"Dark night, strong winds—be careful with the lamps."
In the factory district of Outer City Half-City, outside Profound Candle Prefecture, Old Man Lu was dozing in a watchtower around the high walls of the Jing family's steelworks when a voice from below suddenly jolted him awake.
The surroundings were quiet, the streetlights blazing brightly, and dogs seemed to be barking in the distance. Old Man Lu stuck his head out and glanced at the two security guards on patrol, then yawned. "May the auspicious avoid me, may the auspicious avoid me... Sigh, Old Li, do you have any alcohol? I'm suddenly craving some."
"I've got urine. Come down and I'll give you a stream." One old security guard snorted. He could not be bothered with the drunkard Old Man Lu and continued leading the young guard around the factory.
The five major Silverblood merchant associations had each monopolized an industry: the Ting family controlled military manufacturing, the Quan family controlled light textiles, and the Luo family controlled overland transport... The Jing family, meanwhile, monopolized the steel industry. Apart from Red Moon Fortress, the Jing family had three mines in East Sun District and eight steelworks under its command, five of them near Profound Candle Prefecture. For a long time, "Jing Steel" had been synonymous with "East Sun Steel."
Steelmaking required large sites and massive machinery, and it was extremely prone to safety accidents—the number of workers who died in factories each year was no small figure—so the Jing family placed great importance on factory safety. Other factories would at most arrange for an old man to guard the gates, but the steelworks had built four watchtowers around the walls and assigned four night guards. The factory was also close to the Patrol Guards' branch, so it could receive reinforcements quickly