Chapter 668

Laughter instantly erupted from the opposite side. Someone said, "Who can blame us for needing people? After all, some blind-eyed police came knocking on our door, several of our people died over there, and we must fill the gaps."

Ning Chen wore an expressionless face; he did not even wait for the person opposite to say "come," but walked directly into the crowd on the other side.

The homeless on that side breathed a sigh of relief; they had barely escaped tonight. In the past, when they came to capture people at this time, they would use voting to push someone out; if someone's popularity was slightly poor, they could only be taken away by those people.

As for the fate of falling into those people's hands, they did not dare to even think about it.

Thinking of this, the homeless leader looked at Ning Chen apologetically.

Ning Chen looked at that group of homeless people without emotion: "It doesn't matter; I know you would do this."

After Ning Chen finished saying this sentence, a trace of appreciation flashed across the face of the person standing behind Ning Chen. Although they were originally in an adversarial relationship, at this moment, he patted Ning Chen's shoulder with his palm.

Ning Chen was annoyed by the touch of a stranger, so just before the other person's hand touched his shoulder, Ning Chen lightly dodged.

That person's face immediately turned ugly. Ning Chen pretended not to see it and simply said on his own: "You capture people; do you want to use people for hard labor?"

But after he asked this question, silence fell below. Ning Chen's expression revealed a trace of confusion.

Finally, it was the person who had wanted to pat his shoulder who said: "More or less."

Without replying in detail, Ning Chen guessed this should not be some formal project.

No wonder those homeless people would avoid it.

Ning Chen's lips twitched: "I accept my fate; let's go."

Perhaps because people as open-minded as Ning Chen were truly rare, or perhaps because Ning Chen's attitude was somewhat problematic, those who came to capture people did not bind the hands of the person to be taken away as usual. Instead, after a stalemate for a while, someone said: "... let's go."

Ning Chen followed those people into a factory. People inside the factory walked back and forth, their faces greenish-gray.

Ning Chen frowned. No wonder the homeless were so afraid; after all, there were only two choices here: either die or work hard at hard labor. Once a mistake was made, one would be killed.

The person behind pushed Ning Chen in a urging manner. His thick eyebrows were tightly furrowed, showing extreme severity and ferocity. He opened his mouth to scold: "Hurry up and go in; work hard, or you will have a bad time!"

The bodies scattered everywhere were terrifying enough. Those who captured Ning Chen were sure he would be afraid; after all, he was a newcomer. Usually, newcomers would tremble in fear at the sight of this scene, so they threatened: "If you are not serious, you will be just like these people; think it over carefully yourself."

Ning Chen was pushed and stumbled. Ignoring the threats from behind, he lifted his foot and stepped into the factory, observing carefully.

Corpses of various shapes lay scattered on the ground, blood flowing all over the floor, bright red or dark red cracked bloodstains, with no one cleaning them up.

Many people were killed by gunshots; bullets pierced through their chests or temples, leaving only a red mark. Ning Chen pressed his lips while observing these corpses and discovered that some people had deep long knife wounds on their bodies, and there were also corpses with daggers stabbed into their chests.

Ning Chen looked at this bloody and cruel scene; complex emotions mingled in his heart. He stopped in place, sighed, calmed the emotions in his heart for the time being, lifted his foot, and continued walking forward.

Ning Chen had not seen so many corpses piled together for a long time; he was still somewhat unaccustomed. He frowned tightly, stepped over the corpses one by one, and walked to the center of the factory.

People came and going, walking around in tattered clothes. Ning Chen could see that these should also be homeless people captured here; to save their lives, their movements and eyes showed caution.

"Work quickly, don't dawdle; if you continue like this, I'll shoot you!" The person behind kicked Ning Chen with his foot and pressed the gun in his hand against his head to threaten him.

Ning Chen felt helpless in his heart. Pretending to be very afraid, he nodded and replied in a trembling voice: "I will work immediately; put the gun down first."

That person did not intend to kill Ning Chen in the first place. Because the police suddenly came knocking a few days ago, there was now a shortage of manpower; the purpose of capturing Ning Chen was to have more manpower. Now, it was even more impossible to kill him. So that person warned Ning Chen to work hard, snorted, put away the gun, and left.

Ning Chen, standing in place, turned around and looked at the back of that person leaving; the color in his eyes grew increasingly gloomy.

At this moment, wailing sounds came from the other side. Ning Chen guessed what had happened; the factory manager was going to shoot him. Ning Chen sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.

The wailing sounds grew louder and louder. The people doing hard labor in the factory could not help but be affected; they all put down their work and gathered around to watch this scene. Ning Chen also followed the crowd to go and investigate the situation.

A person in black clothes held a gun in one hand and lifted the collar of the person who made a mistake with the other, pointing the gun at him. Seeing the dark muzzle aimed at himself, the person who made a mistake was full of despair in his heart. He cried out loudly and struggled to escape the restraint of the person in black.

The people watching saw such a scene; some were already used to it, but the rest were terrified. Ning Chen stood silently in the midst of the noisy crowd, motionless, watching the gun being pressed down bit by bit.

539. Working Without Rest

"Bang!"

As the gunshot rang out, the bullet shot from the muzzle, pierced the air, and hit the person squarely on the forehead.

The gunshot was very loud; everyone in the factory turned their heads to look at this scene, including Ning Chen.

The bullet entered the brain; in an instant, a few drops of bright red blood burst forth. That person's eyes were wide open, his mouth slightly agape. In the instant the bullet entered his forehead, his expression suddenly froze.

It was as if a pause button had been pressed.

He still maintained his upright posture. Within five seconds, his body stiffly fell backward, still with his eyes open.

The executioner took back the gun he was holding in his hand. He stood on the second floor, looked around at the people gathered below watching the spectacle, turned the muzzle, and suddenly pointed it at the crowd: "Do you all want to die?"

The crowd was very quiet; no one made a sound. Everyone watched this execution silently and numbly.

As if this was already their daily bread.

Ning Chen, mixed in the crowd, had already clearly seen the face of the executioner.

In this situation, the person holding a gun was no different from the master of life and death. Although there were hundreds of people throughout the factory, they remained silent and numb, unwilling to speak out or resist.

Ning Chen used this short time to figure out the situation of this factory.

The factory was very large, with a total of three layers. The top floor seemed to be the rest area for the factory's rulers, the second floor was the place for workers to rest, and the first floor was the place for daily work.

And the main work of these "workers" was to work for this factory unconditionally.

The crowd quickly dispersed. Perhaps due to threats and pressure, in less than a minute, everyone ran back to their original seats.

Two people were still standing beside Ning Chen; they were two of the captors. They also witnessed this ruthless execution, but their faces showed no fluctuation either.

"Your work task requires physical strength," one of them pointed to the corner of the wall and said, "You need to carry those barrels to the very front of the production line."

Ning Chen looked in the direction he pointed and saw that there were indeed thick and high white barrels piled up in the corner, and the quantity was not small: "How many people to carry them?"

"Just you."

Ning Chen fell silent immediately: "... Isn't the execution easier than this?"

The other person looked impatient: "Isn't this work for you to do? You want to slack off after coming in, right?"

Hearing this, Ning Chen glanced at the situation in the corner again.

For him, carrying things could be considered a perfect match for his profession; carrying those things was just like taking a walk.

So Ning Chen did not refuse. He calculated the death date of these two people in front of him in his heart while nodding: "Okay, I will go to work immediately."

Those two people seemed dissatisfied and insisted on following Ning Chen to the wall. Ning Chen looked at the contents inside the white barrel and discovered they were some parts, filling the entire barrel.

For a normal person to lift, wanting to lift such a barrel of parts was indeed somewhat difficult, let alone carrying them back and forth until over a hundred barrels of parts in the corner were moved.

But for Ning Chen, it was merely a matter of flicking his wrist.

He walked up to the two barrels, gripped the handles, and lifted them easily; Ning Chen carried four barrels at once, two in each hand, yet his pace remained steady, not a drop spilled, and he transported them to their destination without effort.

After several round trips, he had finished moving the pile of white barrels in the corner.

The time was now two o'clock for Ning Chen, yet the factory lights remained on, as bright as daylight.

No one dared utter the words "rest," though dark bruises very severe hung under their eyes; they still dared not slacken, for above them someone held a gun pointed at them.

After another hour of labor, Ning Chen, while observing the factory's condition, carried barrels to the production line; at three o'clock for Ning Chen, someone above finally said: "Rest. Resume work at eight tomorrow morning."

Ning Chen was startled— from three in the evening to eight in the morning, their rest time was barely enough to count on one hand, yet no one dared resist.

As the factory workers gradually ascended to the second floor, Ning Chen followed them up, only to find the second floor's conditions remained abysmal.

There were few beds on the second floor; three people shared one bed, and some could only sleep on the ground— compared to sleeping on the streets, they merely had a roof over their heads.

Ning Chen sat alone in the farthest corner; he did not need rest, his physical strength could sustain him for three days and nights without sleep or food, still brimming with energy.

Snoring rose and fell; fifteen minutes later, someone on the second floor turned off the lights.

Ning Chen could not sleep; in fact, in such a noisy environment, unless he were utterly exhausted, he could never fall asleep.

He timed it precisely— as dawn gradually brightened, Ning Chen glanced at his wristwatch; it was already seven-thirty in the morning.

Less than half an hour remained before everyone had to rise and return to work.

At eight o'clock, Ning Chen rose with the others and slowly descended to the first floor.

Below, no one was present; each person returned to their post, yet those who usually supervised them failed to appear as usual— normally, they stood on the second-floor corridor to monitor the workers during work hours.

Today, something felt off.

Ning Chen glanced up at the second floor, then walked to the white barrels and began moving them.

Half an hour later, the supervisors finally entered through the first-floor entrance.

Ning Chen observed them and noticed each of their faces was unnaturally pale; about seven or eight men had arrived, each holding a gun.

This was highly unusual.

Ning Chen kept watch as he continued his work, when those seven or eight men stepped onto the open area, raised their guns, and spoke with grim faces.

"An important document has been stolen from our factory."

Hearing this, Ning Chen set down the white barrel he held, stepped to the wall corner, and joined all the other workers who had stopped working, fixing their gazes on the seven or eight men.

"Only one of you could have taken it. I placed the document in the drawer of my office on the third floor. If it leaks, the entire factory is finished. So," the speaker's expression suddenly shifted, turning cruel, "you will report on each other. If I cannot find the thief, I will lock down the entire factory—you will not set foot outside for the next three years."

At these words, murmurs spread through the factory.

Ning Chen frowned in thought; he did not believe any of these workers could have stolen the important document— their faces were utterly numb, devoid of any thought beyond mechanical labor.

540. Blind suspicion