Chapter 82: First "Listening"
Filled with disgust for Ms. M, Lu Ze left, preparing to take a public carriage to Blackthorn Security Company on Zoteland Street. As soon as he stepped out of his house, he frowned, a clear look of discomfort on his face, and covered his ears with his hands.
This was because countless complex sounds were flooding into his ears.
The sound of people talking, carriages rolling over the road, things colliding, and the rustling, eerie whispers hidden in the Dark corners.
After drinking the Listener potion, Lu Ze's hearing had become much stronger. If he actively used his Listening ability, he would not only hear more clearly but also hear some sounds that ordinary people could not. However, he hadn't dared to try this ability yet, as he always felt it would be very dangerous.
Having overly sensitive senses is also a troublesome thing.
He thought to himself, relaxing his mind and standing by the street to meditate for a moment, focusing his attention on his surroundings. After adjusting like this for more than ten seconds, his ears became much clearer, but if he wanted, he could always release his hearing and hear sounds within a dozen meters around him.
After adjusting his hearing, Lu Ze took a public carriage and got off at Zoteland Street, walking into the company. In the hall, Leonard and Frey were sitting on the sofa, studying the pile of death reports.
"A few new death cases have appeared. The captain wants you to come with us to the scene to see if your eyes can discover anything from the fresh bodies."
Leonard said to Lu Ze, his right hand in his pocket, his posture relaxed.
"Understood."
Lu Ze replied.
He recalled what Ms. M had said last night. From her words, it seemed that someone was indeed behind these numerous normal death incidents.
If he couldn't find clues for a long time, he would try to probe her.
Lu Ze thought so.
Before setting off, he, like Frey, changed into the uniform of a Probationary Inspector, while Leonard, who was one Sequence higher than them, wore the Inspector's uniform with three stars on his epaulets.
In fact, Lu Ze was also a Sequence 8 Beyonder. Theoretically, he could not only get a raise but also a promotion in rank. However, it would be better not to tell the captain about this promotion, otherwise, what he would get would probably not be an improvement in treatment, but an arrest warrant from the Holy Tribunal.
Unfortunately, even after being promoted, he couldn't show off to them.
Lu Ze thought with regret as he boarded the company's carriage to the scene of the incident, the Tingen Industrial Zone.
"I found something strange in some of the incidents."
In the moving carriage, Leonard took out some documents and said.
"What's strange?"
Lu Ze glanced at him.
"I can't explain it clearly in a few words. I'll tell you after we've seen the scene, then you'll understand."
Leonard said.
The carriage moved along the Hoi River, approaching the industrial zone downstream. The scenery outside the window changed from bustling streets to large factory buildings, with towering chimneys appearing dark against the sky. The air gradually became pungent, and the Hoi River also appeared turbid and black.
Lu Ze rubbed his ears, the roar of countless machine tools coming from afar. He tried his best to suppress his hearing, so as not to damage his eardrums with the sound of the machines.
Finally, the carriage stopped in front of a cotton mill.
At the factory gate, a police chief responsible for local security and a factory foreman were already waiting there.
"Officer, please come in."
The police chief saw that the three men's ranks were all higher than his, and his tone involuntarily became respectful.
When he turned around to look at the foreman, his attitude became much worse, "Lead the way, let's see the body."
"Damn it, what's so good about a dead person?" The foreman cursed with a mouth full of tobacco-stained rotten teeth and a heavy rural accent, "Worthless cheap goods, I've already paid their family money, and they still dare to call the police?"
"Less nonsense!"
The police chief glared, "One more word and I'll have you in the police station!"
Only then did the foreman reluctantly move his body and walk into the factory.
The roar of the machine tools kept Lu Ze's ears from peace, but he still heard some information from the conversation between the two: it seemed that a worker had died in the factory due to an accident, and the foreman had already paid compensation and did not want the matter to escalate.
The three entered a factory building covering several hundred square meters, and rows of continuously operating looms came into view.
At the deepest part of the factory building, a huge steam engine rotated, transmitting the generated power to the shafts in mid-air. The rotating shafts drove the belts wrapped around them, finally delivering power to each loom. The looms worked back and forth, extracting cotton yarn to weave into cotton cloth.
Some small figures shuttled back and forth between the looms, occasionally replenishing cotton yarn and repairing stopped machines.
Lu Ze's body stiffened.
Small bodies, scrawny limbs, dirty faces, and eyes that had lost their innocence, leaving only numbness. These workers were all children aged seven or eight.
"This is our biggest factory building here, producing an average of 10 bolts of cotton cloth a day," the foreman introduced with a proud tone, "If it weren't for that unlucky brat dying and causing the production line to stop for a while, we could have challenged producing 12 bolts today."
Lu Ze silently watched the scene before him, a hint of shock in his heart. Beside him, Leonard and Frey's breathing also became heavy.
"Let's see the body."
Leonard tried to avert his gaze and said to the foreman.
So they entered a room on the side of the factory building and saw a small body wrapped in rags.
"This brat fell into the machine while dozing off and was crushed to death by it," the foreman said casually, "Damn it, it stained a whole piece of cotton cloth, and the machine needs to be cleaned too. How unlucky."
Frey's eyes coldly swept over the foreman. He walked over, uncovered the rags, and after examining it for a while, he looked up and said, "Looking at the wounds, they are indeed the marks of being crushed by a machine."
"Where are his family?"
Lu Ze asked.
"We've already told them. His father and mother both have work to do and will come after they finish work."
"Their own child is dead, and they still have to work!"
Leonard said angrily.
"If they don't work for a day, they might starve to death. Anyway, the child is already dead, so coming here is meaningless," Lu Ze said calmly. This was a situation he inferred based on his previous memories. "The poor don't even have the right to stop working and feel sad."
Leonard was speechless at once.
Lu Ze walked over, his eyes scanning the body. Still, as before, he didn't find anything strange.
Logically speaking, since he had been promoted, there should be something different.
Should he try his newly acquired ability, "Listening"?
He thought for a moment, squatted in front of the body, pretending to examine it carefully, but actually tilted his ear slightly and activated his Listening ability.
All kinds of factory noises flooded into his ears, but beneath that were the painful and numb groans of countless people. They were hungry, desperate, hateful, hostile, spreading all extreme emotions wantonly.
How pathetic.
Lu Ze endured the pain and focused his attention on the child.
"...Thank you, Big Sister."
Finally, he heard a tender and joyful voice coming from the child's small chest.