Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 34 Labor Mutual Aid Associations

Taking a public carriage, Angel came to the dock area.

It is said to be a "district", but a large part of it is in the outskirts of Tingen City. The Tussock River and the Hoy River meet outside the city and flow to Backlund. A large number of passenger and cargo ships flow down the river, allowing the rapid development of the docks on the outskirts of Tingen City, and there is a tendency to connect with the urban area.

Just before getting into the car, Klein was still making his last effort.

"Do you really need me to go with you?"

At that time, Angel was standing at the stagecoach station on Zouterand Street, waiting for the arrival of the tram. Beside him was Klein carrying a gentleman's cane. He was going to wait for Angel to get on the bus before walking back to Iron Cross Street to complete his task every afternoon: to find lost notes along the way.

"Didn't we discuss it just now?"

Seeing that Klein was still eager to try, Angel shook his head.

"It's just to steal, cough, to get back Mrs. Green's lost ring. It's inconvenient if there are too many people."

Even though the two discussed how to "steal the ring back" for a long time just now, it still made Angel feel a little ashamed to say this word in public.

It can only be blamed on the police in Tingen City, who are lazy and lazy. Even the citizens don't believe them, but they are looking for private detectives and security companies to solve this kind of problem.

Angel found a good excuse for his behavior.

"What if the ring is not in the safe, or there is no safe there at all?" Klein seemed to be hesitant, "If I also go to the scene for divination, I have a better chance of finding the ring."

"Even if you don't find the ring, it's a big deal to go again next time. This time, it's just a stepping stone. But if the two of us are found, there may be no next time."

Angel resolutely rejected the request of the "Seer" teammate who has no fighting ability. The probability of being discovered by himself is very small, and it is too difficult to bring a clumsy Seer with him.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Angel walked towards the warehouses in the dock area in the direction he remembered.

It was about 3 pm at this time, the busiest time in the dock area.

Sailboats and steamships were moored by the river, crude cranes were constantly loading and unloading cargo boxes, and porters carrying heavy loads and pushing wheelbarrows shuttled along the narrow but well-connected roads like an ant colony.The road randomly paved with wooden planks has been potholed by their trampling, the stagnant water and garbage are mixed together, and the putrid smell is hard to breathe in the open area.

This is an area where the poor in Tingen City gather. There are jobs and cheap housing that can earn money as long as you work hard. Countless people who can't stay in the city are here to make a living.

This is also the area where the police in Tingen City are the last to come. They would rather dispatch a whole team to protect the ball held by the mayor and line up in front of the dignitaries than to patrol the muddy path of the pier for a quarter of an hour.

Where the light does not shine is darkness, and it is only natural for gangsters to be born in such areas.

In fact, the original intention of the establishment of the "Dockside Labor Mutual Aid Association" was to fight against the exploitation of workers by other gangs. A group of dock workers who wanted to avoid protection fees and forced labor united to fight violence with violence, and drove other gangs that oppressed workers out of this area.

Then there is the inevitable corruption, degeneration, and becoming the next oppressor...

Of course, what they do is actually the same as the old gangs, monopolizing jobs, collecting protection fees, and selling some prohibited items. On the contrary, they don't do much bad behavior to the "members".

It’s not because of their conscience, but because the lower-level workers really have nothing to squeeze out… The dock workers’ weekly wages are generally only 10 soli, and their jobs are not stable. This salary is almost nothing left except for rent and daily life. After the abolition of the “Corn Law”, although the cost of living will drop slightly, more farmers will flood into the cities to compete for the few job opportunities. Their wages will only be further reduced due to vicious competition.

From this perspective, the labor mutual aid association, which monopolizes most of the dock work, is actually conducive to bargaining for workers, avoiding the depreciation of labor force caused by bottomless mutual price reduction.

At least Angel couldn't see too many traces of "gangs raging" from the busy scene in front of him.

Along the road beside the river bank, avoiding the crowds, and turning a few turns, she came to a group of warehouses.

There were originally stretches of wooden houses here. After being burned to the ground by a fire a few years ago, the new buildings are all made of bricks and concrete, in stark contrast to the low wooden buildings in other areas on the outskirts of the city.

Angel's goal this time is a three-story warehouse, but the internal structure is only divided into two floors. The front is a row of double-opening arches. Behind the doors are different cubicles separated by brick walls. The first floor is for storing goods, and the second floor is for office areas.

In Cole's memory, he has been to this warehouse twice, and he still has some impressions of the internal structure.

At this time, most of the workers should have gone to the wharf to carry the goods, and they will not move the items that need to be stored back to the warehouse until nightfall.But now the main entrance of the warehouse is crowded with people. Hundreds of men in all kinds of worker uniforms crowded at the entrance, surrounding a simple podium made of boxes.

"Quiet, everyone be quiet!"

On the stage, a middle-aged man also wearing a worker's uniform yelled through a tin horn.

"I have received everyone's appeal, but the president will not be back until two days later. Before that, please continue to work at ease and don't delay our progress. When the president returns to Tingen City, a congress will be held immediately."

"Don't even think about it! You said the same thing last time, two days later and two days later!"

"Get out of here, you son of a bitch!"

"We want to see the president!"

A few workers who obviously played a leading role encouraged the surrounding crowd, and the effect was very good. The noise of hundreds of people immediately overwhelmed the shouts for maintaining order.

Seeing the man standing on the high platform sweating profusely, comforting the workers around him, and the high platform surrounded by a few tall and strong men, repeatedly blocking the workers rushing in front of him, as if protecting the man who was shouting, Angel's heart moved, and he had an idea.

The farce in front of me should not end in a short time. The entire warehouse has been attracted to the main entrance. Maybe now is the best chance to retrieve the ring?
Bypassing the noisy front door area, Angel came to the back of the warehouse.

The surface of the building, which has only been built for a few years, is already full of traces of peeling wall paint, exposing the brick structure below. It can be seen that the owner of the building does not care about these "cosmetic projects". Along the wall, there is a row of narrow windows until the height of five meters, and the only available foothold is a row of beams protruding from the wall slightly below the windows.

No matter how agile the "Assassin" was, it was impossible to climb the vertical five-meter-high wall without using tools. Fortunately, the second floor of the warehouse was an office area, and several gas and water supply pipes went vertically upward along the corner of the wall, penetrating into the wall at a position slightly lower than the window.

Thanks to the hoarse shouting of the man on the podium at the entrance of the warehouse and the various abuses of the workers, the people around the warehouse gathered in the direction of the main entrance.

Seeing that there was no one around, Angel no longer hesitated. She walked to the corner, stretched out her hand to test the strength of the pipe, and found that it was no problem to carry the weight of a person, so she climbed up directly.

Using both hands and feet, the physical fitness and extraordinary agility provided by the assassin potion allowed her to quickly climb to the height of the second floor, and then jumped up with the help of the horizontal pipe penetrating into the wall, onto the beam under the window on the second floor.When the jump took off, the fixing screws at the connection between the pipe and the wall made an overwhelming sound, which made Angel’s heart tense. She stood firm and looked around. There was no one behind the warehouse, and workers farther away would not notice the little movement here.

But now that he was in a high place, if anyone looked over from a distance, he could easily spot the figure climbing on the outer wall, so Angel didn't dare to stay longer.She pulled the nearest window and found that it was not locked from the inside, so she gently opened one side, glanced quickly at the inside of the room, held down the window edge with both hands, and turned through the window.

This is a small file room. The wooden shelves against the wall are full of file bags. From newer kraft paper to paper bags with damaged corners, stacks of paper documents are neatly arranged.

There is a set of tables and chairs near the door, with a register book spread out on it, and a cup of coffee next to it, steaming from the cup.

Perhaps for fear of fire, the room was not fitted with gas lamps, but relied on two windows for natural light.

Quickly scanning the room with her eyes, Angel didn't find anything that looked like a safe. She casually pulled out a stack of documents on the shelf, and found that it was a statistics of incoming and outgoing goods in the warehouse, so she stuffed it back.

Gently open the door, there is a long corridor outside the door, which should pass through the middle of the second floor. There are several gas lamps hanging on the wall. It is daytime, but since the corridor only has windows at both ends, the main light source still needs to be provided by gas lamps.There is an identical door every few meters on both sides of the corridor, which is either open or closed.The door of the room she just walked out of has a sign of "Reference Room".

At this time, the entire second floor was quiet, only the faint voices of people came from the emotional crowd at the front door of the warehouse. The workers were arguing with the warehouse manager and his bodyguards.

It seems that time must be seized. No matter which side wins the battle, they may come to the second floor of the warehouse. Before that, they must find the safe and "take" the ring away.

Angel quickly walked through the corridor, checking the door number, opening the door when it came across an unlocked room and sticking his head in to take a look, and tapping on the locked door twice to see if anyone was inside.

Walking through the "pantry", "lounge", "assistant's office" and other rooms in turn, Angel did not meet anyone except for a big man lying on the sofa sleeping soundly in the lounge.

After going through the stairway in the middle of the corridor to the other end, and looking for a few more rooms, she finally found the door plate with the words "President's Office".

Lightly pressing the copper doorknob, a resistance came, and the handle did not move at all.

Angel was overjoyed, it seemed that this was the room.

(End of this chapter)