Chapter 34 Only Steel Remembers

Khan didn't feel guilty for his actions. He didn't believe himself to be a bad guy, but he wasn't one of the good ones either. He was only one of the many kids that the environment of the Slums had forced to mature too quickly. , That situation had even been worse for Khan. The inhabitants of the Slums had never fully accepted him since his family came from the wealthy districts of Ylaco. , The Slums rarely rewarded acts of mercy. The lack of food and work forced everyone to learn how to surpass others to survive. The mines were relatively safe due to the soldiers, but that didn't apply in its insides. , Khan ran as fast as he could. His father had taught him a lot about the Tainteds, so he knew exactly how dangerous they could be. , Any living being touched by the Nak's mana would mutate. That infection usually led to death when it came to humans, but the animals had a higher chance to survive and develop enhanced abilities. , Moreover, Tainted creatures could infect other living beings. That risk depended on how unstable their mutation was. Of course, Khan wasn't a threat for the others since his father had suppressed the Nak's mana when he was nothing more than a kid. , Many workers turned toward Khan when they heard his faint footsteps. They couldn't guess what had happened to him, but some of them joined him in his escape anyway. , The mines were mostly stable. Many layers of dense alloy ran through the whole structure and limited the number of materials that could fall during a landslide. Still, they had some dangerous spots, and the workers didn't dare to take risks in those kinds of jobs. , A scream eventually echoed through the tunnels and scared the few miners who had decided to continue their work. They didn't even glance in the direction of those cries before standing up and running toward the exit. , Khan soon found a few dozens of miners running behind him. He had attracted a lot of attention during his escape. Many workers had decided to follow him even before hearing the screams. , 'The Army will seal the whole mine if they understand what is happening,' Khan thought. 'I hope they mind their own business.' , Screams echoed through the tunnels from time to time, but Khan didn't let his mind wander. He only wanted to return to his father to show him the mana core. , The group of escaping miners grew as screams filled the mines. Men and women appeared in front of Khan and forced him to slow down since the tunnels were too narrow for all of them. , The light coming from the entrance soon overwhelmed the artificial illumination of the electric torches. Khan and the others were almost outside of the mines, but a scream turned the whole situation upside-down. ,

Chapter end