Primordial Era: The Holy Maiden Shiji, a woman of exceptional talent and beauty

Shiji tried to calm down her anger and continued, "King, this is wrong. Although humans and beasts have grievances, no one will refuse such a mutually beneficial and win-win situation."

"I know what the king is worried about. You are afraid that if you sell the minerals to humans, they will look down on you and the beastmen will not be able to hold their heads up among all the other tribes. Am I right?" Shiji hit the king's heart directly.

The king was somewhat embarrassed as his thoughts were exposed.

"Shiji, what makes you think you are going to guess what the king is thinking? The human race has killed countless of my compatriots. Humans and beasts are irreconcilable. How can we cooperate with them?" Someone in the crowd stood up and shouted loudly, his tone full of dissatisfaction with the human race.

"King, the beastmen are the slowest developing and most backward among all the tribes. The top priority is to get rich. Cooperation with humans is the best option at present. Please don't be emotional and put the overall situation first!" Shiji persuaded earnestly despite the opposition of others.

The king was silent for a long time, pondering Shiji's words over and over again, and had to admit that what Shiji said made some sense.

As the leader of the orcs, he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He cannot act on impulse and must put the future development of the orcs first.

"Shiji, it's not impossible to sell the minerals to humans, but I have a condition, that is, you have to sell them as a human being." The king spoke slowly.

"This will not only save the reputation of our beast tribe, but also allow you to sell it, making it easier for humans to accept it. What do you think?"

Shiji slapped his forehead. This was indeed a good idea. Why didn't he think of it?
After the discussion was complete, Shiji led the king to the place where the mineral was discovered.

The king looked at it carefully. He had seen this thing before, but thought it was just an ordinary stone and paid no attention to it. He never expected that this seemingly ordinary thing could be so useful.

"King, I have a request. I hope you can gather more orcs, pay them, and hire them to mine here." Shiji said.

The king was somewhat reluctant after hearing this. The treasury of the Beast Tribe was already not well-funded, and now he had to spend part of the money to hire workers, which really distressed him.

"Why do we need so many people for such a small mineral deposit? I can just find a few more soldiers and we can finish the mining in a few days," said the king.

Shiji saw the king's mind and felt that he was stingy and short-sighted, only caring about immediate interests and not long-term development. If he could not change his ideas, even if he helped the beastmen get rich, they would not be able to keep this wealth.

"King, who said there is only this small piece of mineral? I want to dig the whole mountain!" Shiji said shockingly.

When these words came out, not only the king, but everyone present was stunned.

"The whole mountain? You mean, this whole mountain is mines?" the king asked in disbelief.

Shiji nodded confidently: "To be exact, it's these two mines."

"Two mines, how long will it take to dig them all?" the king said in surprise.

"The king is right. The two mines cannot be fully mined in several lifetimes. But you have laid a good foundation for the orcs. The orcs will no longer suffer from poverty from generation to generation. Isn't this a good thing?" Shiji said.

The king was persuaded by Shiji. It was just a few wages, so he just gave it.

The king followed Shiji's request and posted a notice in the kingdom. Seeing that there was money to be made, everyone signed up. All the young and middle-aged men in the kingdom signed up enthusiastically, and the king reluctantly gave up and spent a lot of money.

Shiji divided the mining area for the workers and started working soon. In order to maintain domestic development, Shiji set goals for the workers.

Those who meet the target will be paid more, while those who fail to meet the target will be paid less. The workers, who have had enough of the hard life, work very hard to earn more money.

As the mining time got longer and longer, the king met with Shiji less and less frequently, and the treasury became increasingly depleted. At this time, some orcs began to doubt Shiji.

"King, Shiji is really an extraordinary person. He made the minerals sound so precious and led a large number of orcs to mine day and night, but our lives have not improved so far. Instead, they are getting worse and worse. I suspect that Shiji is probably a spy sent by humans, with the purpose of weakening the power of our orc kingdom and then annihilating us in one fell swoop."

"Your Majesty, that's right. Now more than 80% of our young and strong men have been taken away to do hard labor, working day and night. If humans suddenly attack the beastmen, we will not be able to resist at all."

……

Everyone was blaming Shiji. Even though the king trusted Shiji, he could not help but have doubts.

On the other side, Shiji received a summons from the king and rushed to the palace without stopping.

The atmosphere in the hall was gloomy, and Shiji had guessed about 80% of it. But he was upright and had nothing to fear, so he held his head high even in this situation.

"Shiji, how is the mining going?" asked the king.

"It is proceeding in an orderly manner. In a few days, the national treasury will receive the first payment from the sale of minerals." Shiji said confidently.

Shiji's confidence made the king feel a little guilty.

"Shiji, you said that mining will improve the lives of the beastmen. However, now I only see that the fighting power of the beastmen is decreasing little by little, and the quality of life has not improved at all."

"I really want to believe you, but..." The king hesitated.

Shiji glanced at the other beastmen. She knew without thinking that the king had never questioned them for so many days, but he chose to question them at this time. It must be because of something these people said.

"King, I understand what you mean. I have never been out of the Orc Kingdom, and it is even more impossible for me to collude with humans." Shiji said.

"If you're worried that I'll take this opportunity to escape, that's better."

After saying that, Shiji took off the sword from his waist and presented it to him.

"This sword has been with me for many years. It is a first-class artifact in the world. Now I will keep it here. When the task is completed, the king will return it to me."

After hanging out in the Orc Kingdom for a while, Shiji and his team have mined a lot of minerals. Now, Shiji is preparing to leave the kingdom and sell these minerals to other places. Everything seems to be going smoothly.

However, before leaving, Shiji thought of the warriors who had caused him to fall. He didn't know how they were doing recently, but he hoped they were not doing too well.

Shiji didn't intend to let them go. If he hadn't been able to turn danger into safety, he would have been in the same situation as them. After all, the orcs in the orc kingdom were not so easy to mess with.

Fortunately, he was able to turn danger into safety this time. Now, he is going to meet the orc king.

Thinking of this, Shiji immediately went to the palace of the Orc King.

"Your Majesty, the envoy from Shiji requests to see you." The gate guard trotted into the palace and reported while half-kneeling.

The orc king was resting with his arms propped up and his eyes closed. When he heard Shiji's name, he immediately opened his eyes and said, "Let him in."

The orc king lowered his head, his eyes unreadable.

Shiji has been in the kingdom for a while. I don't know what the king wants him for this time. As long as the request is not excessive, he will probably agree. Shiji has helped the king a lot. The king just hopes that he will not deceive himself. Otherwise, he will take people to find Shiji and teach him a lesson anyway.

"Your Majesty, I came here to ask about the people who fell with me that day, how are they doing now?" Shiji asked after saluting the king. The orc king still held his head up, but this time he looked up at Shiji and said, "You came here to ask about them. I locked them up in the prison, so do you want to go see them?"

"Yes, I want to meet them." Shiji replied with a smile.

The orc king said, "Okay, I can go with you."

"No, Your Majesty, how dare you bother with such a small matter." Shi Ji refused. If the orc king went, it would be a hindrance. Some things are not easy to do in front of him. Otherwise, it would only make the king more afraid of him and restrict him, and then the chain of interests between them might be broken.

"Well, I just have some things to deal with, so I won't go with you. I'll send someone to accompany you to the prison later." The orc king was just being polite, not really wanting to go with him. He was very satisfied with Shiji's answer.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Shiji knew that it would be impolite to refuse again.

Shiji walked out of the palace, and a leading orc walked in front of him to lead the way.

"Emissary Chu, please come this way."

Soon, they arrived at the prison. The prison was made of stone bricks, and a large sign was hung on the door, which read "Delinquent Orc Detention Center".

Ordinary orcs were rarely imprisoned here, because if they made a mistake, they would either die or get injured after the duel, so this detention center was actually useless. However, one time, their wise man made a mistake, but he could not be killed. Without the wise man, the orc kingdom would only become more chaotic.

They were worried that the wise man would escape outside, so they built a place to imprison him. However, one day the wise man bribed the guards and was released. It took a long time to find him. So, they discussed and built a larger prison guarded by multiple orcs. The condition for imprisoning the wise man was to spare his life, but if he disobeyed orders, he would be tortured slowly.

"Let me out!" the wise man banged on the door and shouted, but his voice was not loud.

The orc guarding the wise man spat at him. He hated orcs who only knew how to use their brains but had no brute force. He couldn't beat any small orc, not to mention that this wise man had betrayed the orc kingdom, which made him look down on him even more.

"Don't even think about escaping, you traitor." The guarding orc laughed.

And so the wise man was imprisoned for a day.

The next day arrived quickly and the orc king came to the detention center.

"What have you thought about?" the orc king asked the wise man.

The wise man sticks to his own ideas, and he is confident that he will win again. He will have helpers to help him win.

Without even looking at the orc king, the wise man said, "I will never agree to that."

"Since you refuse to work for our benefit, I will let you have a taste of pain." The orc king said, "I think, as an orc, you should know how we play with our prey, right?"

After that, the orc king left. He said to an orc next to him: "You haven't caught any prey recently, you must be feeling bad. Then, I'll leave him to you."

"As you command, Your Majesty." After the orc king left, the orc said with a smile. A strange smile appeared on his face. He just needed to vent his anger recently.

A few days later, the Orc King once again set foot in the area where the wise man was imprisoned.

"What do you think now?" asked the Orc King.

The wise man was now unrecognizable. Days of torture had left him unrecognizable, and he could no longer endure such torment.

The wise man held the railing tightly, his mouth wide open, his eyes full of despair. Finally, he nodded and agreed to the king's request.

"I've thought about it and I'm willing to help you," he replied.

"You are quite sensible. Orcs will come to see you later." The Orc King felt that everything was under control and left with satisfaction.

However, the wise man did not stay still for a few days. He bribed the guards and took the opportunity to escape. But soon, his disappearance was discovered, and many orcs worked together to capture him. They expanded the detention center, and now he is the only one here, which has become his own "kingdom".

"If you want to escape again, I don't mind watching you every day to see how you can escape." The Orc King said with a cold face. He had shown great tolerance to the wise man.

With that, the Orc King turned and walked away, ignoring the commotion in the detention center.

"I'll let you have a taste of the pain this time, and it won't be too late to answer later. And you only have one choice."

The wise man understood that he could not escape this time and could only obey.

Soon after, new "residents" came to the detention center, but they were not as cunning as the wise man. Gradually, the detention center was no longer just populated by orcs like the wise man.

As the hundred years passed, the size of the detention center continued to expand, and orcs of all kinds were imprisoned.

This is the origin of the detention center.

"I never thought that this detention center could hold humans." The orc who led the way sneered.

Feeling Shiji's gaze, the orc leading the way closed his mouth and tried hard to suppress his laughter.

"Messenger Chu, just go in directly. I'll wait for you outside." The orc who led the way asked the orc who was guarding the prison to open the door and let Shiji in to find the person who fell with him.

"They are locked up in the innermost part, so Envoy Chu doesn't have to worry about not being able to find them. If you want to enter their cell, just ask the orc guarding it for the key." said the orc who led the way.

She had already seen through Shiji's intention, which was to teach that group of people a lesson. This was normal, as the orcs hated such people and traitors the most.

Shiji didn't know how to respond for a moment, and felt a little embarrassed that his thoughts were seen through.

"Well, thank you." He responded casually.

Shiji walked into the prison, where various orcs were imprisoned, but their mental state seemed very bad.

Soon, Shiji found the place where the warriors were imprisoned. He had already asked the orc guarding for the key, and the guard gave him the key and left.

"How have you been lately?" Shiji stood outside the cell, looking at them quietly with a faint smile on her face, and seemed to be in a good mood.

The warriors' faces had long since changed beyond recognition, and they were crowded together and difficult to tell apart.

The warrior who was leading the group before started to curse: "Shiji, you deserve to die! You are a shameless villain! Bah!"

Seeing that it was Shiji who came, he rushed to the prison door, grabbed the railings tightly, and shouted loudly.

Shiji took a step back, still smiling, and said, "You seem to be in good spirits." (End of this chapter)