The red moon returns

Chapter 74 Where has this person gone?

"Du, du, stand still and line up."

While thinking about countermeasures, Lin Qi suddenly heard a noisy sound. He followed the sound and looked over. There was a small empty space for loading and unloading goods not far from the entrance. At this time, about a dozen workers in shabby clothes gathered there. .

Three men in formal clothes were looking like supervisors, blowing whistles and waving wooden sticks to maintain order. The short wooden sticks whirred and hit the noisy workers from time to time.

"You are thirty seconds late. Three pennies will be deducted from your pay. Stop talking nonsense. Three pennies will be deducted for being late next time."

"You're not allowed to go. You have to go to the toilet as soon as you enter the factory. The toilet is your home. Hold it in."

"Hey, you lazy guys, hurry up and go to work for me as soon as you finish signing. Do you want to get money for nothing?"

The supervisor shouted with great authority, but Lin Qi's eyes lit up when he heard it. Yes, this is not a fingerprint check-in like in my hometown. The attendance record here relies on a sign-in book.

Soon, the foreman who was on guard against thieves finished drawing checkmarks on the workers' faces one by one, then carefully put the notebook back into the duty room, and carefully checked it before leaving. However, as soon as he turned around and left, a figure appeared out of thin air in the duty room, looking through the dense registration list.

There were dense attendance records, and he remembered every day's work and get off work in great detail. Lin Qi remembered the question behind the graffiti, 'Where have they all gone?', thought about it, and began to carefully check the list.
  These people record their time on and off work every day in great detail. There is no such thing as a record of when they start work but not when they finish work. However, there are often workers who came to work every day and then suddenly stopped coming one day. But For day laborers, this is normal.

Was the kid just talking about these workers?
  Lynch was a little skeptical. If it weren't for the fact that little Janet's condition was obviously wrong, he might have believed it, but now he still has doubts in his heart.

Let’s take a look at the situation first.

Just as he was thinking about it, there was another movement outside the duty room. Lin Qi quickly lurked, and sure enough, it was the three supervisors who came in again to get the attendance book.

Someone came outside again, this time it was workers returning from work.

These workers were obviously numb and exhausted. They moved to the factory gate like a group of zombies and stood in a row waiting for the supervisor to call their names. The three supervisors first carefully searched everyone's pockets to make sure that no factory items had been brought out, and then they took the roster and named them one by one.

"Peter."

One hand was raised tremblingly.

"William."

A feeble voice: "Arrived."

"Mary."

The same weak middle-aged woman said: "Yes, sir."

"Lika. Where is Lika? Didn't you get off work?"

Who is Lika? Someone was asking, but more workers just looked at each other, not even bothering to say anything, and shook their heads tiredly.

That's right, no one cares about a co-worker they don't know.

The supervisor stopped asking questions and jumped over to continue the roll call. He quickly checked the identities of the workers one by one and drove them out of the factory with a wooden stick before returning the registration book to the duty room.

Lin Qi noticed that the faces of the three of them were a little stiff, but they did not talk. They just looked at each other and hurriedly walked towards the factory. Lin Qi frowned, opened the registration book, and found that among the names of these workers During the period, a position called Lika was indeed vacant.

Scroll forward and it’s the same every day. These people have all been working together for at least half a month. Why doesn’t anyone know Lika?
  At least there should be some impression, right? Just as they were thinking about it, the three supervisors hurriedly returned to the duty room. They looked at each other with evasive glances. In the end, the leader opened the registration book and wrote a few words, and then left the duty room in silence. Soon, the three of them seemed to be intentional. Amplified laughter came in.

Lynch reappeared, opened the registration book again, and then twitched the corner of his mouth. After Lika's name, the off-duty time of the group of people just now was written. It looked exactly the same as the previous few days.

Lynch realized something was wrong. Everything on the previous list was normal. Could it be that they were kept like this?
  Seeing how skilled and calm these supervisors were, it was definitely not the first time they had done this. They must be hiding something. Could it be that this Lika had a production accident and died? Or are they all gone, as little Janet asked?
  But that's not right. If you don't go home, your family will definitely come looking for you. You can't hide it like this.

The more he thought about it, the more doubtful he became. Lin Qi shook his head and decided to put the questions aside for now.

I haven't found any substantive anomalies yet. It's too easy to find excuses based on just a guess. Now asking a few supervisors will only make them alert and will not help to find out the truth.

It's better to go in and take a look first. These supervisors are not part-time workers and cannot run away. We will settle the score with them when we find the problem.

After making a decision, Lynch took another look at the registration book, Janet Scott, job number 324, workshop 8C. Lika Hollin, job number 122, workshop 10E.

Putting everything back to normal, Lynch left the duty room in secret, ignoring the three supervisors who were already chatting and joking normally, and easily entered the factory.

This is said to be a screw factory, but it actually produces some small accessories such as gears and connecting rods. Each factory is divided into several workshops. Workers spend most of their time in their own workshops, doing the same work.

The air was filled with the smell of oil and metal dust, and the roar of steam machine tools echoed repeatedly in the ears. The overflowing steam made the air hot and humid, and the soot and ashes made the factory smoky like hell.

In such an environment, dozens of workers repeat the same tasks, numb and mechanical, like walking zombies.

There were also two supervisors in the workshop who patrolled the factory repeatedly. From time to time they would hit the workers with wooden sticks and yell at them to wake them up from their semi-sleep state.

The first step in the investigation is to determine if there is any mysterious connection in the factory 'now', whether it is a strange object or a document. Lynch didn't alert anyone. He walked around the factory several times as fast as he could, ensuring that he passed every location within three meters of the factory.

Little Janet's 8C was quite normal, and there was no strong sense of depression in her inspiration. Ms. Luna did not call the police. Lynch thought for a while and then moved towards the 10E workshop where Lika Hollin was. He was not off work. In theory, You should still be here. The supervisor in charge of attendance just now should have come in to confirm the situation.

The situation in the workshop was no different from that of 8C. It was lifeless and lifeless, but there was no sign that the workers were missing. This made Lynch wonder if he was being overly sensitive?

To be on the safe side, Lynch activated the ability of phantom sounds and turned his roar to a height several meters above his head.

"Lika, is Lika here? Your family is looking for you."

All the workers showed no reaction and didn't even bother to look. Instead, the supervisor came over with a stick in his hand. He looked around suspiciously for the shouter and muttered curses:

"You stupid pigs, why are you looking for me again? I've told you that there has never been anyone named Lika here. Get out of here."

After looking around for a while, he didn't find the person shouting. He thought he had been scolded away before he came over. The supervisor turned around and left angrily, revealing Lynch's somewhat strange expression under the cover of the machine.

no such person? Is it a lie?

No one responded. It is impossible for a worker on the production line not to know each other at all. There must be a few who know each other. Unless there is really no such person, they will not all forget him.

But he is clearly listed in the registration book. Where has this person gone?

Hiss, isn’t this little Janet’s problem?
  (End of this chapter)