Darkstone Code
Chapter 65 - 0065 Airei’s Generation, a touch of Aniu’s Generation

Chapter 65: 0065 Airei’s Generation, a touch of Aniu’s Generation

Anderson is a very ordinary worker, and the frequency of factory shutdowns has been increasing recently, making everyone very uneasy.

It started last year with a one-week shutdown each month, and now it’s work for one week and shut down for one week. A kind of panic is spreading in every worker’s heart, especially ... he heard that the factory seems to be on the verge of collapse.

It’s not that the factory is losing money or anything. In fact, the factory is not losing money; it’s just that the market for its products has become increasingly poor. Many goods are piled up in the warehouse, slowly accumulating dust.

If the products can’t be sold, there’s no income. Added to the investment costs, warehousing management fees, workers’ salaries, and other expenses, it has become the most headache-inducing issue for the Factory Owner.

Although he has always assured the workers that he will try to extend the life of the factory as much as possible, everyone has a feeling that the day of changing jobs is not far away.

Today is payday. Anderson got himself tidied up neatly early in the morning and arrived outside the factory. People were chatting in small groups about trivial topics, mostly about who suddenly got rich or which nearby factories had closed down.

They never felt that life could be so hard, especially a few years ago when the factory operated continuously from morning to night. After work, the workers were so exhausted they couldn’t lift their arms.

Back then, life was tiring, but it was also fulfilling. As long as you worked, there was a substantial reward. The Factory Owner even expanded the factory premises and added more jobs because of it...

As everyone was chatting, recalling the past, or filled with fear for the future, a commotion suddenly erupted over at the factory’s finance office.

The noisy sounds instantaneously pierced every sensitive nerve. Most people immediately stopped what they were doing and ran towards the finance office door.

It wasn’t until Anderson got closer that he discovered it was a few workers arguing with the Factory Owner, their boss, for two reasons.

First, the factory would completely shut down starting next month, and everyone would have to wait for a notice about when work would resume.

This was essentially telling everyone that the factory was done for, and the so-called resumption of work might not happen at all. The Federation wages are based on hourly work; the more you do, the more you earn.

This system has always been fair, especially for those diligent workers who get more for what they put in. Everyone was motivated to contribute their strength in the factory.

A complete shutdown means these workers will have no income at all next month!

The majority of ordinary Federation families do not have the habit of actively saving money. Coupled with the recent consistent reduction in savings interest rates by the Federation’s six major banks, the difference between keeping money in the bank and in hand has become minimal.

This further reduces the urge for people to deposit money in banks.

Money has a very peculiar attribute: when you have money in hand, there’s an indescribable urge to spend it, and the more money you have, the stronger the urge to consume.

Perhaps it’s buying a Haute Dog that you rarely purchase to satisfy your appetite, or perhaps it’s buying a pack of good cigarettes you never bought before to enjoy the rich aroma of money burning.

Without savings, life relies entirely on salary. If salary ceases to exist, many families would immediately find themselves in a terrifying situation where everything grinds to a halt!

Even scarier is the due payment periods for various installment products, including houses and cars, which will become a heavy burden oppressing people’s lives!

A few years ago, the world began to stabilize after periods of turmoil, and the Federation, which had been hovering on the sidelines of wars, started to develop rapidly.

A lot of things underwent change, including methods and concepts of consumption. Not only could houses be purchased in installments, but cars could be too. As long as one had a social security card and legitimate citizenship, even a TV could be paid in installments.

Everyone was enjoying the enormous dividends of this era, as if money was everywhere, just waiting to be picked up by bending down.

But now, these unpaid installments have become nooses around people’s necks, ready to tighten at any moment, stealing people’s lives!

A few workers were arguing with the boss regarding this matter, demanding the factory resume operations next month for no less than ten days, their final insistence.

Working one day and resting two, if even this cannot be guaranteed, their lives would become problematic.

Clearly, the boss maintained a stern face, constantly shaking his head, as he couldn’t accept such demands.

Business is tough to do now, and the market in regions around Sabin City or even within the state has saturated. The goods can’t be sold in large quantities as before, and the cash flow back is slow. The received funds are mostly consumed by warehousing fees and wages.

If operations continue, bankruptcy would be the only option; there’s no alternative route. The only thing left to do is to halt operations entirely and find an outlet for his goods or identify and resolve the problem before restarting work.

Workers felt lost at this moment. The Factory Owner, too, felt lost. Clearly, the products used to be in high demand; why, in just a year or two, are they not selling!

In the past, plenty of people drove trucks to the warehouse fighting to load goods, but now, some people even called him asking to return the goods, even if it’s only thirty percent of the original price!

Besides the shutdown issue, there’s another matter, which is the way salaries are being paid this time.

"The factory’s account doesn’t have much money left and can’t pay everyone, so I thought maybe we could use another method to distribute your salaries..."

The bickering about the shutdown ceased. The workers decided to let the Union intervene, and now, they looked at the Factory Owner with cold faces, with no friendliness left. A wall had risen between them, and they had become adversaries.

The Factory Owner’s eyelids twitched twice. He raised his hand to rub his eyes; his voice appeared dry, hoarse, and rough, "I don’t know what to say...," he glanced at the unfamiliar workers around him, sighed, "You all know the current situation of the factory, I can’t get the money anymore..."

Before the words were finished, the workers nearest to him suddenly clamored, and this commotion rapidly spread to all sides like a wave engulfing the entire factory. It was so noisy that even the Factory Owner put away his unnecessary emotions and looked on coldly as the workers quarrelled and caused a ruckus.

After some time, the commotion, unresolved and without response to their demands, eventually died down.

At that moment, a smirk appeared on the Factory Owner’s face, directed both at the workers and at himself, though he quickly reined it in.

"I’ll use the items we produce at cost price as your salary."

"You can refuse to accept or even go to the Union or court to sue me, so I can apply for bankruptcy protection, and then we’re all done for together!"

"If you are willing to accept, go to the warehouse and receive your ’salary’!" After finishing his words, he turned straight back to the finance office, followed by an accountant and several managers coming out to calm the workers down.

Anderson stood among the crowd like a puppet adrift with the tide, his mind buzzing with cacophony and ringing in his ears. The only thought in his mind was that the sky had fallen.

In fact, he didn’t need to worry at all, because he would soon adapt.

Some workers caused a fuss, while others silently went to receive the inventory products. At least these things counted as something; anything counts more than getting nothing, right?

Outside the warehouse, he dully took a pen and signed his name on the payroll book and then looked beside him at the three large boxes of household appliances, his mind buzzing.

What to do for the days to come...?

Carrying three boxes, Anderson had just stepped out of the factory gate when a strong wind blew, and suddenly, something floated with the wind and covered his face.

He tore it off and found it was a common poster seen everywhere, featuring a distinguished-looking man showing eight teeth and holding a glittering slogan—"Airei’s Generation, a Touch of Anjutai"

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