Work Machines

Three hundred meters away, the factory building looked like a workshop, with rows upon rows of textile equipment inside.

At that moment, countless workers were working overtime in a tense frenzy.

There were many small factories like this in Qinggang City, especially in Satellite City. Children who entered Satellite City, or were born there, generally found that once they were old enough to understand things, their fate was to enter factories like this and start working.

After that, they often spent their entire lives in such factory buildings.

Although wasteland drifters who had stayed in Satellite City for three years, as well as children born there, had the opportunity to attend school, it had to be said that a large portion of people did not care much about it. More people felt that instead of sending their children to school every day to fight and cause trouble, wasting so much time for nothing, they might as well have them start working early and earn some money to spend.

Satellite City never forced the matter, either.

Ironically, Lu Xin and Teacher Lu—orphans who had grown up under the guidance of the Old Director at the orphanage—were the ones who understood the importance of studying. Even during the most chaotic days, the Old Director had repeatedly warned them of the importance of learning.

Thus, whether in the past or now, Crimson Moon Orphanage did its best to send its children to school and have them study.

Of course, factory overtime was commonplace even so. But not many people worked this late.

Lu Xin had already noticed that it was around two in the morning.

With Sister's ability, he could see that there were still many people working overtime inside the factory building three hundred meters away. They stood before one long workbench after another, dividing up the labor. Some washed raw cotton, some transported cotton slivers, and some spun coarse yarn. Under the bright, glaring factory lights, the entire operation was tense yet orderly, and seemed to brim with enthusiasm...

But Lu Xin saw the problem at a glance.

At that moment, all the workers were like precision instruments, working mechanically and numbly. Some had rubbed their hands raw and bloody, yet continued pulling cotton apart without the slightest reaction, completely unaware that the blood from their hands had dyed the cotton red;

some were so exhausted that they limped as they walked, yet still carried bundles of fabric as large as hills and ran nonstop;

some saw that a weaving machine had developed a problem and immediately shoved their hands inside, forcibly correcting the error...

...The machine mangled his hand, yet he showed no reaction at all.

...It was like a factory without pain, or even awareness.

"Do you see the Pollution Source?"

Gecko's voice sounded softly beside Lu Xin's ear.

Only then did Lu Xin come to his senses. He was the person responsible for handling this kind of incident and should not have been stunned by such a scene.

He focused his eyes and soon spotted a middle-aged man who appeared particularly agitated among all the busy workers. He wore a wrinkled suit and was drenched in sweat, yet the shirt and tie beneath it remained fastened tightly. At that moment, he was pacing around the factory, waving his arms exaggeratedly, his lips opening and closing as if he were shouting something.

Lu Xin subconsciously glanced at Gecko and asked, "Is it him? What is he saying?"

Gecko did not turn his head. He merely lowered his voice and said, "Listen carefully. We should be able to hear him..."

Lu Xin frowned slightly and turned toward the other side.

Sister gave Gecko a cold look at that moment. Beneath her disheveled hair, her eyes seemed to narrow slightly.

Likewise, Lu Xin felt his pupils shrinking slightly. Everything in the factory became clearer, and even the faint, indistinct sounds of the machines turning—blurred by the distance—grew increasingly clear.

Then he quickly caught the sound of the man shouting:

"Work! You must work!"

"We're all people who were lucky enough to survive the Great Cataclysm. Why did everyone else die while we survived?"

"Look at yourselves. How many people in this city live like dogs? What meaning does their life have? They'll never make big money in their entire lives, and they'll never have any hope of entering the Main City to live. And out in the wilderness, countless lunatics are wandering around. Countless people can't even get enough to eat. The reason is that they don't have work like we do!"

"So all we can do is work! Only by working harder can we enter the Main City and live there..."

"If we don't work, we'll starve to death just like those people outside the city..."

"Fight! Fight harder! If we don't work, how are we any different from the dead?"

"..."

What he shouted was filled with passion, even carrying a somewhat hysterical quality. His voice had already grown hoarse and blood-choked, but he seemed completely unaware of it, howling like a beast as he forced the words from his throat.

As he roared, the speed and rhythm of the surrounding workers' labor grew faster and faster, and the expressions on every face became increasingly fanatical.

On the floor, some people who had collapsed from exhaustion long ago, with no idea whether they were alive or dead, also staggered to their feet.

They gazed at the machines and raw cotton before them as if they were the only meaningful things in their lives.

"That's the Pollution Source?"

Lu Xin's pupils contracted slightly as he asked in a low voice.

Gecko chuckled softly and said, "Old Chen said you can see Mental Monsters. What can you see now?"

Lu Xin looked carefully, then shook his head lightly. "I can't see one like this. I can only see a person standing there!"

"Same as me."

Gecko laughed quietly. "That's right. That short, fat man in the suit is the Pollution Source."

"Strictly speaking, he hasn't become a Pollution Source yet. He should be considered a Mental Mutant. However, a Mental Mutant like this is even more frightening than a Pollution Source. He has already affected nearly a hundred employees in that little factory. And someone like him, who is completely unable to restrain his ability and can no longer communicate normally, can directly be classified as a Pollution Source."

"..."

Linda's—or rather, Tie Cui's—voice rang out in the channel at just the right moment: "Zheng Yuanxiong, the factory director of Yuanxiong Textile Factory, forty years old. He entered Satellite City at the age of twenty-seven and founded this textile factory through his own efforts. However, due to poor management, it nearly went bankrupt several times."

"Ten days ago, someone discovered the abnormality at this textile factory and reported it to the Guard Department. However, because of the lack of manpower, by the time our investigation team arrived, the situation was already difficult to control. Everyone in this section of the factory had already been moderately infected. They would crazily attack anyone who entered the factory and tried to stop them from working, or contaminate others and turn them into one of their own."

"By now, everyone in the factory has already been working continuously for two and a half days. They haven't eaten, drunk, slept, or rested. If they aren't stopped, all of them may keep working until they die. Zheng Yuanxiong could also completely lose control at any moment!"

"When that happens, the range of his contamination will increase dramatically, possibly even spreading to several nearby factories!"

"..."

"So Headquarters has ordered us to conduct a direct cleanup!"