Chapter 46: The Factory of Madness

The factory building 300 meters away looked like a workshop, filled with rows upon rows of textile machinery.

Right now countless workers were inside frantically working overtime.

Small factories like this were common in Qinggang City, especially in the Satellite Cities. Typically children who moved to or were born in a Satellite City were destined to start working in such factories once they were old enough. After that they’d likely spend their entire lives trapped within these factory walls. Wasteland wanderers who stayed in a Satellite City for three years or children born there technically had the chance to go to school but frankly most didn’t push for it.

And the Satellite City never forced the issue.

It was almost funny how orphans like Lu Xin and Teacher Xiao Lu who grew up under the Old Director’s guidance actually understood the importance of education. That’s why both then and now the Red Moon Orphanage did its best to ensure the children attended school and studied.

Of course even so factory overtime was common but working *this* late was unusual.

Lu Xin noted the time it was already around two in the morning.

Using his sister’s ability he could see that many people were still working overtime inside the factory 300 meters away. They stood before long workbenches each performing their task some washing cotton embryos others transporting slivers and still others spinning coarse yarn. Under the bright harsh factory lights the work seemed tense yet orderly almost fervent…

But Lu Xin saw the problem immediately.

All the workers moved like precise instruments working blankly numbly. Some had hands worn raw and bleeding yet they continued separating cotton balls as if feeling nothing oblivious to the blood staining the fibers red.

Others limped with exhaustion but still carried textile bundles like small mountains running back and forth without stopping.

Some saw issues with the weaving machines and without a change in expression reached right in forcing the mechanisms back into place…

…It was like a factory devoid of pain or even awareness.

…

…

“See the Pollution Source?”

Gecko’s voice whispered near Lu Xin’s ear.

Lu Xin snapped back to reality he was supposed to handle situations like this not be shocked by them.

He focused his gaze and quickly spotted a particularly agitated middle-aged man among the busy workers. He wore a wrinkled suit drenched in sweat but his shirt and tie underneath were still fastened tightly. He paced restlessly through the factory waving his arms dramatically lips moving as if shouting something.

Lu Xin glanced instinctively at Gecko. “Is that him? What’s he saying?”

Gecko didn’t turn his head just lowered it and murmured “Focus you should be able to hear it…”

Lu Xin frowned slightly and turned his attention back.

His sister shot Gecko a cold glance from beneath her messy hair her eyes seeming to narrow slightly.

Similarly Lu Xin felt his pupils contract bringing everything in the factory into sharper focus. Even the distant indistinct hum of machinery grew clearer and clearer.

Soon he caught the sound of the man shouting:

“Work! We must work!”

“We were lucky enough to survive the cataclysm! Why did others die while we lived?”

“Look around this city! How many people live like dogs? What meaning is there in their lives? They’ll never make big money they’ll never have the hope of living in the Main City! And out in the Wasteland countless madmen roam countless people can’t even fill their bellies! Why? Because they don’t have jobs like we do!”

“So we must work! Only by working harder and harder can we enter the Main City…”

“If we don’t work we’ll just starve to death like those people outside the city…”

“Push yourselves! Keep pushing! If we don’t work how are we any different from the dead?”

…

His words were filled with passion his voice bordering on hysterical already hoarse maybe even bleeding but he seemed completely unaware howling like a beast forcing the sounds out.

As he roared the pace and rhythm of the surrounding workers quickened expressions growing increasingly fanatical.

Even some who had collapsed on the ground from exhaustion seemingly dead or alive staggered back to their feet.

They stared at the machines and cotton embryos before them as if gazing upon the only meaningful thing in their lives.

…

…

“So that’s the Pollution Source?”

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

Gecko chuckled softly. “Old Chen said you can see Mental Monsters. What do you see now?”

Lu Xin looked carefully then shook his head gently. “I can’t see that kind. I just see a person there!”

“Same here.”

Gecko chuckled again quietly. “That’s right. The short fat guy in the suit is the Pollution Source.”

Strictly speaking he hasn’t fully become a Pollution Source yet he’s more like a Mentally Altered Person… However this kind of Mentally Altered Person is even more dangerous than a typical Pollution Source. He’s already affected nearly a hundred employees in that small factory. And since he’s completely unable to restrain his ability or even communicate normally he might as well be classified as a Pollution Source directly.

…

Linda’s or rather Tie Cui’s voice came over the channel right on cue: “Zheng Yuanxiong director of the Yuanxiong Textile Factory forty years old. Entered the Satellite City at twenty-seven founded this textile factory single-handedly but due to poor management it nearly went bankrupt several times.”

“Ten days ago someone noticed the anomaly at this factory and reported it to the Security Hall. Due to manpower shortages by the time our Investigation Team arrived the situation was already difficult to control… Everyone in this factory building is moderately infected. They will indiscriminately attack anyone who enters and tries to stop them from working or they’ll pollute others turning them into one of them.”

“Currently everyone in the factory has been working continuously for two and a half days without eating drinking sleeping or resting. If not stopped they could all work themselves to death and Zheng Yuanxiong could completely lose control at any moment.”

“When that happens his pollution range will increase dramatically potentially spreading to several surrounding factories!”

…

“Therefore Headquarters has ordered a direct cleanup!”