Chapter 2: Accident

As he finished reminiscing about his past, Number 069 finally arrived at the top of the queue. Maintaining a humble attitude, he greeted the guards and extended his hand to pick the already served half a bowl of the routine tasteless gruel.

But just then, right as his fingers were about to make contact with the bowl, something unexpected happened. Without warning, a mega tremor shook the entire place, causing dust and small rocks to descend from the cave's ceiling.

More quakes of the earth and walls immediately followed, and before Number 069 could pick up the bowl of tasteless gruel, a gigantic piece of rock fell from above and smashed everything ahead of him, including the food, the table, and the few guards on duty. Chaos had descended suddenly.

"Earthquake! Take cover!"

Number 069 heard one of the surviving guards yelling. But he didn't need the reminder. His animalistic instincts had already set in, and he started running and pumping his legs with every ounce of energy in his entire being. He swerved left and right while ducking at times to dodge the collapsing debris.

In the meantime, the quakes were still ongoing, and the other slave miners were doing everything they could to survive. The men ran about the place, fleeing wildly in all directions, hoping to prevail through the unexpected disaster by some sort of luck. But in the end, most of their efforts were largely futile, and many ended up as flattened chunks of flesh under the falling pieces of debris. The endless horror of it all, coupled with the impending threat of being buried alive, gnawed at their minds and sanity. They soon lost all hope, and all they could do was cry and howl in misery.

Number 069's eyes took in all the horror as he continued weaving, ducking, and running past obstacles. The anguished howls, intermixed with the sound of falling debris, made him feel like he had arrived in hell on earth. But he didn't give up like some of the others and continued dashing forward, hoping for a miracle.

He'd even forgotten about the hunger that had tormented him for days, and the only thing left in his mind was a gambler's desire to try all his cards. He was doing his utmost to survive by looking for a possible escape from the predicament.

"AHH!"

Suddenly, one of the slave miners running in front of Number 069 let out a loud screech as he tumbled over a piece of fallen debris and fell to the ground. Before the pathetic man could lift himself up, another gigantic rock descended from above and crashed into his legs, causing him to howl like a swine in a slaughterhouse. He was surely in a lot of pain.

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The sight of the desperate slave miner's legs, crashed by a falling piece of the earth, caused an adrenaline spike in Number 069's entire body. Heart thumping wildly, he swerved right to circumvent the howling slave miner before upping his speed like mad. Within a few moments, he dodged a couple of more obstacles and rushed into a narrow tunnel that seemed relatively more stable than the rest. He had at least tried his best to survive, and all that was left was to see if lady luck was on his side.

The earth tremors had stopped by then, but the resulting chaos was yet to cease. Fires caused by the toppled and broken mining lamps were beginning to spread, and what was more unfortunate was that they were quickly sapping out the limited oxygen from the surrounding tunnels. But that was not all. There was also debris that would fall from time to time, thereby ending the life of yet another hapless slave miner. It was true horror — the like Number 069 had never experienced in his entire life.

Number 069 watched everything from his narrow cavern and felt tense from the bottom of his heart. The sensation of helplessness quickly flooded his sense of self, and he comprehended how insignificant and trivial he was in the face of even the smallest of natural disasters.

He was so fragile as a human, and at that moment, he let go of his pride and stubbornness and prayed for someone to save him from this hellhole. He really wanted to change his fate, and even if a demon or an evil spirit appeared before him, he would readily agree to their terms to escape his predicament.

"Thump! Thump!"

As if in response to his prayers, another quake emerged from deep below where he was squatting. That time around, though, the tremor was on a much smaller scale and thus more localized.

The tremor only affected the small cavern where Number 069 was hiding, and there was nothing he could do as the earth collapsed in on itself, taking him with it. He could only mouth a few expletives, cursing his luck as he sunk deeper and deeper into the earth before more debris collapsed and buried him alive.

What followed was a growing sense of impending death as the localized tremors continued and pushed him deeper into the earth. He felt himself drowning and sinking downwards while his lungs labored to take in the limited oxygen that had seeped into the ground together with him.

Number 069 had already resigned to his fate as the darkness started swallowing his consciousness. Maybe he was hallucinating, but he saw the smiling faces of his parents, ever bright and encouraging as if the misfortune of seven years ago had never struck. They spread out their arms and seemed to be calling out to him. Perhaps, they wished for him to leave behind his sorry excuse of a life so that he could join them.

Having dreamt of such a reunion for years, Number 069 spread out his arms, ready to dive into their warm embrace. He couldn't give a hoot whether he was dreaming or not. He just wanted to feel the warm embrace of his parents one more time, so he forced himself to push forward with all the strength he could muster.

It was at that moment that his feet seemed to have pushed through a thin film, and he sank deeper into the ground with an even faster velocity. Before he could comprehend what was happening, a refreshing feeling of an ample supply of oxygen assaulted his entire being. The suffocating sensation of the earth crashing him from all sides soon faded, and he plunged into a spacious cavern illuminated by glowing crystals.

"Oh, my God! Where is this?"

Number 069 mumbled, even forgetting the pain of falling on his backside. He was in awe of the picturesque scene around him, and his expression fluctuated wildly, displaying his fear, shock, and wonderment.