When the explosion that followed destroyed the next section of the wall, the golden man turned to them and said, "Leave if you don’t want to die."
Then he resumed destroying the walls of the factory.
He destroyed the walls bit by bit. And whenever he destroyed a portion of the wall, he would warn them in the same loud booming sound reminiscent of an outdoor speaker.
This behavior, coupled with its measured robotic steps, made Loki, who was outside the factory with the others, realize that the golden man was not human.
Loki’s eyes first lit up in realization as he said, "It is a golem. It is an automated puppet. No one wonders its movement set is so limited."
But then his brows furrowed as he said, "So someone sent a golem to destroy the factory. Who would do that? Does the Rusty Bolts Society have an enemy, or has Rusty offended someone?"
Everyone else had similar questions on their mind. They were either thinking about this or ogling the golem and praising its workmanship.
Now that they knew the identity of the man, some more experienced members of the society also understood more of what was going on.
One of them said to the others with confidence, "I bet they sent the golem to do their dirty job because they don’t want to be associated with the crime."
Another person said, "They must be rich if they can afford to send a golem, though. So why did they allow us to escape and not kill us?"
He spoke with a tone that indicated that he was complaining about not being killed. He didn’t seem at all sad that his place was being destroyed.
Then this person sighed and said, "I wish they had killed us."
His words caused many people to laugh in understanding. They understood why someone would wish someone would kill him. It is so that he can cash in on his value and escape from the control of the Rusty Bolts Society.
So someone sneered and said, "It is because they are smart not to bring down a building on top of a hundred rank 2 people that managed to become rich enough to afford a golem."
"If they had brought down the building on us, the fire from the furnaces would have destroyed our bodies. So they won’t earn anything from killing us. That’s why it was a smart idea to let us go."
"They are not going to put themselves in debt just to free you from your ’bad job." Even if they can afford it, it is a thankless job."
Someone else jeered at the suicidal cultivator, saying, "If you want to die so badly, why don’t you rush back into the factory and let it collapse on you?"
The suicidal cultivator sighed again and said with a sorrowful tone, "I wish I could do that and get away with it. It would be one thing if I were deaf and hadn’t heard the warning. But now that I’ve heard the warning and even successfully escaped, if I return to let the building collapse on me, that would be counted as suicide, and I won’t earn anything."
His words caused them to erupt in another round of laughter. Then they began to joke around again. No one appeared to be sad that their place of work was being destroyed. Everyone appeared to be happy to see it happen.
Loki listened to this banter attentively and gleaned some useful information from it. From what they said, he was able to put together a more complete picture of what was going on.
Out of everything that they said, one thing stood out to him the most. That thing was the reason why they were not all dead right now.
He chuckled to himself and said, "So the reason the person who is doing this didn’t kill us is that they were not going to earn anything from it. But if they had the opportunity to earn something from killing us, we would all be dead."
Then he said in part awe and part amusement, "What a world."
Someone heard what he said but wasn’t amused by it. This person instead felt sorrowful that their life and death depended on something that would be gained by killing them.
But this person didn’t complain because there was nothing to complain about. This was just the way the world worked, and no amount of complaining was going to change it.
But the demeanor of this person was sorrowful, though. It formed a contrast with others who were chatting and making jokes about the situation.
While they were chatting, the golem continued to destroy the building. At this point, cracks were spreading along the floor and walls from the first floor all the way to the third floor. So it was just a matter of time before the massive three-story building was destroyed.
But before that happened, the city police arrived on the scene. There were five of them. All of them were rank 3 cultivators.
The five of them came in an imposing manner, but they stopped some distance from the factory. They didn’t approach the crime scene, but instead chose to stand and watch the crime happen.
It was clear that they had no intention of stopping the crime. And knowing the city police, everyone could guess that the five of them were hoping that the crime would escalate.
One of the members of the Rusty Bolts Society saw this and said with a wide smile on their face, "At this rate, the factory will be destroyed, the person who sent the golem will get the satisfaction of a successfully completed mission, the police will get to keep the golem for the crime tax, and we won’t have to work for a few days."
"So everyone will be happy and satisfied. What more can a man ask for?"
Unfortunately for him, things turned sour immediately after he spoke.