Chen Ling's frown deepened.
It would be fine if just one Steel Mill's raw materials were hauled away, but if this was the case for all the factories in the Factory District, then the problem was huge... Factories were the heart of the Seven Great Districts. What did it mean for Aurora City to drain their blood dry?
Chen Ling's heart gradually sank. Although he didn't know the exact details of what happened, it was very obvious... this was Aurora City targeting the Seven Great Districts.
"I understand." Chen Ling spoke immediately. "I will go contact Aurora City to see what the situation is."
Meng Shi nodded, and Chen Ling asked again:
"Then these workers' wages, are you just going to ignore them?"
Meng Shi opened his mouth, and finally smiled helplessly, "Officer Chen... we truly have nothing left in the factory. The little bit of cash left on the books isn't even enough to pay off their wages."
"Not enough?" Chen Ling looked at his face. "How much is it enough to pay?"
"At most, enough to pay a tenth... and this is money meant for maintaining the machines. If this money is paid out, and the machines break down from lack of maintenance for too long, the losses will be disastrous."
Seeing this, Meng Shi felt a bit spooked in his heart. Just then, Chen Ling slowly spoke.
"You are lying."
"...What?"
"I'll give you one more chance."
Chen Ling reached one hand into his coat. The next moment, a black gun barrel was pressed against Meng Shi's forehead, his voice incredibly icy, "I will ask you one more time. The funds on the books, how much are they enough to pay?"
This scene directly scared the others silly. They didn't understand why Chen Ling suddenly drew a gun when they were chatting just fine. But the other party was also an Enforcer of District Three. They were both terrified and cowardly; even with their leader having a gun pointed at his head, they absolutely didn't dare to step forward even half a pace.
As for Meng Shi, he was even more terrified out of his wits. His face was ghastly pale, and his legs began to tremble.
Chen Ling naturally wouldn't suddenly make things difficult for Meng Shi. The reason he did this was because the extreme detailed observation ability of the 【Secret Pupil】 allowed him to see at a glance that Meng Shi was lying.
"Enough... enough for half." Meng Shi spoke hurriedly. "When the factory director left, there really wasn't much cash left on the books. At most, it can only pay them five or six days' wages."
Chen Ling gazed at Meng Shi for a moment. Only after finding no traces of lying from his micro-expressions did he say slowly, "Then pay out the money first."
Unable to resolve the work stoppage, nor issue wages—how could these workers besieging outside possibly let this go?
Facts proved that the identity of an Enforcer was extremely useful in District Three. After all, Chen Ling possessed absolute Enforcement Power. As long as he wanted to, even if he blew Meng Shi's brains out just now, there wouldn't be too big of a punishment.
Having narrowly escaped death, Meng Shi didn't dare to delay. Flustered, he took out the last bit of cash from the safe and took his subordinates to hand it out to the workers gathered at the door.
Chen Ling walked up to one of the large machines and lifted a corner of the plastic tarp covering it, revealing the heavy fuselage beneath that was full of a metallic aura. He wiped his hand lightly over its surface—damp and cold.
Chen Ling looked at the faint layer of water stains on his fingertips, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a burst of clamor came from the door.
Seeing this, Chen Ling walked straight towards the door. The crowd originally blocking outside the iron gate had now completely surrounded Meng Shi and the others who had gone out to distribute the money. Emotions were running high.
"What use is this little bit of money to us??"
"Yeah, without work, this money is only enough to live on for a few days... We want to return to work!"
"..."
A small portion of the people took the money, their expressions clearly better than at the start. But another portion remained unreconciled. One was wages that could only last a few days; the other was a job that could continuously feed a family. No matter how you thought about it, the latter was more important.
Meng Shi was sweating profusely. He wanted to just go back and shut the door, but seeing Chen Ling's cold gaze inside the factory, he bit the bullet and persuaded:
"The factory truly has no raw materials right now. Even if you cause a ruckus here, we can't resume work... I will contact Aurora City. Once the raw materials arrive, I will definitely have you return to work immediately..."
"When can we return to work?"
"This... should be in these two days?"
Hearing this, the crowd's expressions finally softened a bit. They counted the coins in their hands, exchanged glances, and still turned around to head back towards the district.
Zhao Yi shouldered his flag, just about to leave, when he turned back and added a fierce sentence:
"We will come again tomorrow."
Seeing this group finally leave, Meng Shi let out a long sigh. He looked bitterly at Chen Ling walking out of the factory, hesitating to speak.
"I will go negotiate with Aurora City." Chen Ling took the initiative to speak. "Guard the factory well, prepare to resume work at any time."
After saying this sentence, he walked out of the Steel Mill, heading towards several other large factories nearby...
Amidst the misty fog, Meng Shi stood at the main gate of the Steel Mill, the surroundings falling into a dead silence.
"Sigh..."
"Brother Meng, what do we do now?"
Meng Shi's brows were tightly knit. He looked at the departing backs of the crowd and gritted his teeth, saying, "What else can we do? We can't stay in this place anymore, let's go quickly."
"Then what about the factory?"
"Who cares about it. The factory director abandoned us and ran away, can this factory still be run?" Meng Shi hurried into the factory. "Fortunately, there are still some valuable things, exchanging them for a Train Ticket shouldn't be a problem..."
While speaking, he started rummaging around in the factory director's office. Just then, a dull knocking sound came from the workshop.
Thump thump thump—
"Who is it, what are you knocking for?"
Thump thump thump—
Anger surfaced on Meng Shi's face, who was engrossed in ransacking. He looked up at the window.
Through the Glass, he could see the dim workshop was empty. The few followers who were originally behind him were also nowhere to be found.
Doubt flashed in Meng Shi's eyes. He slowly stood up and was about to go open the door, when an icy voice, like grinding steel, hoarsely and eerily came from outside the door:
"I came... looking for someone..."
"I already told you, the factory director has already entered Aurora City. Is it interesting for you guys to keep pestering here??" Hearing this sentence, Meng Shi immediately thought it was that group wanting to resume work again, his head suddenly aching.
"I came... looking for someone..." That voice rang out again, and seemed to be getting closer and closer to him.
"Fuck!" Meng Shi could no longer hold back the anger suppressed in his heart. He walked to the door and yanked it open. "Are you done yet? Who are you looking for..."
Meng Shi's voice abruptly stopped.
He saw outside the office door stood a black, faceless shadow. It looked like a centipede standing straight up, numerous slender claws spread out to both sides. At the position of its mouth, a dark red bloody hole was slowly squirming...
And the voice was hoarsely transmitting from that bloody hole.
"The Scarlet Sovereign of the Ghost Mockery Abyss;"
"The King of No-Phase Who Mocks Fate."