The cave’s terrain was not complicated.
There was an opening in the front to ensure ventilation and serve as the entrance and exit for the people living inside.
The inside led to a dead end.
Su Mo would have never set up his territory here.
First of all, once an enemy attacked and surrounded the entrance, they could do as they pleased, and there would be nowhere to escape.
Secondly, if there happened to be a conflict inside the cave, it would be challenging to escape from the innermost part to the outside.
In the current situation, it would be unwise for them to rush in with brute force when they already controlled the cave’s only exit.
Su Mo scanned the inside and saw a pile of wheat straw placed in the corner of the cave. He raised his eyebrows and walked toward it.
“Come and give me a hand. We’ll put the straw in front of their cave and burn it.
“Also, get some people to blow the air inside. I’m sure they’ll have to come out!”
It was a familiar strategy.
In the past, the five gangsters tried to force Su Mo out of his underground shelter with this very same method.
After such a long time, Su Mo never expected that he would use the same trick on others.
Moments later, some laborers began to move the straw, and some began preparing for the fire.
With the tall women managing the people, everyone seemed to have found a backbone and began to work extremely hard.
It probably only took less than ten minutes for the billowing black smoke to rush into the cave, suffocating those inside to cough.
“Let’s see how long you can last!”
Su Mo sat in front of the cave and listened attentively to the voices from within the cave. He glanced at the laborers behind, who had curious and respectful expressions.
He was not anxious and waited patiently.
Two minutes later, four young women who were partially dressed were the first to succumb to the attack of the thick smoke and ran out of the cave with their mouths covered. Their bodies were covered with black smoke debris and they looked extremely miserable.
Five minutes later, two more women crawled out from the cave with lame legs. They cautiously glanced at everyone present, and under the contemptuous gazes of the laborers, they fell to the ground and took deep breaths for air.
Seven minutes later, three men dressed in laborer’s clothing with sly expressions were forced out of the cave by the thick smoke and rushed out with their mouths and noses covered with wet cloths.
Unfortunately, before they could get a clear view of the outside, they were already beaten half to death by the laborers who swarmed up to them. They groaned out in pain on the ground.
These people had clear judgment and treated different people differently.
Su Mo sat on a stone at the entrance, silently watching the whole process unfold, and determined the structure of the people.
He remained silent and did not interrupt nor had the intention to stop them.
Through the actions of the laborers toward the people who came out, the basic social structure of the people in the cave was clearly portrayed.
The first four women laborers who came out served the Liu brothers. The group of laborers not only did not speak ill of them but eagerly welcomed them, handed them water, and offered leaves for them to wipe their faces with an amiable attitude.
These four were obviously people at the bottom of the hierarchy in the cave. They were the people who were oppressed the worst.
At the same time, they were the kindest group of people who had been coaxed to the cave.
As for the two lame women who came out after them, not only did they have to accept everyone’s condescending looks. It was apparent they were despised by the group of laborers.
They were likely the compromising ones that were ranked second in the cave.
They betrayed their own at the bottom and chose to rely on the wicked for their own reasons.
Although everyone understood it was their will to live, it did not prevent them from expressing their contempt for such behavior.
However, the three men who came out last were not only met without any preferential treatment, and the laborers ruthlessly beat them.
Obviously, these three were ranked third within the cave.
They were either swindlers for the tigers or foxes pretending to be mighty tigers. They were sly and completely betrayed the other laborers. Their sins were as grave as those abusers outside!
Their actions could even be regarded as worse!
‘Exploitation, unfair treatment, and dividing the group with small profits to achieve their emperor dreams.
‘These two d*mned souls!’ thought Su Mo.
Su Mo counted the time that passed in his heart. However, not a single shadow appeared from inside the cave after ten minutes.
Su Mo stood up and raised his finger to gesture to the people to put out the fire.
For them to persist for such a long time meant that they either had a passage that they could escape through that led outside the cave or a complete set of gear that protected them from the black smoke.
It was useless to keep burning the fire.
“You stay here on guard! I’ll go in to check!”
“Uhm…”
Su Mo looked at the worried laborers and reassured everyone with his words after giving it a thought for a while.
He leaned against the wall and cautiously advanced into the cave.
As the main cave, the space inside was slightly bigger.
The accommodation of the Liu brothers was visible through the corridor leading inside.
‘Hmm? They even have a living room inside this cave!’
Stone tables, stone benches, and some special devices were seemingly created for entertainment.
Various torture tools were hung on the walls. The living room was not small and had at least 100 square meters of space.
Further back, there were another three small caves.
Above each cave were written three big words: rest, eat, and storage.
The writing was extremely crooked and hard to read at a glance. It was evident the words were written by the rough hands of the Liu brothers.
‘No wonder these fellows chose to set up their living space in this area. There really is a secret passage that leads outside!’
