The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 226 The Slaughterhouse (4)

She raised her hand to adjust her pig head mask; it was indeed a bit heavy after wearing it for a while, and she felt her vision was getting narrower.

Having received Su Ninglong's "promise," the quality inspection team leader struggled to his feet, touched his neck, and found that the cut had healed completely, showing an even more remarkable recovery ability than Lian Xinyi.

After a combination of harsh words and gentle persuasion, the quality control team leader finally overcame his prejudices and realized that this person who had gotten in through connections was worth getting to know better. He even stopped caring how Su Ninglong dressed in her work uniform; even if she dressed in a non-mainstream style, it was her freedom.

"Let's get familiar with the factory first!" And while we're at it, let's find a hapless pig-headed man who can "swap bodies" with us.

The quality control team leader couldn't wait any longer.

One advantage of the quality inspection team is that they can move freely in most areas of the factory, from the livestock area and slaughterhouse to the post-processing area.

Su Ninglong said no problem and followed the quality inspection team leader to "visit" the slaughterhouse.

The livestock area was the smelliest place in the entire building. As soon as you got close, a strong stench of feces, feed, and blood hit you, almost solidifying into a tangible form.

The quality inspection team leader explained without changing his expression, "After all the livestock arrive, they have to stay here for at least a day to observe for any disease outbreaks." He didn't look around as he spoke, clearly showing no interest in the "stock" here.

Looking inside through a thick layer of glass, Su Ninglong saw a pig's body and a human head.

Human heads were crudely attached to pig bodies. Some had distorted faces and were constantly groaning in pain, some had their heads drooping and looked numb, and others had their eyes closed but had a strange smile on their lips, as if they were drowning in some absurd dream.

She spotted the pig with "her" head on top of her at a glance, and her eyebrows unconsciously rose.

Abstract, too abstract.

She had thought her visual tolerance was strong enough, but seeing such a scene with her own eyes, she couldn't help but sneer inwardly. In the end, she had underestimated the way the Mystic Spirit trampled on humanity.

"When are we going to slaughter these beasts?" Su Ninglong asked calmly.

"New arrivals, probably tomorrow night." The quality control team leader was clearly reluctant to stay here any longer. He nudged his nose impatiently and urged in a muffled voice, "Let's go to the slaughterhouse."

“Okay.” Su Ninglong turned around decisively. The abstract pig didn’t leave any shadow in her mind; she was more concerned about what she was about to see.

The slaughter area was filled with a strong smell of blood and steam.

The assembly line was running, and several people in overalls stiffly hung the rinsed and stunned "pigs" onto the conveyor belt. Su Ninglong noticed that they wore Star Alliance name tags on their chests, their eyes were empty, and the hooks on their backs were deeply embedded in their flesh, but they seemed to feel no pain. They were just imitating the actions of the veteran employees, precisely slicing open the pigs' throats to bleed them.

What was most disturbing was that they were silently shedding tears while mechanically operating the machine.

Tears mingled with blood and slid down her face, but her body was completely out of control, still skillfully carrying out the slaughtering process.

Su Ninglong felt a mix of emotions; she had fallen for him so quickly.

Although the Star Alliance was not on the same path as her, she considered herself to be on the "righteous" side.

Moreover, the real enemy is the Mystic Spirit. Allowing the Mystic Spirit to control another person is equivalent to giving the enemy more power.

This is not what she wants to see.

"Wait for me a moment." Su Ninglong didn't wait for the quality inspection team leader's permission and went straight to the back of a Star Alliance hunter. She reached out to pull out the hook on his back, but as soon as she pulled hard...

"Cough, cough..." The other party suddenly burst into a violent cough, even coughing up blood, but his hands were still tightly gripping the butcher knife.

Su Ninglong glanced at the SAN value displayed on the back of his hand, which had dropped to 15.

They are undergoing distortion, and if they are not immediately sent out of the contaminated area, the process of alienation cannot be stopped.

She immediately let go, abandoning the rescue.

The goal is to find the spirit, not to save people.

She has no obligation to do everything in her power to drag her competitors out of the contaminated area. Since the Star Alliance sent people in, they have to bear the losses themselves.

It would be better to send fewer people; they're only concerned with the immediate problem and neglect the long-term consequences.

The mutated hunter mechanically plunged the knife into the pig's neck, and the part of him that was human was gradually extinguished.

My mental world seemed to be split in two, one side seemingly clear-headed, the other willingly succumbing to depravity.

Su Ninglong's rescue was their last hope. They opened their mouths, hoping for salvation. If they couldn't be saved, they would rather kill themselves.

But Su Ninglong chose to leave, leaving them only to lie in the darkness, sinking deeper and deeper...

Su Ninglong turned and walked towards the quality control team leader, asking in a casual tone, "Why don't you use robots to replace them?"

"It's covered in oil and blood; the intelligent machinery wears out too quickly. Wouldn't hiring people be cheaper than buying robots? Repairs also take up time. If a person gets sick, just replace them." The quality control team leader answered fluently, his thinking unusually clear, unlike the typical abnormality. There was no sluggishness, nor madness.

You could say he's a normal person, yet he firmly believes in the "getting a new head for promotion" theory.

There are also hunters from the Star Alliance in the autopsy area.

This group was noticeably more cautious, wrapping their name tags in plastic bags and clipping them to their clothes to prevent the hooks from piercing their flesh and turning them into puppets.

However, their dissection techniques were far less efficient than those involving bloodletting.

Pig bodies with human heads attached were hung upside down in mid-air, their eyes wide open, as if staring at the executioner with unrepentant eyes.

Star Hunter A appeared quite composed, steadily accepting the tools handed to him by the senior employee, and making a single cut into the pig's belly, splitting the entire torso open with a resounding thud.

The veteran employee nodded in satisfaction. "You have great potential. Next."

Star Hunter B, standing to the side, turned his head slightly to avoid the gaze of the human eyes on the pig's head. He hesitated before stabbing the tip of his knife into the pig's body, and unsurprisingly, he missed.

The veteran employee grumbled, "Is he clumsy or brain-dead? The demonstration was so clear and he still can't do it right. Even a pig could do this job."

Enraged, Star Hunter B slammed his knife on the cutting board and growled, "How do pigs understand? Do they kill themselves?!"

"This is a human, not a domestic pig. Where are your eyes? Can't you tell the difference between a domestic pig and a human? No wonder you can't find a job. Get out of here!"

Humans and animals. Humans and animals. Humans and animals... This word kept pounding in his mind.

The person he just killed... was it really a "human"? Or was it a human turned into a beast? Did he treat humans like animals?
Star Hunter B felt a churning in his stomach, and acid surged up his throat. "Ugh... ugh..."

Su Ninglong frowned. Anyone who could get in here should at least be a two-star hunter; how could their mental defenses be so fragile? He actually took the words of these inhuman beings to heart. Star Hunter A patted B's shoulder and whispered, "The Star Alliance is watching."

Su Ninglong happened to make eye contact with A.

Are you guys addicted to provoking each other? You even resort to such unscrupulous means to motivate your teammates.

Hunter A looked away, slightly guilty.

The Star Alliance has always operated this way: as long as you can defeat the Star Alliance, you'll receive a generous reward upon returning.

Nothing is more motivating than tangible rewards, especially since "defeating the Star Alliance elites" has long been a driving force for the younger generation of Star Glory.

Some people online say that Xingyao is all show and no substance, and these young people naturally disagree.

Hunter B looked up abruptly, catching a glimpse of the pig-headed man in the "Freedom" shirt strolling by. His eyes snapped back to reality: "Damn it... why can he walk around like that, but we can't?"

Su Ninglong: “???”

Star Alliance Hunter A was pleased: It seems that diverting attention is really effective.

Su Ninglong: Your teaching methods at Xingyao are indeed quite impressive in a certain sense.

"You think you can slack off just because you made a mistake?" Seeing everyone stop working, the head of the autopsy team slapped Hunter B hard on the back of the head and yelled, "Get back to work! If you don't finish today's task, everyone's pay will be docked. If I'm not having an easy time, none of you will be either."

His voice was sinister, like a cold wind blowing down the back of the neck, and no one doubted the truthfulness of his words.

The ordinary employees' movements instantly sped up.

A pig-headed man deftly trimmed the crooked pig's body with a swift stroke of his knife and handed it to the next person in the process.

Compared to the busy dissection team, the quality control team leader, who only carried quality inspection instruments and forms, appeared remarkably relaxed.

Thinking he had a powerful backer and was on the verge of promotion, he lazily picked up a piece of meat and critically commented, "This batch of meat is not bad; it can fetch a good price."

Looking at his arrogant demeanor, practically strutting around with his hands on his hips, Su Ninglong suddenly felt an urge to find a different "collaborator." He was practically ready to announce his intentions over a megaphone.

"Team leader, now that you've passed, have you checked off the form? Shouldn't we move on to the next location?" Su Ninglong interrupted his clumsy performance.

The quality control team leader glared at her, but when he met Su Ninglong's calm, dark eyes, he swallowed back the curse that was about to come out.

"I'm checking right now, why are you rushing me!" he retorted weakly, trying to save face.

Su Ninglong didn't reply. She simply reached for the form, glanced at the pig carcass that had just been dissected, and quickly checked off each item. She hardly needed to think; a glance was enough to understand the situation.

“This animal had a minor health issue before it was slaughtered, but it doesn’t affect its edibility.” After saying that, she slapped the form back into the team leader’s hand. There weren’t even wristbands or surveillance cameras in this place; the work was just a formality.

She didn't linger any longer and headed towards the next area, more concerned about the whereabouts of Tong Zi and the others.

Her departing figure, with her back turned, made her seem more like a superior.

"Hey, wait for me!" The quality control team leader quickly grabbed the equipment and followed.

It would be terrible if Su Ninglong were to switch to a different pig-headed person to work with; he absolutely could not let this opportunity go to another "colleague."

"How did she do that?" Hunter B asked anxiously, sharing his concerns with his companion before the other person had gone far.

"If I had known, would I still be here arguing with that grumpy idiot?"

Allowing this "unidentified" Star Alliance hunter to freely explore the factory could easily result in her getting there first. Although the Key of Prophecy guarantees her safety, there's still a chance of failure. He gestured across his neck and whispered to Hunter A, "How about we 'deal with' the team leader and explore on our own?"

“Go ahead and kill if you can,” Hunter A didn’t directly stop him, but calmly reminded him, “When we first came in, we also killed a pig-headed man. Have you forgotten what happened then?”

Hunter B pursed his lips; it wasn't that he didn't see it, but he subconsciously chose to ignore it. He was standing quite far away, and his teammate's subsequent reaction was too abnormal.

He just felt that he would never become like that; it was too exaggerated.

Having already traveled some distance, Su Ninglong was also pondering this question: Why do all the people in the Star Alliance obediently follow the rules and do their jobs?
She recalled the scene when she first entered. The Star Alliance had a large number of members, and their reaction upon first seeing the pig-headed man after breaking in through the back door was most likely to be to attack and kill him.

So, what happened after the kill that made them so "rule-abiding"?
What could it be? Su Ninglong glanced at the quality control team leader beside her out of the corner of her eye.

The quality control team leader, oblivious to the menacing aura around him, whispered to Su Ninglong as they passed an office nearby, "See that? The fattest one's the equipment team leader. He has more power than us; he can even go outside. Could you..."

Su Ninglong smiled lightly and said indifferently, "Sure, just lure him out and find a secluded corner."

She glanced at the equipment team leader, whose size resembled a small mountain. The chair beneath him was deformed under his weight. Getting him to move his buttocks would probably be harder than killing the factory manager.

The quality control team leader also shut up sheepishly, realizing that it was unrealistic to lure this "fat pig" out; they would have to use an excavator.

They spent nearly two hours in the work area, finally completing the quality inspection process and recognizing most of the pig-headed men.

Su Ninglong finally confirmed the location of Tong Zi and the others. They were assigned to the assembly area, where they were responsible for packing the cut meat pieces into baskets or bags.

The job wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult either; the only problem was the indescribable, disgusting feeling when packing meat chunks.

Although they were all in the assembly area, Tong Zi and her group were intentionally separated.

Compared to Su Ninglong's "special treatment," Xuan Xi's situation was much more difficult. He was assigned to a group leader with extremely strict discipline.

This team leader not only required uniform attire, but also controlled the length of hair and nails, managing almost every detail.

"Put on your name tag." The team leader practically roared. "If you don't wear it, don't work. Get out of here. We're all from the same factory, a team. If you don't follow the rules, you're trying to split the organization and get special treatment..." He shouted as he forcefully pressed one of the men's heads down, forcing him to put on his name tag.

The one whose head was being held down was Xuanxi.

He instinctively wanted to use his superpower to retaliate, but was suddenly shocked to find that he couldn't use his superpower.

At that moment, he truly realized that he had probably encountered one of those "spiritual beings" who had mysteriously disappeared in the contaminated area before. He reacted extremely quickly, flipping his hand and swiftly slashing his fingertips towards the neck of the pig-headed leader.

But his opponent was more skilled and stronger than him. He grabbed his other shoulder and clung to him tightly, giving him no chance to create distance or activate his powers.

Xuanxi tried several times to break free and fight back, but was always suppressed.

As the pig-headed leader attacked, he said in a low voice, "Why resist? Sooner or later you'll all become one of us."