## Chapter 1230: Workers Have Power
“You’re finally back. I haven’t seen you for days.” Lorna straightened up as Older Brother Jayad returned. Though her tone remained cold, a hint of resentment could be detected in her voice.
“Haha, Miss Leo Man, didn’t I tell you I needed to be busy with enlistment matters these past few days and couldn’t train with you?” Older Brother Jayad chuckled dryly.
“I know, but there are some things I need to tell you this time.” Lorna paused mid-sentence and looked at the female adventurer, the only unfamiliar face among them. Of course, they had met before; Lorna was present when they rescued people.
Clearly, the female adventurer recognized Lorna as well. Her pupils widened, revealing a hint of fear. In her eyes, I and Jayad were easygoing types, but this woman was not so easy to deal with.
“It’s you. Oh, you’re really badly injured. So, you were the one who snitched?” Lorna asked bluntly.
“No, I was forced. It’s really like that,” the female adventurer said fearfully.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll find out everything later anyway. Let’s go,” Lorna said.
“Go? Go where?” Older Brother Jayad and I were taken aback.
“To your place. I also want to hear what this lady has to say about the high-level informant,” Lorna said, arriving at the perfect time.
This time, it was my turn to panic. We had the little ghost, the vampire, and the ghoul at home. If she encountered them, there would likely be a fight.
Lorna had been here once before, but back then, Via and the others had hidden in the next room and upstairs. Moreover, the entire building exuded an evil aura, so even if Lorna sensed it, she could claim it had nothing to do with us.
But this time was different. They were now living with us in the same villa. Although the relative distance hadn’t changed, this time we were under the same roof. There would be no way to explain it away.
However, there was no escaping now. While Older Brother Jayad was still talking to Lorna, I had already sent a fly home to inform Via and the others to hide. It should be enough time.
“Alright, Miss Leo Man, please lead the way.” Seeing my signal that it was okay, Older Brother Jayad smiled and welcomed them, leading Lorna and the female adventurer into the factory courtyard.
“I didn’t expect you to be temporarily staying in the factory’s dormitory area. By the way, is it okay for us to just walk in through the front like this?” Lorna asked.
“It’s fine. We’re already official employees of this factory. I’m the supervisor, and Parul is the technical consultant,” Jayad said.
Lorna didn’t ask how he obtained official positions. Priests and preachers had various methods to control people’s hearts, and everyone knew that.
However, as the security guards saw us enter—especially the two unfamiliar faces, Lorna and the female adventurer—one of them stepped forward and asked, “Supervisor and consultant, who are these two people?”
“This is a priest, invited to assess the factory’s situation. The other is her assistant,” Older Brother Jayad said casually.
“Oh, oh! Then please come in quickly.” The security guard immediately made a welcoming gesture. He couldn’t afford to offend someone of a priest’s status and position.
As for Lorna’s identity, he didn’t doubt it at all. After all, Lorna was wearing a priest’s outfit with a Cross on her chest. The factory had invited priests to perform exorcisms several times before, so there was nothing strange about it.
“This factory is really big. It’s the Steam Armor Factory, right? It’s strange, why are so many workers just hanging around here chatting? And some are playing ball? Are they that idle?”
Lorna walked through the compound, looking strangely at the workers who had finished their shifts. This place was very different from other factories, but she couldn’t quite articulate how. It was just a gut feeling that something was wrong.
For example, although these workers were still skinny and disheveled, they had smiles on their faces. They were even wearing padded clothes, and their eyes shone brighter than those of the refugees. They were even sitting together reading newspapers, with one literate person reading aloud to them like a storyteller.
These were the decisions I made in the past few days. First, I cited the reason that if workers caught a cold, it would affect work efficiency, and requested that they be provided with padded clothes. Some people in the higher levels expressed doubt, as the factory was already warm enough, with no risk of catching a cold.
I explained that they always had to go outside to work in the compound, carrying steel and coal, unloading goods, delivering reports, and so on. I checked some information, and it turned out that many people got sick or even died from the alternating cold and heat.
So, I forcefully pushed for the purchase of padded clothes, which were not expensive anyway. Then, I suggested that the workers be allowed to read newspapers during their leisure time.
The higher-ups laughed heartily. These workers couldn’t read a single character. Even if they were given newspapers, would they understand them?
So, I proposed finding a few supervisors or workshop managers who could read to simply talk to them, not too seriously, like telling stories. This would enhance the relationship between the middle and lower levels, making work easier to carry out.
The actual purpose was to instill in them an interest in knowledge, preparing them to impart technology in the future.
Although I wanted to say that we should open night schools for workers, if they didn’t understand why they should learn to read and write, they would become bored and lazy. Learning should be spontaneous.
Therefore, I had people read newspapers to them during their leisure time, broadening their horizons and letting them know how big the world is and how many magical things exist. For these people who had lived in the lower class all their lives, it would surely spark longing.
However, newspapers had another advantage: most of them contained only snippets of information, short reports. Moreover, to make the publications sell well, editors and reporters always chose sensational news and bizarre events, and this world never lacked strange and unusual occurrences.
These perfectly piqued the listeners’ interest but couldn’t truly satisfy them, because newspapers only provided fragmented information. They would likely wish how wonderful it would be if they could read the newspapers themselves.
Then, the advantage of phonetic writing would become apparent. As long as they were taught the alphabet and spelling, anyone who could speak would soon be able to learn to read and write themselves, even without a school. They could learn the basics just by reading newspapers.
I originally thought this matter would be very difficult. I never expected that the higher-ups would easily pass it after I explained that literate workers would lead to better communication and understanding of the commands and technology from the higher levels.
This was simpler than providing padded clothes. The purchase of padded clothes cost money, but newspapers were very cheap. They could even give the newspapers they had read to the workers to read.
In the end, they were not afraid of workers becoming literate or acquiring more knowledge. They simply didn’t care, or even looked down on them, thinking these workers couldn’t even learn to read.
After all, they still didn’t know how much power workers possessed. If they were all skilled workers, the wisdom and efficiency they could unleash would be infinite.
