little dizzy from being jostled around in the oxcart, didn't grab him for a moment. He subconsciously turned his head to look inside the cart and saw that several Chinese people were vomiting inside.
He was consumed by rage and, ignoring Fang Jianqiu, drew his lever rifle from his back and swung it at him.
The gun barrel, made of solid wood, is no joke when it hits someone.
boom!boom!
The dull thud of a solid wooden gunstock hitting flesh is enough to make your teeth ache.
The intense pain miraculously squeezed out the strength from the bodies of those Chinese who had been vomiting for a long time but had only managed to vomit a little bit of acidic fluid.
They cried out in pain and fled, scrambling on all fours to get out of the car:
"My lord, please spare me! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I just couldn't take it anymore!"
"I'm guilty! I'm guilty! Please don't hit my head! Please don't hit my head!"
But the white-skinned man clearly didn't want to let them off so easily. Even though the men had already left the carriage, he still chased after them and started whipping them.
The other foreign guards stood by, arms crossed, watching the spectacle, making strange noises and laughing, pointing and whispering.
The white overseer on horseback was even more pleased. He took out an exquisite silver flask from his saddlebag, tilted his head back and took a swig of strong liquor, squinting as he watched this customary spectacle.
Fang Jianqiu watched this scene silently. The fresh sea breeze that had hit him when he got off the car had made him feel a little more relaxed, but the sight of this inhuman and wanton beating immediately made his heart feel heavy.
Such a scene is something Fang Jianqiu, who was born and raised under the red flag, could almost only see in film and television works.
Now that he has witnessed it firsthand, the impact is unparalleled.
Fortunately, he had been learning martial arts from his master since childhood, so he was used to seeing blood frequently, and even broken bones and tendons were commonplace for him.
So he adjusted his mindset very quickly, while everyone around him, including Ye Lang, was either watching nervously or keeping their heads down.
He took the opportunity to look around and observe, starting with the guards with guns on their shoulders.
Although they were laughing loudly and pointing at the sadistic scene, they were all slightly raising their long guns and short cannons, and even placing their fingers near the triggers.
This seemingly loose but actually tight approach once again dissuaded Fang Jianqiu from any other ideas, and he was starting to have a headache:
"If the security personnel on this plantation are all of this quality, then things are going to get complicated."
He then looked into the distance.
Just a few hundred meters ahead of where they had parked their oxcart was a huge valley opening between two mountains, like a gaping maw ready to devour anyone who dared to approach.
"The park is right behind that valley, isn't it? That's truly... a uniquely advantageous location."
Looking at the terrain that seemed to have only one entrance and exit, even though he didn't understand mountains and rivers, Fang Jianqiu intuitively felt that this was definitely a place that was difficult to enter and difficult to leave.
"This is a really bad start..."
Fang Jianqiu sighed softly, while simultaneously formulating a backup plan in his mind.
Three days! Only three days!
This is the timeframe Fang Jianqiu set for himself.
If he cannot figure out how to gain experience and unlock runes within these three days...
He then had to act immediately and find a chance to escape from the park.
It was foreseeable that his still relatively robust body, now being a laborer on the plantation in the 1990s, would become increasingly weak over time.
The sooner we act, the better our chances of escaping this place.
Therefore, it is time to begin observing the specific conditions of this plantation...
Not far away, the inhumane beatings finally ended.
It turned out that the white foreigner had gotten tired of fighting and was now leaning on his gun, panting.
"Ptooey!"
A mouthful of saliva flew from his mouth and landed on the Chinese man who was groaning and moaning on the ground.
Seeing that things were almost done, the foreigner on the white horse casually gave instructions:
"Alright, alright, Tom, you've had your fun, and you guys have had your fill of the show. Now get to work. Drag these yellow-skinned monkeys inside, assign them tasks, and then come to my room for a few bites!"
Upon hearing this, the men finally whistled with delight and began shoving the Chinese people into line to go inside.
Interspersed among these incidents were random beatings, which Fang Jianqiu had almost grown accustomed to.
Ye Lang remained silent from the moment he got out of the car, watching the scene unfold with a pale face.
Fear and confusion spread across his face.
......
After passing through the heavily fortified valley entrance, the view suddenly opened up before us.
This is the plantation behind the valley.
As far as the eye can see, there is a green ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Countless thick sugarcane stalks stand tall like green walls, swaying in the wind and making a rustling sound.
Among these tall green walls, countless figures are busy as ants.
There were dark-skinned, shiny-haired Black people, short-statured Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans who also wore braids, and some mixed-race people whose races were indistinguishable.
They were all shirtless or wearing tattered clothes, bent over, wielding sickles, working tirelessly under the scorching sun.
"Snapped!"
The crisp crack of the whip echoed through the empty valley, accompanied by the overseer's thunderous roar:
"Hurry up! Haven't you eaten yet?!"
The sugarcane was growing well, each stalk plump and juicy, symbolizing great wealth.
Beneath the sugarcane groves, however, lay the bent backs of these laborers and the flowing sweat and tears of blood.
Fang Jianqiu didn't get to see for long before Tom, the white guy who had previously whipped the Chinese, shouted a few times.
Soon, a thin man ran out from a sugarcane field.
The man had a long braid and wore a slightly more presentable short shirt than the average laborer. He jogged over, his back bent like a shrimp.
Tom simply pointed at their group and then said in very brief English:
"Yellow-skinned monkey, the people are here. You, make the distribution properly!"
The man bowed and scraped, a fawning smile on his face, and tried his best to reply in heavily accented English:
"Understood, understood, Grandpa Bai, don't worry, I'll take good care of these kids!"
Tom's face showed disgust again:
"Fuck, I feel uncomfortable every time I hear these yellow-skinned monkeys speaking English!"
"Come on, Tom, aren't you tired of fighting yet? If you want to fight, keep fighting. I'm going to the boss for a drink!"
Another white man next to him said indifferently, and then turned and walked in another direction.
Seeing this, Tom's mouth watered as well, and in the end he just spat on the man and left as well.
The other security guards also left one after another.
They weren't worried that the piglets would cause trouble, because the armed overseers were all in the nearby fields when they arrived!
The man remained bowing and smiling until most of the escorts had left, at which point he finally straightened up.
The fawning smile vanished instantly, replaced by a condescending disdain and sarcasm. His eyes coldly swept over his compatriots, and he spoke in a sharp tone:
"Listen up, everyone! I'm the foreman for this area. Call me Third Master Lin! Or Manager Lin!"
"Arriving at this Vepio Plantation is like arriving at the gates of hell! Don't even think about slacking off, don't even think about running away! Here, my word is law! Anyone who dares to cause trouble, I'll skin them alive before the foreign lords even lift a finger!"
Looking at the way Lin and the other two acted, Fang Jianqiu felt that they were almost no different from the manager of the pigsty...
And the traitors were often more hateful than the Japanese.
There were about thirty or forty people in their group, and Lin San's division of labor was not very standardized, or rather, the division of labor in the sugarcane plantation was simply crude.
Most of them were assigned to tasks such as cutting and harvesting sugarcane, and Fang Jianqiu was unsurprisingly among them, which was also the most common job on the plantation.
A very small number of people were assigned to technical positions. These were mostly Chinese Americans who had traveled to and from more than one plantation and had been expelled from the United States due to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Ye Lang, along with Fang Jianqiu, was also assigned to chop sugarcane.
"Alright! Stop standing there!"
After the allocation was completed, Lin San didn't give them any time to relax. He immediately shouted and led them to the house where the tools were stored. Once they had the tools, they were ready to go to work in the fields.
"You bunch of good-for-nothings, you'd better make good use of these things. Grandpa Bai is being incredibly kind by renting them to you. If you damage them, it'll be deducted from your wages!"
Lin San shouted at the top of his lungs from the side.
"See that old man over there? Just follow his example! Chop the way he does!"
"Today is your first day here, so you're lucky. We won't deduct money for not harvesting enough! Your wages will start from tomorrow! Anyone who doesn't reach their quota by tomorrow can forget about eating!"
Fang Jianqiu looked up and saw an old man with gray hair a few steps away from him, bending over and skillfully chopping sugarcane.
Just then, a foreman carrying a whip walked by from the roadside. He had a clear goal: to get to this group of new recruits.
Fang Jianqiu didn't want to be whipped for no reason at this critical juncture, so he immediately began to imitate the old man in a very serious manner:
"Who understands? My first day after transmigrating was spent head down cutting sugarcane. This is truly frustrating!"
It's just that everything happened too fast. If Fang Jianqiu had been allowed to stay in that pigsty for a few more days, even without the help of the runes, he would have been quite confident that he could have found another way out...
"Snapped!"
Not far away, the sound of a whip lashing against flesh rang out, accompanied by a piercing scream.
Fang Jianqiu didn't even lift his eyelids. Taking advantage of his frustration, he suddenly exerted force in his arm, and the curved knife in his hand swung down with a whoosh.
"Snap!"
The sugarcane, as thick as a wrist, snapped in two with a snap, its juice splattering everywhere.
There's no skill involved, just sheer brute force.
"This is......"
Fang Jianqiu was stunned as he looked at the pitted and uneven stem in his hand.
The reason is simple: the moment the sugarcane root broke, the experience bar required to unlock the Hextech rune increased slightly!
Fang Jianqiu's heart suddenly pounded wildly, and he almost dropped the knife in his hand.
"Wow! Finally, some good news!!!"
"You can gain experience points by cutting sugarcane?!"
"This isn't a sugarcane field! This is my fucking leveling paradise!"