The Small Axe

Wu Yi lay on his large bed awake. He could not sleep knowing that his time was running out.

He had done everything he could to keep supervisor Wu interested in keeping him happy. He had done everything he could but now, there was nothing left to do.

Now that the supervisor had gotten the herb monopoly he had been chasing all this time, Wu Yi no longer had anything to offer this brutal yet intelligent man.

Since this was the case it was very likely that he would return to treating Wu Yi like a slave for his mine.

Wu Yi knew that it was time for him to escape. He needed to get away. He had been making plans to escape for some time now but he still needed some time to perfect them. Since there was no time, he just had to try and make do with what he already had planned. In the past two years, Wu Yi remained safe partly because of the monitoring by the other factions in Hundred Man Town. This close monitoring was also a major reason why Wu Yi failed to escape the town.

Wu Yi slept on his bed while moving his fingers around.

"It is time to escape. Success or failure will all depend on my luck.." thought Wu Yi. His eyes were filled with worry. He did not like depending on something as ephemeral as luck.

 The next day, Wu Yi woke up early and left the mansion. He could sense that he was being watched as usual. Supervisor Wu had put a few people in charge of following Wu Yi wherever he went. They reported to the supervisor each action taken by Wu Yi.

Wu Yi was used to being watched like this. He picked a horse from the stables and left the town and headed for the spirit mine. He rode the horse quickly reaching the mine. There, he entered the mine as though he owned it. Ever since he had been put in charge of managing this place, he had made sure to put the guards in their places. He had ordered a few guards to be put to death and others were given beatings that left them traumatized. All the guards now feared him. He had done this in part to get some revenge for how he was treated when he was still a slave in this mine. Wu Yi entered the mine and each guard he passed bowed with respect and fear, They all knew that this young boy was very ruthless. He had reorganized the mine into an even more oppressive place. The slaves lived a good life as long as they met their daily quota. Some of them were even given their private rooms. They were fed well and no women were raped. Anyone found raping a slave in the mine was put to death instantly. Wu Yi did not put this law in place because of some kind of feeling about the issue of rape but because raping the women in the mine left them traumatized and some even committed suicide. Wu Yi saw this as a waste of resources and this was the main reason for his protection of these women.

For those who did not reach their daily quota, they were whipped and no food was provided. If someone missed their quota more than five times, they were put to death. The new method of reward and severe punishment forced the slaves to work extremely hard. He did not stop there with the reforms. He even promised to release anyone who could reach their quota for three years in a row.

Wu Yi entered deep into the mine. He moved until he reached an abandoned shaft. It had been sealed off with some planks of wood. He walked to a crevice in the wall and he pulled out a large sack.

He opened the sack and brought out a hammer. With the hammer, he made quick work of the planks of wood.

He made a large opening and immediately went through. He then used the hammer and some nails to close the hole.

In the darkness, Wu Yi carried the sack over his back as he moved deeper into the shaft. He walked downwards for at least two hours before he began walking upwards. He took another hour to come to a dead end. He put the sack on the ground and brought out a small black pick axe. It was pitch black. Wu Yi felt the axe fit in his hand like a glove.

He could not stop himself from remembering how he had gotten this axe.

 One year ago, Wu Yi visited the mine to carry out one of his usual inspections during which people usually ended up dead.

During the inspection, he had come across a new slave. A young man called Li Chen. He did not know why he had been brought to the mine as a slave and he did not care. What he cared about was that this young man was just fifteen years old but he was bringing in more spirit stones than all the other slaves combined. Wu Yi had also put in place a rule that anyone who could mine one hundred thousand spirit stones in a year would be given their freedom. It seemed that the young man was trying to achieve this in less than a month. Wu Yi became suspicious and he immediately began investigating how it was possible to dig up so many spirit stones in less than a month. Wu Yi chose one day and secretly followed the young man. What he saw left him shaken. The young man used a small pickaxe but it was the sharpest tool he had ever seen. The axe cut through stone like it was butter. He simply put the axe on the rock and it would break apart. Wu Yi had immediately thought of this axe as one of those mysterious spirit artifacts he had had in rumors.

Wu Yi quickly understood that he could use this axe to escape from the supervisor. Since this was the case, he had to take the axe for himself. He did not waste time. He hid himself behind a boulder and waited patiently. Once the time came for the young man to return to hand in the last of the spirit stones needed to regain his freedom, Wu Yi ambushed him from behind the boulder. Wu Yi struck the young man with an arrow right through his head. The young man fell to the ground and blood covered the ground. Wu Yi calmly walked over. To his surprise, the young man was not dead. His eyes were open and they were filled with fury. Once Wu Yi saw these eyes, he quickly shot five more arrows into the man's chest. Still, the young man did not die. Wu Yi was not shaken by this. He understood that nothing was immortal. If this was the case, it meant that this boy could be killed. Wu Yi used all his arrows and turned the young man into a porcupine.

This time, Wu Yi had shot two of the arrows right through his eyes, and all the rest were shot at critical points ensuring maximum damage. The boy finally died.

After that day, Wu Yi began using the small axe to create a long shaft deep in the mine. With the axe's strange power, this was an easy task since the rocks were nothing but tofu before the axe. This was the same shaft he now stood in.

Wu Yi did not regret killing the young man for his axe. If the young man had escaped the mine, he might have become a powerful figure who could suppress one direction single-handedly. He might have become a legend.

Wu Yi only regretted not asking the boy where he had gotten the axe from.

"In this world, it's every man for himself," said Wu Yi as he swung the axe at the wall before him.

Booom, that single swing created an opening in the wall exposing bright light. He had reached the surface.

Wu Yi returned the axe to the small sack, swang it over his shoulder, and walked off into the sunlight. He had finally escaped the supervisor and all his bullshit.