Myth News Forecast

Chapter 103 The Factory

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.

Xiao Cao and his colleagues yawned as they followed the flow of people into the factory.

They are all frontline auto workers, doing jobs like assembly and painting.

However, unlike the stable work schedules of other electronics factories, the work schedules of car factories are comparable to those of hell.

"Oh shit."

"I didn't get off work until 1 a.m. yesterday and didn't go to sleep until 3 a.m., so I have to get up at 8 a.m. today."

Xiao Cao wiped the sleep from the corner of his eye and complained incessantly.

"Yeah, my girlfriend called me yesterday, but I didn't answer. She said I cheated on her!"

A colleague couldn't help but curse, "I'd fucking cheat on you, where would I find the time?"

"I only got two days off this month, I've been living worse than an animal," Xiao Cao complained bitterly. "I'm leaving as soon as I get my salary this month."

"I'm leaving too."

The two men walked into the factory, cursing and swearing, and then suddenly fell silent.

Because Director Li from the workshop was counting the number of people at the front.

This guy is the most ruthless when it comes to fines. He's always thinking about how to deduct money from his employees. He deducts money if they're late, if they're slow, and even if they take leave.

People had a lot of complaints about him and privately called him Li Laogou (Old Dog Li).

After the headcount was completed, someone raised their hand and said, "Director, my ears hurt, and I'd like to ask for leave the day after tomorrow to go to the hospital to get them checked out."

Director Li glanced at him; he was a new employee who had only recently joined the factory: "No leave allowed."

"Why?" the new employee asked, annoyed.

"There's no reason, it's just not allowed. If you take leave today and he takes leave tomorrow, how will the factory ship the goods?" Director Li sneered.

"This week is the peak period. No leave is allowed unless there is a major emergency."

"If you insist on doing it your way, then it will be considered absenteeism, and your wages for that day will be deducted."

"Why should I?!" the new employee exclaimed angrily.

But the other long-term employees remained silent, seemingly unsurprised by the situation.

Xiao Cao recalled that when he first joined the company, he was just like this person, very dissatisfied with the factory's system.

But after working in the same job for a while, you become numb to it, and you even find it laughable when you see new employees being indignant.

If you think you can make these exploitative people put down their whips just by talking, you're seriously underestimating them.

As a working person, the best course of action is to work honestly, get your money, and leave as soon as possible.

Without much preamble, Director Li got everyone to their posts.

Xiao Cao stood in the painting workshop, in front of the robot's control panel, waiting for his turn.

Soon, the parts were transported over like pieces of a corpse. The robot quickly sprayed paint on them, and after each small part was completed, a button had to be pressed to move the part to the next stage.

His mind was foggy from lack of sleep, and he didn't know how much time had passed when he suddenly saw the production line stop.

"What's going on!" Director Li walked over like a bulldog, his thick neck held high.

Xiao Cao then realized that he had pressed the button too quickly, causing the two parts to collide.

"It's you again!" Director Li also saw this and pointed at Xiao Cao: "A mistake, deduct 100!"

Xiao Cao was jolted awake by the resentment of having his pay docked. He cursed "old dog" and continued pressing the button.

He wished he could tear Li Laogou to pieces and spray him with a robot.

But fantasy is just fantasy.

Xiao Cao remains a production line worker, standing listlessly beside the machines like a dried-up corpse.

The incident lasted for two hours.

Music was playing on the radio; it was a rare moment of rest for them.

Although it was only 10 minutes.

Xiao Cao didn't dare to delay, ran to the toilet, relieved himself amidst the smoke and mist, and returned to his workstation.

During peak season, the car factory produces more than 500 cars a day. Based on an 8-hour workday, the production line produces one finished car per minute on average.

This fast pace and repetitive operations undoubtedly create immense pressure.

As a result, Li Laogou often squeezed his employees' rest time, secretly changing ten minutes to seven minutes, or even six minutes.

Sometimes, I can hear the bell ringing as soon as I get to the toilet.

Therefore, having gained experience, Xiao Cao went to the bathroom immediately.

"Buzz".

Sure enough, the bell rang after only 6 minutes.

Hearing the hurried footsteps, Xiao Cao stood up and dusted himself off.

The car assembly line continues to operate.

12:30 PM.

The car assembly line suddenly stopped.

Immediately following was a series of soft gasps from the assembly workshop.

Xiao Cao saw several people running over from the assembly workshop in a panic.

One of them spoke with Director Li for a moment, looking nervous.

Director Li's expression then changed slightly, and he roared, "What's the panic! The assembly line can't stop! Everyone back to your workstations, or your wages will be deducted!"

"hurry up!"

Director Li chased the runaway employees back inside, then walked out of the factory alone.

Xiao Cao glanced curiously at the assembly workshop, wondering what his colleagues had encountered.

But soon after, he suddenly found that everything went dark.

"Um?"

Xiao Cao looked up and realized that the factory lights had been turned off sometime during the day.

"Power outage?"

The other workers also looked up at the dark factory building.

The car production line also came to a halt.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Where's Li the Old Dog?"

"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter.

"I just saw him go out. Should we send someone to bring him back?" someone suggested.

"Come on, he might be out repairing something. Let's take a break while we can."

"Okay, everyone, take a break!"

Hearing this, Xiao Cao sat down on the ground with a smug look on his face, feeling a sense of excitement akin to the sudden power outage during a middle school evening study session.

However, as he sat there, he began to feel uneasy.

Because he had never had such a leisurely time since he joined the factory.

"It's been ten minutes already, why isn't the power back on yet?"

Xiao Cao frowned and called out to the nearest colleague, "Old Zhou, why don't you go ask Old Zhao?"

The air was silent, as if the colleague hadn't heard anything.

"Old Zhou! Little Li! Why aren't you saying anything?"

Xiao Cao continued shouting in the direction of his colleagues, but all he got in return was silence.

In an instant, goosebumps rose on his back.

"What's going on?"

Xiao Cao swallowed hard, then walked out of his workstation, intending to go and take a look at Lao Zhou's workstation, when he suddenly heard a scream!

Du Wang and Cheng Huo sat in the car, tidying up their clothes while waiting to arrive at their destination.

"At 12:29 PM today, ghosts will appear in a car factory in Gongsheng District. The divination is ominous; beware of hallucinations."

Wang Di's voice came through the earpiece, repeating the forecast to the two of them.

Du Wang recalled what Captain Chen had said half an hour earlier.

"Due to the large number of incidents occurring in the Industrial Saint District today, Mobile Team 5 is temporarily unable to handle them, so we are assigning the two of you to provide support."

"I'll go with you to prevent any accidents, but you two will still be responsible for dealing with the ghosts."

"clear."

Captain Chen instructed, "This time it's the Ghost Realm, be careful."

Du Wang thought of his experience entering the Ghost Realm with Liu Qiang and nodded: "Don't worry."