Chapter 39.2 Big Factory
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There were no other women present, which ignited a sense of frustration in him. So who exactly had beaten him up?!
The main culprit innocently stood among the crowd, idly staring at the slogan on the wall, “Beautiful You and Me, Love Fills the World.” To divert the conversation from the assault, Wen Shi changed the topic, “It’s 8 AM already, why are there so few people here?”
Hai Sheng’s face displayed a hint of discomfort. “Just slacking off, they like to cut it close.”
Wen Shi half-jokingly said, “I thought maybe there’s a monster in the workshop scaring everyone away.”
Ji Yuanzhi laughed softly, playing along.
Hai Sheng’s expression turned sour. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Regardless, that statement had thrown Hai Sheng off guard, distracting him from investigating who had attacked him.
Despite the scorching summer outside, the factory was quite cool. Hai Sheng buttoned his work uniform all the way to the top, his throat feeling slightly swollen and uncomfortable from the constriction. He would occasionally turn his neck to ease the discomfort, but the itch was too intense to bear. He forcefully scratched the collar area with his nails, sighing in relief after a while.
His fingernails were filled with darkened shreds of flesh, emitting a faint unpleasant odor.
Seemingly oblivious, Hai Sheng opened the door at the end of the narrow corridor. “We need to prepare in the initial phase. Your access cards haven’t been issued yet. I’ll be checking attendance daily. If I catch anyone arriving late…”
His cold laugh carried a strong undertone of threat.
Behind the door was a changing room, followed by another door.
Hai Sheng handed each of them a set of dust-free clothing, urging them to put on hats, masks, and the like. Only then did he open the second door. Before entering the raw materials processing area, they would need to take turns passing through the air shower room for full-body sterilization. The entire process took about five to six minutes.
The senior employees began trickling in, forming a queue for the air shower. Even among the senior employees, their skin remained smooth. The heavy eyes and pale complexion gave an unhealthy impression.
While everyone in Workshop One was a third-class worker, authority carried weight. Facing these experienced senior employees, the players who were interns felt quite nervous.
Zhou Xiaochun lowered his head. “Drawing from my years of experience as a laborer, it’s best not to make direct eye contact to avoid being noticed and called upon to assist with miscellaneous tasks.”
Wen Shi not only made eye contact, but his eyes scanned everyone present. Weren’t they all residents of the fourth floor? Familiar faces all around!
He turned to his teammates. “One last time, are you really not going to eat this bowl of youth with me?”
Treating it as a joke, everyone unanimously shook their heads.
Wen Shi sighed. The young ones don’t appreciate an easy life. You’re all clueless!
Some dorms were single-person rooms, while others accommodated two or three people. According to the list, excluding the elderly residents, there were nearly fifty occupants on the fourth floor. All of them were employees of Workshop One. About twenty of them had come here now. Some workers who hadn’t arrived yet were taking turns doing harvest work, while others were responsible for bringing in the raw materials.
The senior employees also noticed Wen Shi and took in a sharp breath in the early morning. Last night, they were too preoccupied by fear, but now they discovered that the person who had ‘swept’ the fourth floor was actually a new employee. Their expressions were quite remarkable.
Wen Shi blinked and silently mouthed a ‘hi.’
Zhou Xiaochun didn’t catch this subtle interaction. He found the senior employees unusually friendly. In most cases, NPCs in this type of scenario would usually put on an airs in front of newcomers.
Zhou Xiaochun said, “I think they’re nice people.”
Night Shift Dorm Supervisor Wen gave a shy smile, which meant, “I’m here to support you in bearing the burden.”
The official start time was eight o’clock, but actual work didn’t begin until eight twenty.
Ten minutes past the hour, a truck arrived at the workshop entrance. A group of workers in protective suits quickly carried several large boxes inside and promptly left without lingering.
Hai Sheng called out to the senior employees, “Hurry up and bring those things over! Why are you all just standing there with your hands in your pockets?”
After drinking, he didn’t forget to use their behavior as a negative example to warn the new employees, “Don’t be like these fools. If you want to stand out, work your tails off and aim to transfer to Workshop Two and Three as soon as possible.”
Wen Shi agreed, “They don’t seem very bright.”
“Slow development, you see,” Hai Sheng said nonchalantly. “Their families had it tough, so they used the original version of the Beautiful Soul Elixir on newborns. That’s why they’re like this.”
Wen Shi feigned astonishment. “What were these parents thinking?”
Hai Sheng scratched himself again. “Supposedly, doing this helps the kids avoid contamination until adulthood, saving a lot of expenses. But the side effects are severe. They’re slow-witted and can’t handle delicate tasks. They’re as skinny as a rail. The factory manager took pity and gave them jobs in raw material processing to give them a chance.”
In reality, the factory’s internal employees knew very well that the true reason was cheap labor.
Wen Shi continued the conversation, “And what about Jian Qingrong?”
The Old Man Ghost had mentioned that Jian Qingrong was a victim of the original version of Beautiful Soul Elixir. However, even though he seemed a bit dull, it had nothing to do with slow development.
The moment Jian Qingrong’s name came up, Hai Sheng’s eyes started darting around, clearly hatching some mischievous plan.
“He used to be in Workshop One too. He got transferred to Workshop Two after that burn accident. The work there was relatively lighter. Then, about a year ago, the foreman in Workshop Three, Kang Changming, had an accidental death, and not long after, Wang Wei, who got transferred there, also passed away due to illness. No one wanted the remaining tasks on their hands. In the end, the manager transferred Jian Qingrong to Workshop Three.”
Both of these individuals were mentioned in Jian Qingrong’s diary. Wen Shi was momentarily unsure whether to call that diary the “Death Diary” or “Jian Qingrong’s Promotion Journal.”
Zhang Suihe, unable to resist, chimed in with a question for Hai Sheng, “How can we get promoted quickly?”
“Just work hard, that’s all.” Hai Sheng impatiently waved his hand, not wanting to elaborate further. Coincidentally, at that moment, the senior employees had efficiently moved the contents of the boxes out, spreading a distinct seafood market smell throughout the workshop. He actually raised his head, seeming to enjoy it, and took a deep breath.
The boxes contained dozens of frozen insulated containers, which were quickly wheeled away to the cleaning area.
Zhang Suihe shrugged. “Seems like he doesn’t really like me.”
Wen Shi didn’t think so. Hai Sheng’s response was probably because he had found clues about Wang Wei in Jian Qingrong’s diary. Otherwise, with so many accidents in the factory, why would he specifically mention Kang Changming and Wang Wei?
The system’s notification confirmed this—
“Congratulations, you have successfully learned about Wang Wei’s past. You are rewarded with the opportunity to meet him once.”
“……”
Wang Wei is a dead person, and you call meeting him a reward?!
Hai Sheng didn’t have much fondness for Wen Shi. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he had a strange feeling of familiarity with this person. The way he spoke and his attitude irked Hai Sheng.
“By the way,” Hai Sheng turned around and warned Wen Shi sternly, “Dating between employees is prohibited in the factory. Don’t think just because you have a baby face, you can flirt around recklessly.”
Not far away, the senior employees exchanged glances. A resident of Room 406 winked at their roommate. “Did you see that?”
The roommate nodded, confirming they saw it too.
How dare they insult the dorm supervisor’s baby face! The senior employees shot meaningful glances with Hai Sheng, silently conveying the message: …You’re in big trouble.
“Everyone, come over here!” Hai Sheng shouted loudly to the interns.
Wen Shi and the others stood by a large square sink. This cleaning sink took up almost half of the workshop’s space. Hai Sheng demonstrated how to clean it for them.
He put on sterilized gloves and opened the lid.
Inside the frozen insulated containers were fist-sized hearts, slanting with a buttery substance resembling a yellowish cream. Nearby, there were sacs with white cotton-like substances swimming inside.
…Insects.
That was everyone’s first reaction.
Hai Sheng noticed Zhou Xiaochun take a step back and scolded, “Come closer.”
These hearts weren’t very firm when frozen. The place where his fingers pinched could clearly be seen indented. Hai Sheng swallowed repeatedly, his eyes glowing with hunger. Forcibly suppressing the urge to eat, he explained, “You might have heard the saying, ‘You are what you eat.’ The original name for the Beautiful Soul Elixir was Pure Heart Elixir, designed to forcibly purify the soul. What you see now are the hearts of creatures called Pure-Hearted Beasts raised in the sanatorium.”
Wen Shi raised an eyebrow at Ji Yuanzhi and whispered, “What do you think, Golden Dad?”
Ji Yuanzhi: “He’s talking nonsense.”
“There are three principles for cleaning them.” Hai Sheng started by scraping away the buttery substance. He carefully avoided puncturing the sacs during this process. Then, using a small knife, he cut open a large blood vessel, extracted a blood clot, and squeezed it a few times. Dark red blood oozed out. “The second principle is to avoid intentionally damaging the raw materials. Every year, there are idiots who purposefully throw them on the ground or toss them around. And the third and most important rule is: no eating the hearts!”
As if worried they wouldn’t remember, Hai Sheng repeated it again.
“Each person must clean at least one hundred hearts per day. Damaging one results in a fifty yuan fine. The daily wage for new workers is sixty yuan, paid daily. The first two days of the trial period are unpaid, excluding night shifts. Voluntary night shifts come with overtime pay.” Hai Sheng checked his watch. It was exactly 8:20. He ordered everyone to start working.
Cleaning one heart took about five minutes for Hai Sheng, considering it was a demonstration and his movements were slightly slower. With practice, they could probably reach a speed of about four minutes per heart. If they worked continuously, they could complete the workload in seven hours.
The lighting in the cleaning area was bright, but Hai Sheng was sensitive to strong light. After distributing ten insulated containers to each person, he walked away with his hands behind his back to the rest area.
Zhou Xiaochun asked, “Can we report him to the Labor Bureau?”
Such a heavy workload, and they weren’t paid for the first two days.
Zhang Suihe’s features twisted for a moment. He snapped back from his absent-minded state. “Work without motivation, just want to slack off.”
Wen Shi let out a sigh as well.
He felt like the universe owed him a day shift as a dormitory supervisor. He really, really wanted to stay in the dormitory building.
On the other hand, Liu Yun seemed quite composed. “We already know the game’s routine: first, they squeeze the players for labor, then they squeeze for living space, and finally, they squeeze for survival time.”
From time and space, it was inevitable that a person would be pushed to the limit.
She almost wished she could spit, wishing ill on those heartless capitalists!
However, at that moment, the game’s voice, contrary to its usual demeanor, rang out with enthusiasm in everyone’s ears.
“Congratulations on passing the interview and surviving a night in the dormitory building. You have officially entered the first day of your probation period. Today marks your first step towards becoming an outstanding new employee!”
“As an outstanding employee, your first task is to complete the daily workload on time.”
“Next, appropriate slacking off is a necessary skill for experienced employees. Please make an effort to slack off for at least fifteen minutes before the end of the workday, doing things you want to do. For example, successfully drinking water earns you one point, successfully using the restroom and returning alive earns you seven points, playing on your phone continuously for ten minutes earns you eight points… In short, whatever you do, the system will intelligently score it.”
“Note that the points don’t accumulate—only the highest score will count. For instance, if you successfully drink water, use the restroom, and play on your phone simultaneously, you’ll earn eight points.”
“Note that if you get caught, your score resets to zero, and you’ll need to challenge it again.”
“Feel free to unleash your creativity! Challenge the most improbable ways of slacking off!”
In the midst of everyone’s silence, the excited announcement continued—
“At the end of the day, if a team’s total score is low, the team’s Soul Purity will decrease by ten points collectively, and a vote will be held to expel one member from the team.”
“Note: The most contributing member cannot be expelled.”
“We wish you all a pleasant work experience.”
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