Chapter 436 - 409: Cursed Workshop (Part 2)

Chapter 436: Chapter 409: Cursed Workshop (Part 2)

Kael raised an eyebrow, his hands pausing for a moment.

"You have three minutes."

"Use them." Thomas stared directly into Kael’s eyes. "These workers... they aren’t an obstacle. They’re the perfect cover."

Kael raised an eyebrow.

"Your reason."

"What do you think they produce here?" Thomas gestured outside. "Just ordinary munitions?"

Thomas continued without waiting for a reply.

"Curses. Highly concentrated Plague Liquid."

"Those workers... they were told they could work for a month, collect their high pay, and go home. It’s all lies."

Thomas’s voice began to tremble, thick with hatred.

"The radiation and corruption here are extreme. Most people’s bodies start to rot while carrying those canisters, and there’s no medical treatment whatsoever."

"The foremen drag away anyone who’s not yet dead and toss them into the cultivation pools on the lowest level."

Mia covered her mouth.

"Cultivation pools?"

"Yes. They use the flesh and blood of the living as nourishment for the plague." Thomas gave a bitter laugh. "That’s the real secret to this workshop’s operation. This is a man-eating mill."

"Then why aren’t the rest of them dead?" Kael asked.

"Because of me."

Thomas pulled a small vial from his robes. It was half-full of a pale golden liquid.

"Every day, I secretly mix diluted Holy Water into their drinking water. It’s not enough to cure them, but it at least lets them live a few more days."

"They trust me. And they despise this place."

Thomas lifted his head, looking Kael straight in the eye.

"If you kill them, you’re just clearing away obstacles. But if you use them, you gain a hundred decoys who no longer fear death."

Kael fell silent.

He weighed his options.

’Killing them all would be simple, but disposing of the bodies and masking the stench of blood would take time.’

’Besides, if that Level 5 Warrior noticed it suddenly went quiet outside, he’d definitely get suspicious.’

’The noise here... it’s the perfect cover.’

"The plan?" Kael uttered two words.

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief.

"I’ll go rally them. The shift changes in ten minutes. That’s when the guards are at their most complacent."

"I’ll make them work ’harder’."

Kael’s eyebrow gave a slight twitch.

"I’ll have them make more noise. The clang of iron barrels, the hiss of steam valves, even arguments."

Thomas made a slicing motion.

"Under the cover of that noise, you can do your killing. No one will hear a thing."

Kael looked at the scrawny Priest.

’Hatred really can make a person clever, it seems.’

"Deal."

Kael turned to his team.

"All units, prepare. Engage silent mode."

"Xiaolan, you follow him. If he does anything suspicious..."

Kael didn’t finish, but his meaning was clear.

Xiaolan nodded and melted into the shadows.

...

「Ten minutes later.」

Level Three Curse-Filling Workshop.

Dozens of Magic Lamps lit the area as brightly as day.

The air was thick with a sickly-sweet, coppery stench. Countless person-high black iron canisters stood packed together on the floor, like a dead forest forged from steel.

Workers had to carry heavy wooden barrels and climb rickety ladders to the top of the canisters to pour in various raw materials.

They wore no protective gear whatsoever, just ragged clothes. Many were even barefoot on the greasy floor. Their exposed skin was covered in black patches and oozing sores.

A beefy foreman captain patrolled the aisle, brandishing a leather whip.

"Move it! This batch is almost done! Anyone who dares to slack off, I’ll personally throw them into the pools to feed the maggots!"

CRACK!

The whip cracked across a scrawny worker’s back.

The worker staggered, nearly falling.

But he didn’t cry out. He just silently steadied himself against a canister.

Because he saw that familiar figure.

Thomas, dressed in a filthy worker’s uniform, blended in with the crowd. As he passed the worker, he gently patted the back of his hand, then gave a subtle look to a tall, lanky foreman patrolling in the distance.

The lanky foreman gave an imperceptible nod and tapped his baton twice against the railing.

That was the signal.

A fire suddenly lit up in the worker’s cloudy eyes. He snatched a nearby iron wrench and slammed it viciously against the canister in front of him.

CLANG!

The ear-splitting sound of metal striking metal exploded through the workshop.

It was like flipping a switch.

"Damn it! Watch it, you stupid pig!" another worker nearby suddenly roared, slamming the empty wooden barrel in his hands onto the floor.

CRASH!

Then a third, and a fourth. Some workers deliberately crashed carts together; others tipped over barrels, sending them rolling everywhere.

The entire workshop descended into a cacophony of noise.

The beefy captain froze for a second, then roared in fury, "A mutiny! It’s a mutiny! Are you looking to die?!"

Just as he was about to charge the worker who started it all, the lanky foreman—the one who’d received the signal—suddenly yelled, his voice filled with panic, "Captain! Over there! The laborers are trying to blow up the boilers! Quick, take some men and stop them!"

The shout was utterly convincing.

The beefy captain bought it completely. He immediately roared at several heavily-armed elite guards nearby, "You lot, go with him and check it out! The rest of you, with me!"

"Yes, sir!"

Under the lanky foreman’s "guidance," several loyal guards charged menacingly toward a shadowy blind spot between two giant machines.