As midnight arrived, the lights on the workstation dimmed accordingly.

Brother Qiang's words lingered in my mind. Initially, I thought that as long as I laid low, I could last until the end. But the factory rules were plainly set up to give those who wanted to climb up a shortcut: harming others for self-benefit. If similar situations occurred later, there would be no way to escape. Forget it, time to sleep!

Under the faint reddish light that was turning black, drowsiness danced on my eyelids.

In a daze, I seemed to hear someone whispering in a low voice at the adjacent workstation.

"This is what you owe me, and what you owe them!"

"I can give you my life, but they are innocent!"

"And now you talk to me about innocence?"

"I..."

Cre-eak, cre-eak, cre-eak... it's the inspector! A shadow from the neighboring workstation quickly sat beside me.

It was Uncle Wang! The light was too dim; I hadn't noticed that the workstation next to me was empty. Why did he go to find Brother Qiang? Do they know each other?

The creaking sound grew heavier, but it seemed a bit different, as if this inspector was deliberately making loud noises to announce his arrival. Truly a temperamental inspector!

There weren't many parts left on the workstation, and it was very dark. Fearing that Ah Mao wouldn't be able to find any parts with one hand, I quickly threw his arm parts back to him.

"Xiao Hua, do you have any parts on hand?" I groped around the workstation while asking.

"Yes, Brother Song, don't worry. Uncle Wang, do you have any parts?" Xiao Hua's voice came from Uncle Wang’s workstation.

"Don't worry, Uncle Wang must have kept enough parts for himself, right, Uncle Wang!" The argument between him and Brother Qiang just now was really suspicious. Moreover, how calm he always is suggests he knows how to exploit the rules here, just like Brother Qiang.

"Yes, I have some." He said with a smile.

I was about to ask further about the conversation just now when suddenly I heard someone in dress shoes stomp on the floor and then accelerate into a run, the resulting creaking sound seemed to tear the quiet of midnight apart. I fiddled casually with the parts in my hand, waiting for this wave to pass, at least for a rest of one or two hours, just to go through the motions.

Damn it! The creaking noise stopped behind my back again. The faint red light on the fittings was stubbornly glowing, freezing all sounds behind me, and a cold shiver rushed from my spine to my brain.

I could feel something slowly approaching me; the sound of a shirt brushing against a dust cover pierced my body like dense steel needles.

Damn it, I clenched my fists. At worst, I'd fight him; I'd twist off his arm even if it killed me!

I spun around intending to stand up, but a pair of hands abruptly pressed down on my shoulders.

"Young man, don't act rashly. In here, you must fight with methods; don't make unnecessary sacrifices." The inspector, wearing a mask, hinted a smile faintly visible in the dim light.

"Act more natural next time; you were too fake." He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Unity is very important here."

Through the faint light, I saw that his collar was red.

With echoing creaks, he turned and disappeared into the darkness.

"Does anyone need to go to the bathroom? Could someone accompany me?" Xiao Hua needed to go to the bathroom.

Indeed, after being here so long, we all still hadn't used the bathroom. Ah Mao stayed to watch the workstation to prevent any sabotage, while Uncle Wang and I accompanied Xiao Hua to the corner bathroom.

In the dark, Uncle Wang led us forward by feel.

Some were sleeping soundly, others stared blankly at their workstations, and many who were "dedicated" to their jobs mumbled obsessively about their workloads.

Xiao Hua clung to me tightly. I took her to the women's restroom and reminded her to stay quiet until I called for her.

Then I went to the men's restroom, but Uncle Wang wasn’t inside. A moment later, he wandered in from outside.

"It's too dark, I went to the wrong place." Uncle Wang explained himself, seeing my puzzled expression.

After he finished, we went to the women's restroom entrance. I called Xiao Hua out, and she responded softly, but didn't come out for a long time.

"Xiao Hua, hurry up, don't wait until the inspector comes!" I urged her softly.

"Brother Song, I... I can't get out, something seems to be blocking the door, what should I do?" As she spoke, she suddenly pushed the door hard.

"Bang..." Something unknown fell to the ground with a loud noise, which scared both of us, and we fell silent for a moment. But just then, the sound of dress shoes creaking in the office started again.

"Go!" Uncle Wang turned and was about to leave.

"Xiao Hua is still inside, what now?" I grabbed him.

"Too late, if you are so noble, sacrifice yourself to distract the inspector then." Uncle Wang tried to break free from my grip.

That was one way, but there had to be other options.

If sacrificing oneself was the only way, then he wouldn't be with us.

"Uncle Wang, surely you have a plan, right? If you don't help, I won't help either, but I guarantee you won't complete a single model tomorrow!" I released his hand.

In the darkness, he was silent for a moment, "You learn fast. I'll go distract him; you take her back." He took out two doll parts from his pocket and started assembling them while stomping on the floor towards the darkness.

"Damn, it could be done like that." I cursed under my breath, rushed into the women's restroom, and went to Xiao Hua's position.

Someone had used a bucket filled with water to block the door, with several empty buckets on top. They were attempting to kill Xiao Hua. I hurriedly removed everything and brought Xiao Hua back.

"An inspector can only check one person at a time. Old Wang led him away; we need to go back quickly and avoid other inspectors."

"Brother Song, will Uncle Wang be alright?"

"Don't worry; he'll be fine."

Xiao Hua and I passed through layers of darkness and returned to our workstations. Before long, the defective product alarm sounded in the distance, followed by a man's cry of pain. Uncle Wang returned empty-handed.

"Did you hear that? That man just lost an arm because of you." He leaned over, his voice cold in the darkness.