"Yo, Lord Enforcer!"
Beside the rickshaw, that lean and dark-skinned man grinned, "Where are you heading to?"
Chen Ling casually pulled out a few Copper Coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the man's hand. "To Factory Street."
"Alrighty!"
The man collected the money, his eyes lighting up. Without another word, he lifted the rickshaw and ran towards the edge of District Three.
"Haven't seen you in a few days, and I already have to call you Lord Enforcer." The man couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "A Law Enforcer advancing as fast as you, I've never even heard of..."
This man was precisely the rickshaw puller who had taken Chen Ling to Ice Spring Street in District Two right after Chen Ling first became a Law Enforcer. At that time, relying on Chen Ling's "directions," he had earned double the money from Han Meng afterwards. Seeing Chen Ling now was as enthusiastic as seeing a relative.
"Just luck." Chen Ling smiled.
"Are we still taking a detour this time?"
This time Chen Ling was spending his own money, so naturally he couldn't act like last time... Hearing this answer, the man also sighed somewhat regretfully.
A faint mist covered the street. The man pulled Chen Ling forward rapidly. The surrounding houses became fewer and fewer, replaced by the indistinct silhouettes of factories in the distance. At the edge of the aurora, they looked like crawling black behemoths.
Factories were the core existence of every district. Not only did they solve the employment for the majority of the district's residents, but they also continuously supplied a massive amount of resources to Aurora City. However, due to the pollution they produced, the Factory District's locations were all at the outermost edge of the regions, close to the Domain boundary.
Chen Ling stepped off the rickshaw and, before leaving, gave the man a few more coins as a tip. Now that he was an Enforcer, he naturally wouldn't lack money. The man immediately bowed respectfully in thanks.
"As expected..." Chen Ling looked at that massive area of densely packed factories, deep in thought,
"More than half have stopped working."
Chen Ling had been to the Factory District before. Putting aside everything else, just the exhaust gas emitted from the chimneys was enough to dye the entire sky gray. But this time, most of the factories didn't seem to be operating, and the air was actually uncommonly fresh.
Chen Ling walked straight deep into the Factory District. As soon as he approached, he saw a large number of figures crowded in front of a factory, pulling banners and shouting in unison:
"We want to return to work!!"
"We want our unpaid wages!!!"
"We want to return to work!!"
"We want..."
Crowded in front of the Factory District were at least a hundred people. Most of them were young and middle-aged, wearing worn-out padded clothes, waving their fists, and roaring with anger.
In the crowd, Chen Ling saw a familiar figure. He was carrying a large flag with the words "Return to Work" on his shoulders with both hands, gritting his teeth and waving it desperately while cursing in the crowd:
"On what basis are you not letting us work?!"
"The Steel Mill is shut down, what are we going to eat?!"
"Return to work!! We want to return to work!!!"
That person was none other than Zhao Yi, whom he had seen last night.
The crowd blocked the factory entrance completely tight. If that iron gate wasn't sturdy enough, it would probably have already been forcefully smashed to pieces by them. At this moment, several figures behind the gate were discussing in low voices, their expressions somewhat ugly.
"We want to return to work!! We want to return to work!! We want..."
Amidst the crowd's rising and falling angry roars, a figure walked over from behind. The people at the back saw that black windbreaker and were stunned, then consciously shut their mouths and stepped aside to both sides.
The shouting voices grew smaller and smaller. The people in front seemed to feel something was wrong. Zhao Yi glared and turned his head to look back, just about to curse them as useless, when he saw that familiar face.
"...Chen Ling??"
The originally angry and crowded masses had now automatically made way for a path several meters wide. Their gazes towards that black windbreaker were full of awe and fear.
To the Ordinary Persons of District Three, Law Enforcers were already the sky... let alone an Enforcer?
"You've become an Enforcer?!" Zhao Yi finally reacted, shock surfacing in his eyes.
Wasn't he still a Law Enforcer last night? Did he really step onto a Divine Path in the Ancient Vault of the Military Path??
"En." Chen Ling nodded calmly. "Make way, I will handle this matter."
Once this sentence was spoken, Zhao Yi's expression changed consecutively. He looked at Chen Ling, from shock to questioning, and finally to helplessness... He took a deep breath, still speaking stubbornly:
"Chen Ling, you better seek justice for us!"
After speaking, he also temporarily put down the flag and retreated to the side.
Chen Ling stood at the door and looked at the several people inside. "Open the door."
Seeing this, the few people immediately stepped forward to open the door. They didn't dare to show the slightest negligence towards an Enforcer. The leader bowed respectfully to Chen Ling:
"I am the vice-director of the Steel Mill, Meng Shi... How should I address you?"
"Chen Ling."
Chen Ling walked into the factory, getting straight to the point. "What is going on here?"
Meng Shi had a bitter face and spoke helplessly, "The factory stopped working, and they insist on returning to work... I told them we can't do it, we can't do it, but they just won't listen. They've been surrounding the outside for half a day already."
"I'm not asking them, I'm asking you."
"We..."
"Why did it stop working?"
Meng Shi exchanged a glance with the several followers behind him and let out a long sigh. "Please follow me."
Meng Shi and the others led Chen Ling straight into the factory. As soon as they entered, a few large gilded words were engraved on both sides of the Steel Mill.
A sentence on the left: [Tempered a thousand times to forge steel bones];
A sentence on the right: [Bearing hardships and working hard is the most glorious];
On the top of the factory, a few large horizontal words were the most conspicuous: [Everything is for humanity];
These fonts were clearly quite old, somewhat blurred under the erosion of wind and snow, and some words even lacked strokes. The factory's Outer Wall was also mottled and damaged, with a faint smell of rust.
This was Chen Ling's first time entering the Steel Mill. Perhaps due to the fog, it was damp everywhere. He walked into the workshop. Several massive machines were placed inside, none of them activated, but artificially covered with plastic tarps, like several small black mountains.
"Officer Chen, look over there." Meng Shi pointed to the back of the workshop, an empty area.
Chen Ling looked over carefully,
"What is there?"
"Originally, that was the place used to store iron ore, coke, and other steel-forging raw materials." Meng Shi spread his hands. "Now Aurora City has hauled all the raw materials away. I know those people outside want to return to work, but what are they going to return to work with? Can we let them produce steel out of thin air?"
Chen Ling frowned slightly. "Why did Aurora City haul away the raw materials?"
"I don't know, it was an order directly given to the factory director from over there." Meng Shi spoke bitterly. "Officer Chen, you also know... The factories in the Seven Great Districts are all directly managed by Aurora City, and even the factory director is appointed by them. We can't stop them if they want to haul away the raw materials."
"Then where is the factory director? Call him over."
"He followed the raw materials and entered Aurora City together yesterday." Meng Shi paused for a moment and added another sentence, "It's not just our Steel Mill... It's the same situation for all the other factories. Raw materials and finished products were all transferred away, leaving us with a pile of scrap material.
We also don't want to stop working... but we really have nothing left."