"Oh, Mr. Law Enforcement Officer!"
Beside the rickshaw, the lean and dark-skinned man grinned, revealing his teeth. "Where are you headed?"
Chen Yifei casually pulled out a few copper coins from his pocket and handed them to the man. "To Factory Street."
"Alright!"
The man's eyes lit up as he received the money. Without further ado, he lifted the rickshaw and ran towards the edge of District Three.
"I should call you Mr. Law Enforcement Officer now, seeing you after just a few days," the man couldn't help but remark. "I've never even heard of a law enforcement officer rising through the ranks so quickly..."
This man was the same rickshaw puller who had taken Chen Yifei to Ice Spring Street in District Two when he had just become a law enforcement officer. At that time, thanks to Chen Yifei's "guidance," he had earned double the money from Han Meng. Seeing Chen Yifei now, he was as enthusiastic as if he had seen a relative.
"Just lucky," Chen Yifei smiled.
"Should we take the detour this time?"
"...No need."
This time, Chen Yifei was spending his own money, so of course, it couldn't be like the last time... Hearing this response, the man also sighed with some regret.
A light mist covered the street as the man carried Chen Yifei forward swiftly. The surrounding houses became fewer and fewer, replaced by the distant, looming outlines of factories on the edge of the aurora, like black beasts crouching down.
Factories were the core of every major district. They not only provided employment for most of the district's residents but also continuously supplied a large amount of materials to Aurora City. However, due to pollution, factories were located at the outermost part of the region, near the boundary.
Chen Yifei stepped off the rickshaw and gave the man a few extra coins as a tip before leaving. Now that he was a law enforcement officer, he naturally wouldn't lack money, and the man immediately thanked him respectfully.
"Indeed..." Chen Yifei looked at the densely packed factories and thought to himself,
"More than half of them have shut down."
Chen Yifei had visited the factory district before. Not to mention anything else, just the exhaust gas emitted from the chimneys was enough to turn the whole sky gray. But this time, most of the factories seemed to be not operating, and the air was unusually fresh.
Chen Yifei headed straight into the factory district. As he approached, he saw a large number of people crowded before the factories, holding banners and shouting in unison:
"We want to resume work!!"
"We want our pay!!!"
"We want to resume work!!"
"We want..."
There were at least a hundred people crowded before the factories, mostly middle-aged and young adults wearing worn-out cotton clothes, waving their fists and shouting angrily.
Among the crowd, Chen Yifei saw a familiar figure. The man was holding a large flag with the word "Resume Work" written on it, gritting his teeth and waving it vigorously while shouting among the crowd:
"Why won't they let us work?!"
"The steel mill has shut down. What are we supposed to eat?!"
"Resume work!! We want to resume work!!!"
The man was none other than Zhao Yi, whom he had seen the night before.
The crowd had blocked the entrance of the factory completely. If the iron door wasn't sturdy enough, it might have been smashed open by them. At this moment, several figures behind the door were whispering to each other, looking somewhat troubled.
"We want to resume work!! We want to resume work!! We want..."
Under the crowd's rising and falling shouts, a figure approached from the back. The people behind saw the black windbreaker and were startled, then consciously shut their mouths and moved aside.
The shouting gradually diminished. The people at the front seemed to feel something was wrong. Zhao Yi stared back, intending to scold them for being useless, when he saw the familiar face.
"...Chen Yifei??"
The originally angry and crowded crowd had automatically made way for a several-meter-wide path. They looked at the black windbreaker with awe and fear in their eyes.
For ordinary people in District Three, law enforcement officers were already like gods... Especially a law enforcement officer?
"You've become a law enforcement officer?!" Zhao Yi finally reacted, shock appearing in his eyes.
Just yesterday, wasn't he still a law enforcement officer? Did he really step onto the divine path in the Ancient Troop Path Treasure?
"Mm." Chen Yifei nodded calmly. "Make way. I'll handle this."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yi's expression changed continuously. He looked at Chen Yifei, shifting from shock to doubt and finally to helplessness... He took a deep breath and still spoke firmly:
"Chen Yifei, you'd better get justice for us!"
After saying that, he also temporarily put down the flag and stepped aside.
Chen Yifei stood at the door and looked at the few people inside. "Open the door."
Seeing this, they immediately came forward to open the door. They couldn't dare to neglect the law enforcement officer in any way. The leader respectfully spoke to Chen Yifei:
"I'm Meng Shi, the deputy director of the steel mill... What's your name?"
"Chen Yifei."
Chen Yifei entered the factory and got straight to the point. "What's going on here?"
Meng Shi looked bitter and helplessly said, "The factory has shut down, but they insist on resuming work... I told them it can't be done, but they won't listen. They've been surrounding the place for half a day."
"I'm not asking them. I'm asking you."
"Us..."
"Why has the factory shut down?"
Meng Shi and the few followers behind him exchanged glances and sighed. "Follow me."
Meng Shi and the others led Chen Yifei straight into the factory. Just as they entered, several gilt letters were inscribed on both sides of the steel mill.
On the left, it said, "Through countless hammering and tempering, steel bones are forged";
On the right, it said, "Enduring hardships is the most glorious";
At the top of the factory, the most conspicuous horizontal words were, "All for humanity";
These letters were obviously quite old and somewhat blurred under the erosion of wind and snow. Several letters were even missing strokes, and the outer wall of the factory was also mottled and damaged, with a faint smell of iron rust.
This was Chen Yifei's first time entering a steel mill. Maybe because of the mist, everywhere was wet. He walked into the workshop, where several huge machines were displayed without being activated, covered with plastic sheets like black hills.
"Mr. Chen, look there," Meng Shi pointed to an empty space at the back of the workshop.
Chen Yifei looked carefully.
"What's there?"
"Originally, that was the place to store ore, coke, and other raw materials for steel production," Meng Shi spread his hands. "Now Aurora City has taken away all the raw materials. I know those people outside want to resume work, but what can they resume with? Can they produce steel out of thin air?"
Chen Yifei frowned slightly. "Why did Aurora City take away the raw materials?"
"I don't know. They directly gave the order to the director," Meng Shi said bitterly. "Mr. Chen, you also know... The factories in the seven major districts are all directly managed by Aurora City, and even the directors are assigned by them. If they want to take away the raw materials, we can't stop them."
"Then where's the director? Call him over."
"He followed the raw materials into Aurora City yesterday," Meng Shi paused for a moment and added, "It's not just our steel mill... All other factories are in this situation. Both raw materials and finished products have been taken away, leaving us with just a pile of waste.
We don't want to shut down... but we really have nothing left."