Rose Factory

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Next to a field of roses.

Hundreds of kilograms of requisitioned roses are piled up in a small hill next to the field, Qi Yifang stands in front of the rose field, he pulls out a directional indicator that sways from side to side with the wind and holds it up to the rose hill, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"...... air relative humidity seventy-eight percent, temperature 26 degrees Celsius, overcast to cloudy, no sustained breeze shifting to a light breeze, wind north force 1 ......"

Qi Yifang's eyes snapped open, and he plowed the wooden directional indicator with his thumb, his tone steady, "Now on to today's daytime weather forecast."

[System Alert: Player Qi Yifang used the skill (Weather Broadcasting)]

[Skill usage range: a circular area with a localized radius of ten meters]

[Skill Effect: Predict the weather in a localized area, and regulate the wind direction, wind force, sunshine, rainfall and possible weather characteristics within a certain range.]

[Warm reminder: This skill will cause a certain degree of decline in the player's stamina and spirit level, is the player sure to use this skill?

[OK.]

The wooden steering wheel on Qi Yifang's hand began to swing left and right rapidly with the system's voice, and the physical and mental values on Qi Yifang's personal panel began to drop.

Qi Yifang let out a breath and began to broadcast in a hushed voice:

"...... Localized winds of about 2g during the day, light tornadoes ...... followed by twelve hours of continuous sunshine, light winds overnight, cloudy to

Sunny ......"

The weathervane in his hand changed from swaying from side to side to spinning as he spoke.

A cold gust of wind blew back and strangely stopped at a small area next to the flower field and started spinning, this traveled back and forth around the mound of roses, weighing about 2g of roses hovering up into the sky on the gentle rotation of the wind, the lighter impurities were blown away, and the heavier ones stayed on the ground and were not carried away.

The magical tornado with its weight parameters set is like a highly sophisticated centrifuge, perfectly separating the roses from the rest.

The fresh, dried leaf roses, which would have taken a day and a night to pick through, were cleaned and neatly stacked in a collapsed pile in just ten minutes, as the mild tornado quickly disappeared and brilliant daylight poured down, shining through the translucent dewdrops on the petals.

Qi Yifang retracted the weathervane, he looked at the pile of dried leaf roses in front of him that had already entered the [drying] session, patted the grass residue that had blown all over himself, and turned his head in satisfaction, smiling at the other two.

"It's all taken care of, wait until morning and we can move on to the second session."

------

Rose Factory Piazza.

A long line formed around a fully automated mesh sieve instrument.

This is a relatively rare modern piece of machinery in rose factories, which simply dumps the roses in for a few minutes of sifting to get clean, dried leaf roses after sorting.

But because the Rose Factory focuses on hand-finished anti-industrialized perfume brands, there are only a small number of such instruments, all of which are hogged by the old processors and treated as their prerogative.

Before Qi Yifang line of people are also ready to line up here, with this instrument sieve rose, but was a few old processor evil voice, scolded them just promoted up to be lazy to use the instrument, do not do a good job all the time thinking of cheating, the new give me a roll with squatting on the ground to pick up withered leaves!

While Qi Yifang and the others weren't afraid of these processors, they considered that it was best not to offend NPCs in the game, and that there were ways they could handle the work - namely Qi Yifang's skills.

In a game where Spirit Values could not be actively restored, using skills that cost Spirit Values to complete quests was not a good choice, but Qi Yifang did not want to get into too much trouble, and their main goal was to save the little witch, so in the end, he endured with the other two.

But now the situation has shifted significantly.

The moment the tall Tang Er hit the queue line, the old processors who had noticed he was a new processor began to beep impatiently again:

"Why are you newbies so clueless? Ah? You have to rob us old people of our instruments! Do what you have to do!"

"That is, don't understand you guys who just work and want to be lazy and use machinery, don't grind you guys will soon be nothing afterward, you will be demoted, we all do it for your own good."

Tang Er hit a sullen glance at these processors who disliked him.

He did not directly open his mouth, but Tang Er hit a tall figure, limbs long and robust, the original wide protective clothing worn on his body like a sportswear jacket as close, looking not to be messed with, condescending this glance and extremely oppressive.

The processors were silenced by him for a few moments, and instead of opening their mouths loudly, they only dared to mutter in whispers.

But as Tang Er Ta was about to reach the queue to use the instrument, an old processor directly cut into Tang Er Ta's queue, and even looked back at Tang Er Ta in an extremely provocative manner, and then clapped his hands to let the person who was behind Tang Er Ta to cut into the queue as well.

This person is clearly going to give Tang Er a hard time, not letting Tang Er beat this newcomer to the instrument.

Wouldn't they be more productive with all the new ones being able to use the instruments?

The original Rose Factory had a high elimination rate of processors, and without squeezing out these new arrivals, it would be even more difficult for them, the old processors, to move up to factory workers!

To let the newcomers know that they know the unspoken rules, and to use these unspoken rules to squeeze the newcomers, to squeeze the fruits of their labor, and to facilitate their own promotion - this is the idea agreed upon by all the old processors.

Although the heat of this idea and practice is no less than personally cutting off the new processors and sending them to their deaths, but again, the old processors don't care about that.

They even want as many new processors to die as possible so that no one can take their place and lay them off.

Qi Yifang had also encountered this predicament and had no choice but to leave - they hadn't figured out the exact formula of this tertiary game yet, and offending a large number of NPCs rashly wasn't a good choice.

But Tang Er fight is not afraid to offend npc.

His strength was enough to allow him to mess around in a level 3 game, even if Tang Er Ta attracted hate values because of this incident, and all the processors in the entire Rose Factory chased after Tang Er Ta after they had turned into monsters, Tang Er Ta was certain that the ones who would die in the end would be the processors who had turned into monsters, not him.

So Tang Er hit moved the sack containing the roses to his left hand, and with a look of indifference made a flat stroke with his right hand, and a silver-colored gun suddenly appeared in his hand.

The heavy gun dropped downward and was gently hooked around Tang Er hit's index finger and turned around before being gripped and raised, the muzzle aimed at the back of the head of the older employee who had cut in front of him.

"I don't mind killing people before work." His tone was calm and cold, "My previous job was to kill people who went bad, do you think you're bad enough now?"

The old processor in front who originally looked smug shook like a dustpan when he heard the sound of a gun being loaded behind him, and he grimaced and gritted his teeth as he got out of the way.

Carrying a sack Tang Er hit as if nothing happened walked up, poured the roses into the instrument to sift, and then got the sifted roses into the sack, he put the gun on the back of his waist, and one hand put the sack on his shoulder, and walked out.

The old processors, who had just stopped Tang Er from hitting more, made way for him with a dishragged look on their faces.

"What the hell is wrong with this new batch of processors!" The processor who had just been pointed at by Tang Er Ta at gunpoint began to curse after making sure that Tang Er Ta's back had completely disappeared from his sight, "Either they're robbing us of our instruments, or they've finished their work in a short while somehow, and two of them haven't even begun to sift through them yet!"

"It's already almost noon, and I don't know where they went, if they don't carry out drying quickly, they won't be able to deliver a qualified weight of roses when they are weighed tomorrow." This processor said and then gloated, "These two processors will probably be directly demoted to flower pickers."

----------

Inside the abandoned factory.

Bai Liu stands on a rusty shipping container, surrounded by a group of stragglers who have regained their senses.

The stragglers who had just been awakened by Bai Liu's perfume obediently sat on the dirty ground around the container, and they all tilted their heads up to look at Bai Liu on top of the container, with a kind of hot look that was almost like looking up to the savior, seeing the last glimmer of hope in the midst of despair.

"I believe you all know Mr. Bai Liu." On the container stood another drifter, the one who led last night, he stood half a step behind Bai Liu with great respect, his eyes shining as he introduced Bai Liu to the people below, "The rose perfume that you all got this time is what Mr. Bai Liu earned by working in the factory, and then distributed it to us for free!"

The words sparked a small commotion among the stragglers, which quickly ceased under the downward pressure of the hands of the straggler who had spoken.

"Well, well, please don't get excited for a while, folks, Mr. Bai Liu will have more good news for us." The drifter piggybacked back with excitement on his face and bent down to invite Bai Liu behind him, "Now please, Bai Liu will now come and say a few words for us!"

Bai Liu steps forward with a flourish, his voice is not loud, but the people below are surprisingly quiet in order to hear what he says, which makes Bai Liu's voice seem to reverberate clearly and powerfully in this empty and dilapidated factory.

"From the bottom of my heart, I want to help you all without compensation." Bai Liu pulled out a new bottle of perfume from his pocket, his brows were calm and his tone was sincere, "But the stragglers I can help by myself is too limited, and I am only a bottom-level processor within the factory, receiving my paycheck on time every day."

"Right now I can earn up to three bottles of low-grade perfume a day, and one bottle of low-grade perfume can hold its fragrance for up to four hours, and according to this perfume's portion, I can't divide it among each of you, and it won't be able to keep many of you awake for a long time, and at this rate, there is no way for me to help you for a long period of time."

What Bai Liu said made the eyes of the stragglers under the container dim.

But they didn't speak out and accuse Bai Liu of not continuing to help them.

After a long period of torment, Bai Liu, who appeared as if he were a manifestation of the gods, gave them completely selfless help, even if it was only short-term, they were grateful to be able to return to their human form for a while, not to be immersed in the pain of being ruled by the rose perfume and the itch of the endless tentacles that grew on their bones.

It had been so long since they had maintained a human form that they couldn't tell if they were human or monster, and now even sitting properly on the ground they had the urge and trance to get down on their knees and crawl and wander away.

"But as long as you are willing to help me, my help to you can be extended without any time limit." Bai Liu's words changed, causing the lowered heads of the stragglers to raise their heads with a swish, looking at him with nervousness and eagerness.

Bai Liu continued unhurriedly, "My strength alone is limited, but if you can help me so that I can accomplish more work in the factory, obtain more perfumes to distribute to more stragglers, so that more stragglers can be helped to be awakened, I guarantee that every bottle of perfume you help me work to produce will be used to help more stragglers so that them to join our ranks until I become the factory manager."

"The day I get the Rose Perfume formula and become the factory manager." Bai Liu said orthodoxly, "I guarantee that every bottle of Rose Perfume that comes out of the factory to everyone will be free, forever."

This is obviously an extremely tempting offer.

The stragglers below couldn't help but swallow, but their faces were a mixture of joy and fear - the promise could be all too familiar to them.

Back when rose perfumes were proliferating, those same manufacturers were luring them in with such sweetness, but what about now?

The vendors who said they were going to give out free rose perfume to them in the first place hated the fact that they could not sell a bottle of perfume for an astronomical price!

They looked at the calm Bai Liu on the container with skeptical, frightened, apprehensive, tearful eyes, as if looking at the last straw in a dark swamp, not knowing if this man was lying to them or leading them into a bigger, deeper, more impossible quagmire.

But what's the point? They had no choice left but to believe that Bai Liu would be a good factory manager.

When the rose perfume was unconsciously accepted for abuse by them, the end was already predetermined, and they could only choose to accept that end or escape it with death.

It was a long interval before someone raised his trembling, withered-to-white-bone hand extremely slightly and with great care, and inquired in a very low voice, "Mr. ...... Bai Liu, would you really make a good factory manager?"

The woman who asked the question was a woman whose body had rotted a small part of her body, her face withered only at the corners of her forehead, and she held in her arms a small baby with withered feet that looked to be only a few months old.

The little baby was curled up dying in her arms, sucking at a thumb that was going to wither and not wither, and in its pure, slinky black eyes were two aging, withered roses that were completely out of place for the age of this little baby.

She looked at Bai Liu with eyes that held the same dying roses, with tears in her eyes, without blinking, her voice choked, "...... If you become the factory manager, will you always be a good person who is willing to help us?"

"No." Bai Liu replied bluntly, "There's a high probability that it won't, and now I'm just saying this to trick you guys into working for me, just like the factory manager who promoted rose perfume before."

Below a quiet, Bai Liu's words fell into the stunned eyes of the following stragglers, like a drop of water into a frying pan generally exploded.

The stragglers clenched their fists and stood up, their chests rose and fell violently, glaring viciously at Bai Liu, their eyes, which originally harbored a faint glimmer of hope, became angry and dead, while others drooped their heads numbly, as if they had already expected this ending.

The young mother who had just asked Bai Liu's question weakly lowered her hand, covering her face as she stifled a small cry, her mouth seemingly chanting her child's name.

However, among them, there is still no one who rushes up to attack Bai Liu.

-Because even if Bai Liu had laid out his dire intentions so plainly, Bai Liu was their last hope as much as their despair.

For as long as it takes to briefly escape the rose perfume hocking addiction, the helpless stragglers can only be held hostage by those who hold the source and are forced to descend into a deeper hell.

Bai Liu's eyes swept diffidently over the faces of the stragglers below who appeared to be in various moods at his words.

He could have fooled these desperate stragglers with that excuse he just gave.

You see, even if he told them right now that he was lying to them, they'd still be fooling themselves into going along with him and working for him for free just for a mouthful of vapid aroma.

As long as perfume exists, this vicious circle must exist, and when civilians begin to hope for the happiness of all with thinking like [good people come to be factory managers], this in itself is representing that there is nothing else that can restrain evil -

--If morality is used to constrain interest, it will only make interest present itself in the form of morality.

But Bai Liu doesn't like perfume, he likes money, this kind of world doesn't make sense to him, even if he obtains more perfume by relying on these stragglers, it's just a symbol of a condescending superiority on a spiritual level.

Bai Liu has no feeling for this [sense of superiority].

He prefers a world where coins circulate as hard currency, so he wants to put an end to it.

"You can't hope that I'm a good person, I'm not a particularly good person, or at that point, as long as Rose Perfume exists, whoever is the plant manager won't be a good person."

Bai Liu looked down at the stragglers below with downcast eyes, his tone as flat as ever, "But if I if I say, let me be the plant manager, I have a way to make the rose perfume go away, so that you all don't continue to wilt, will you help me?"

Slowly, incredulously, the stragglers on the stage raised their heads, and in a pair of rose-implanted eyeballs was reflected Bai Liu's emotionless face.

"You guys help me become a factory manager, I'll help you end the blight." Bai Liu says, "It's not some kind of gratuitous help, it's a quid pro quo deal, y'all do it?"

The young mom was the first to stand up with tears in her eyes, holding up her child and asking incoherently, "Really? Mr. Bai Liu, do you really have a way to end us, to end my child's withering?!"

Bai Liu smiled slightly, the rose in his right eye blooming its sixth petal, the chafe along the rim of his eye socket deep enough to see through, "If I can't do that, I'll wither away, too."

"I've given you most of the perfume I've gotten, and you can supervise me all the way, but if I don't find relief, I'll be the first to wither away, so are you willing to trust me?"

A brief, pin-drop silence.

This mom hugged her child tightly, lowered her head, and cried out in pain with trembling lips, "Thank you, thank you!!!"

The abandoned factory clamored with inexplicable excitement.

The stragglers lifted the container of Bai Liu and threw it upward, the rose in their eyes, like the light of a fire about to go out, burning weakly, but firmly.