Super Gene Hunting Ground-Chapter 768 - 768: You... I...

Long Yue's troops quickly launched an attack on the third Primitive Forest at the edge of their jurisdiction.
This time, they encountered no resistance and easily occupied the entire Primitive Forest.
"Damn, what the hell? Where are those Wildmen?"
Long Yue's troops finally caught a few stray Wildmen in the forest and only after questioning them did they find out that all the Wildmen had been relocated in advance.
"Where did they go?"
"Wildman Valley."
The guard ed the situation to Long Yue.
Long Yue was taken aback,
"Wildman Valley, that name sounds so familiar."
"City Lord, Wildman Valley is the place where the Wildman tribe that the Jino City Lord took under his jurisdiction a few months ago is located, commonly known as Wildman Valley."
"Ah, I remember now, Wildman Valley, the Wildman King, and that guy called Yang Xiao, eh, that's not right, why would they take all the Wildmen from here over there?"
Long Yue had an ominous feeling.
Even though all the Wildmen had left, sparing his troops from casualties in battle, this meant that the Wildmen would forever exist and had not been eradicated.
He felt like there was a thorn in his throat that he couldn't swallow or spit out.
Moreover, now that the Wildmen have gathered together, there seems to be a bit of a problem.
"What does the Wildman King want to do?"
"City Lord, no matter what he wants to do, we have controlled three Wildman Forests without a single soldier, isn't that good?"
"Heh, you don't understand, it looks good for now, but the Wildmen from these three Primitive Forests combined number over ten thousand people, and together with those from Wildman Valley, there are a total of 20,000.
They used to live scattered and that's why we could easily defeat them. Now united and gathered together, they are a formidable force!"
"What should we do now? Should we go attack Wildman Valley?"
"Not necessarily, Wildman Valley is at the edge of Karachi City's jurisdiction. If anyone is to attack, it should be Jino. Now that Jino has accepted the allegiance of Wildman Valley, it's not good for us to intervene.
Let's just send someone to take control of these three forest regions for now, then invite private Miners to come and mine. We also need to continue bringing over people from Witch Star to expand the mining area."
...
Due to the addition of four to five thousand Wildmen, the output of Crystal Stones from the mines in Wildman Valley has significantly increased.
Yang Xiao invited a Prospecting Team to come and explore the area, and they found dozens of new mines around the Primitive Forest, with each mine having at least five or six veins, and some having as many as a dozen or more.
Yang Xiao, having surveyed these mining sites, opened them up for investment again, attracting more and more people to come and mine.
Then, a problem arose.
Previously, when it was just Karachi City, private Miners would search everywhere for mining sites,
Later, the War God seized the territory of the Pegasus Empire, and Long Yue took most of the existing mines for his own exploitation, leaving only some remote or poor mining areas for these private Miners to explore.
Many private Miners not only did not make money but also ended up paying for the prospecting costs themselves.
Wildman Valley, where Yang Xiao is located, has rich veins and is attracting a large number of private Miners to mine since it involves proven mines up for investment.
Some Miners even withdrew from unprofitable mining sites under Pegasus City's jurisdiction and came directly to mine in the Wildman Valley.
The number of private Miners and Miners is limited; with more people going to Wildman Valley, the population in the Pegasus City jurisdiction naturally decreased a lot.
Now that Long Yue has newly seized three Primitive Forests, he originally had hoped that private Miners would help develop some of them, but now, no one is coming to explore or mine.
Long Yue was feeling quite annoyed, as if he had prepared a feast and the guests had failed to show up.
"Lord Long, two more mining masters withdrew from the minefield today," said an aide, "stating that the Crystal Stone content there is too meager to be profitable, so they have left for Wildman Valley."
"Bang!"
Long Yue slammed down the cup of tea he was holding, shattering it upon the floor.
"How detestable this King of the Wildmen is, luring all these private mine owners over to his side, leaving us short of hands to mine our fields!"
One of the guards hesitated before adding another line,
"Over twenty mines have been abandoned lately, and this month's production is likely to fall."
"Slap!"
Long Yue's palm hit the tea table with such force that it splintered into pieces.
He bellowed loudly:
"Absolutely not, we can't cut production. The Eldest Prince's army is depending on our Crystal Stone resources. If the mines decrease in output, how am I supposed to face the Eldest Prince?"
"But, we're short-handed at the moment, what should we do?"
Long Yue stood up, pacing back and forth in the hall, flustered and exasperated; after a moment of thought, he demanded:
"Increase the miners' working hours by 2 extra hours each day."
The guard was taken aback, responding in a low voice:
"My lord, our miners already work an hour longer each day than those in Karachi City. If we extend it by another 2 hours, I fear they won't be able to take it."
"Can't take it? What's there to not be able to take? They're all slaves, all King Level Evolvers. Will they die from an additional 2 hours? Even if they die, they must increase production. This is an order. Go, pass it down. Anyone who dares resist, kill them on the spot!"
The subordinate guard was startled but immediately responded:
"Yes!"
After the guard had departed, Long Yue thought about how he had struggled to conquer three forests, only for no private mine owners to come to mine them, and even existing mine owners fled by the dozens. All his hard work, for whom?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he grew, his rage burning hotter.
"Damn it, this Wildman King is insufferable. I'm going to Jino, and I want to see what he has to say about this."
Long Yue, accompanied by several guards, took a spaceship to Karachi City to meet Jino.
Thanks to Wildman Valley's allegiance, Karachi City's Crystal Stone output to the Great Dragon Empire had increased by about 20%, earning Jino praise from his superiors.
Seeing Long Yue march into his office with a face full of fury, Jino chuckled:
"Lord Long, what has irritated you so? I heard you've taken over three Primitive Forests in a row. You should be happy, shouldn't you?"
"Hmph, don't mention it. I indeed took those forests, but now, many private mining masters have run off to mine in Wildman Valley. I'm seriously short on miners here. What is this Wildman King playing at? And, he secretly moved the people of the three Wildman tribes I conquered to Wildman Valley. Are you aware of this matter?"
Jino responded with a faint smile,
"Private mining masters have always flocked to wherever the profits lie; such matters are beyond our control. As for the concentration of Wildmen in Wildman Valley, I've heard about it too. Yang Xiao said that those Wildmen were scattered and fleeing from your forces, with nowhere else to go, so they sought refuge in Wildman Valley. As the Great Chief of the Wildman tribes, the Wildman King can't just turn them away. In the end, this is a situation you've caused. If you hadn't attacked the Primitive Forest, there wouldn't have been any of this, would there?"
"You... I..."
Long Yue was speechless, staring at Jino with a look of consternation.