Chapter 223: Hatred

Red Beard glanced at Michael, "I heard you went to the Xiahui People's factory before?"

"Uh, I am a businessman, I will go to any factory, I always have to look for new investment opportunities." Michael said with his head lowered; he dared not look into the other's eyes, just as he usually did when doing business with people.

After all, he was not being sincere.

"Hmph, do you think I don't know?" Red Beard stood up; as an outlaw, he was a full two meters tall.

He looked just like a Barbarian.

But it was obvious he was not a Barbarian, because Barbarians would not have red beards.

"I already know everything; you mentioned us to those people. Did you really think I wouldn't investigate my competitors?" Red Beard stood up straight; he pointed the gun directly at Michael's forehead and said, "If I find out you dare to go find those people to continue doing gun business, then I suggest you buy a cemetery plot as soon as possible and prepare a grand funeral for yourself."

"I..." Michael originally wanted to say something, but once he thought about how the person before him was not one of the easily bullied workers under his own command, he had to swallow his pride.

Hmph, isn't it just that you have guns?

Once I get these guns, can't I organize those workers to deal with you?

Thinking of this, Michael said humbly: "I was also tricked into going there that day. I thought they were doing some legitimate business; I didn't expect them to dare to compete with the War Church for business. They are simply crazy."

"Hmph, those guys are supported by the War Church. Buying guns from their hands will be reported to the Church. Did you think you would have a good end buying from them?" Red Beard raised an eyebrow and said, "Cheap comes with a price; you shouldn't be unaware of that, right?"

"Of course, of course I know, so how could I possibly choose them? I will only choose you." Michael was very humble, keeping his head low as if he were one of those workers.

Red Beard snorted and lowered the gun, "Consider yourself sensible. I advise you not to have any other ideas, otherwise, I will make it so you can't think for the rest of your life."

After saying this, he threw down a box and simultaneously took away the money Michael had brought.

Michael also picked up the guns in the box and began to test them.

This was the benefit of buying from Red Beard; there were many black market merchants, but Red Beard was one of the few who could be verified.

Holding the gun, Michael automatically cocked it; anyway, there were no bullets in the gun, so testing it was still fine.

He placed his index finger on the trigger and then pressed it.

Boom!

The unprotected gun went off directly, firing a deep crater into the ground at Red Beard's feet.

"You brat, don't want to live?" Red Beard angrily pointed the gun at his head, "You want to blow me to death?"

"No, no, no, you saw it too, I didn't load any bullets at all. Who knew there were bullets inside this gun?" Michael was also startled; this time he already felt the urge to urinate, that fear coming from the bottom of his heart.

If he had raised the gun just a little bit higher, he would definitely be a corpse right now.

"How about this, I'll add some money for you, how about it?" Michael said with a hint of pleading, "I really didn't mean it."

"Didn't mean it? I think you did it on purpose." A group of people surrounded Michael, "If you still want to go home, you had better show your sincerity."

"I... I will have them bring more money over. Don't worry, we will always be business partners."

Michael had no choice but to have his servant go home to get money. He wrote a note and then had that personal servant go, while secretly using his eyes to signal the other to bring more people over.

The reason he was helpless now was that he had too few of his own people.

But that servant who went back to get the money did not return by nightfall.

Gradually, Michael began to feel uneasy.

"Why don't I go back myself? You can have someone follow me." Michael looked at the other with eager eyes, but no one paid him any mind.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Red Beard said coldly, "I already gave you a chance."

"But, I believe that guy must have run off with the money. If you give me one more chance, I will notify my family directly. I am willing to add money; I can give you my factory!"

"Your factory? Hahahaha, do you really think that factory of yours makes money? I don't care, but you must bring the money. You two! Take this guy and go once. If you can't bring back the money, then bring his head to see me!" Red Beard put down the poker in his hand and said with a dark face.

Of course, Michael also had no chance to take the box back.

At this moment in the factory, the workers had already begun to resist the foremen.

The chaotic factory had basically been controlled by the workers, and the guns in the foremen's hands had already been smashed to pieces.

The fed-up workers tied up all those foremen. Originally, everyone wanted to storm Michael's office, but because Michael's attendant had locked the door from the inside, they hadn't gotten in yet.

For the safety of the money in the office, Michael had made the office door out of Steel, and the entire office only had one skylight that a person could not crawl through.

The workers standing outside the office were filled with righteous indignation.

Everyone knew there were guns in the office.

And they knew there was money in the office.

Regardless of what mindset these workers held, in short, they all hoped to get an explanation.

At the very least, they wanted their freedom returned.

The whole scene was very chaotic. Forde had not expected this situation to occur; in his view, the Misfortune Charm should only have acted on Michael, not the entire factory.

However, his eyes were shining brightly, because he felt he had discovered the power of the divine.

"This is all the power of the Lord; this is an opportunity given to us." It was not just Forde; the two Believers he had converted held the same thought.

The power of Calamity was too strong.

If not for the merciful Lord, this factory would be no different from a prison, and perhaps even more terrifying than a prison.

But now, these workers had only suffered a few minor injuries before subduing these paper tigers of foremen and successfully occupying the entire factory.

Forde prayed, silently chanting the name of Calamity in his heart, while walking to the side of the workers at the very front.

"Even if we break down this door, this factory cannot be ours." Forde said in a low voice, "Instead, it will only cause the police to arrest us and put us in prison."

"Even if we go to prison, it would be better than living here." The stubborn old man Rove held a hunting gun, "What kind of factory have you ever seen that uses hunting guns to demand workers to work? We aren't criminals!"

"But we can also run away." Forde did not want these workers to all be arrested; clearly, there were still many workers lacking in those people's factories. If they were allowed to go to normal factories, they would know that Tana City was not as unbearable as he had imagined.

There would even be many people who were truly doing things.

Rove shook his head, "We old guys just want a place to live. I know what Tana City used to be like, but I still believed the ghost stories of the Wealth Church..."

"After we finish looting this place, we'll go loot the Wealth Church; they have a lot of money!" several young people said impulsively. It was obvious that long-term repressed living had given these young people ideas of committing crimes.

Forde frowned, "Rove, I know you were a Hunter before. In Tana City, you can also become a Hunter; just use a hunting gun." Pressing down on Rove, Forde said with some pity, "As long as you escape from here now, you can regain your freedom. You can go to those Xiahui People's factories; their benefits are high, and they are also very famous in the dock area. If you go to their factories, your days won't be too bad."

"Heh, why are you speaking up for those Xiahui People? They don't have any real ability themselves."

"Exactly, in our city, Xiahui people can only scavenge for trash to eat!"

"Don't try to fool us, since when do Xiahui people do business?"

Forde knew they didn't believe him, so he took out the Lightning Charm he carried with him at random.

"I have my own faith. If you are willing, I can treat everything here as an accidental lightning strike, rather than being destroyed by the workers. And you have only lost a period of wages, and can then start a new life."

Although they did not recognize the Lightning Charm, most people instinctively feared the lightning glow upon it.

Because Forde had already activated the lightning effect.

Soon, this charm would turn into a thunderous blast, destroying everything here.

Rove, this old man, had seen much, but he had only seen someone capable of producing a Lightning Charm twice.

This time was the second.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Are you from the Storm Church?"

"No, I represent the Calamity," Forde said in a low voice, "I just want you to walk out of the Calamity, rather than sink into it."

"You..."

Rove did not want to waste time; he had heard of the Lord of Calamity, whose Believers were all a bunch of lunatics.

Now it seemed that those Believers were indeed a bunch of lunatics.

Fortunately, this lunatic still had his reason, actually letting them escape.

"Everyone leave here." Rove called out, and several old men of similar age nodded, shouldering their hunting rifles and fleeing in all directions.

Everyone in the entire factory began to flee for their lives; no one was willing to delay, as no one wanted to be struck by lightning.

Boom— Michael, who was still trudging along the road in a disheveled state, froze.

The area where the incident occurred was his factory.

And the noisy sounds around him, along with the state of other workers from the factory rushing to watch the excitement, made his legs tremble.

You must know, he had just collected the payment from those merchants.

Of this payment, he had only used one-third to purchase firearms, and the rest was the price difference he had earned.

He had originally intended to use the remaining third to pay the ransom, and then still have a third left over, so it wouldn't count as a loss.

Now... how could the entire factory be...

He ran over in a panic, and then saw the dirt road at the factory entrance, covered in footprints.

His factory was not as tidy as those Xiahui people's factories; both the entrance and the interior environment were dirt.

Usually, there wouldn't be any footprints at the entrance; after all, the road at the entrance wasn't meant for these workers to walk on.

But now, those footprints told him that something had happened to the factory.

Boom!

With another sound, Michael ran frantically into his factory.

The materials here were scattered all over the ground, the workstations had lost their original order, and everything had become very chaotic.

Several foremen were tied up on the ground, their mouths gagged, crying with muffled wails.

He felt something was quite wrong and rushed to his office.

At this time, only the iron door remained of his office.

The entire office had scorched marks, and the ground still carried traces of lightning strikes, hideous and terrifying.

Just looking at it, one would sigh at how terrifying the power of nature is.

The attendant inside the door didn't know where he had run off to, or perhaps he had already turned into dust.

As for that money...

Where was there any money left?

"Don't try to play any tricks." Seeing that the factory seemed safe enough, they walked in, "It seems your factory management is a bit poor, but you must know, the money cannot be short; even if there isn't any in the factory, there will be money at your home."

"Can't you see, everything here is... everything I had is gone!"

Michael sat blankly on the ground, "How could this happen, how could this happen?"

"You can ask those foremen and you'll know, but I only allow you to ask one." Thinking that Michael couldn't escape anyway and would eventually make up the money, these two thugs offered a suggestion as if they were watching a play.

Hurriedly untying one of the foremen, Michael slapped the other person across the face.

He said viciously: "Are you trash! What exactly happened to my factory?"

"How would I know! Those workers were all crazy, they weren't even afraid when we opened fire, saying they would escape from here no matter what. In the end, they forcibly snatched our guns and occupied the entire factory. Then I don't know which guy took out a Lightning Charm and wanted us all to die!"

The foremen sobbed, and the person speaking also trembled.

Thinking of the lightning strike just now, and looking at the excrement on the ground, they were truly terrified.

That guy, they actually knew his name.

But fearing retaliation, this foreman still hid the other person's name, only saying that it was dark and he hadn't seen clearly.

"So where is my money!" Michael gritted his teeth and said, "Where is that attendant of mine?"

"He came back, but we really couldn't see if he left your office or not. When the lightning flashed and thunder roared, it was good enough to ensure one's own survival; no one dared to stare directly at those lightning bolts."

After all, it was something created by a Lightning Charm; those lightning bolts carried some extraordinary aura to a greater or lesser extent. Ordinary people would only want to close their eyes when near them, and would absolutely not want to stare at them.

After this narrow escape from death, that foreman didn't want to work for this greedy factory owner anymore.

So he had even less reason to offend someone who could use a charm.

"Lightning Charm..." Michael had heard of them, but in the entire Tana City, even in the port area, there were at most Storm Believers; how could there be someone carrying a Lightning Charm?

And why did they have to come to his factory?

Storm, it must be the Storm Church.

Never expected that just because he sold things a bit more expensively and used some inferior goods while doing business, he would cause those people to have such great hatred!

(End of chapter)