Chapter 34 Labor Mutual Aid Association
Angel arrived at the dock area by taking a tram.
Although it's called a "district," a large part of it is actually located in the suburbs of Tingen City. The Tussock River and the Hoy River meet outside the city and flow to Backlund. A large number of passenger and cargo ships flow downstream, causing the docks in the suburbs of Tingen to develop rapidly, and there is a trend of connecting with the city.
Just before getting in the car, Klein was still making a final effort.
"You really don't need me to go with you?"
At that time, Angel was standing at the public carriage stop on Zouteland Street, waiting for the arrival of the tram. Beside him was Klein, who was carrying a gentleman's cane. He planned to wait for Angel to get on the tram before walking back to Iron Cross Street to complete his daily afternoon task: searching for the lost notes along the way.
"Didn't we discuss this just now?"
Seeing that Klein was still eager to try, Angel shook his head.
"We're just going to steal, ahem, retrieve Mrs. Green's lost ring. It would be inconvenient if we had too many people."
Even though the two of them had just discussed for a long time how to "steal the ring back", Angel still felt a little ashamed to say this word in public.
We can only blame the Tingen City police for being lazy and unwilling to do anything. Even the citizens don't trust them, and instead look for private detectives and security companies to solve such problems.
Angel found a good excuse for his behavior.
"What if the ring isn't in the safe, or there's no safe at all?" Klein seemed hesitant. "If I also go to the scene to perform divination, my chances of finding the ring will be greater."
"Even if we don't find the ring, we can just go again next time. This time we'll just consider it a scouting trip. But if we're discovered, there might not be a next time."
Angel decisively rejected the request of the "fortune teller" who had no combat ability to join the team. The probability of being discovered if he acted alone was very small, but it would be too difficult to bring a clumsy fortune teller with him.
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Angel walked towards the warehouse complex in the dock area in the direction he remembered.
It was around 3 p.m., the busiest time at the dock area.
Sailboats and steamships were anchored by the river, crude cranes constantly loading and unloading cargo boxes, and porters carrying heavy loads and pushing wheelbarrows moved like ants along the narrow but interconnected roads. The roads, paved with haphazard wooden planks, were riddled with potholes and stagnant water mixed with garbage, emitting a foul odor that made it difficult to breathe even in the open air.
This is the area where the poor people of Tingen City gather. There are jobs that can make money as long as you work hard and cheap housing. Countless people who can't stay in the city make a living here.
This is also the area that the Tingen police are most reluctant to come to. They would rather send out a whole team to protect the ball held by the mayor and line up in front of dignitaries than patrol the muddy path at the dock for a quarter of an hour.
Where the light does not reach, there is darkness. It is only natural that gangs are born in such areas.
In fact, the original intention of establishing the "Dock Area Labor Mutual Aid Association" was to fight against the exploitation of workers by other gangs. A group of dock workers who wanted to avoid protection fees and forced labor united together to fight violence with violence and drove other gangs that exploited workers out of the area.
Then comes the inevitable corruption and degeneration, becoming the next oppressor...
Of course, what they did were actually the same old things that the original gangs did, such as monopolizing jobs, collecting protection fees, and selling contraband. However, they did not do much bad things to their "members".
It's not that they have a change of heart, but that there is really no money to be made from the lower-level workers... The weekly wage of dock workers is generally only 10 soli, and the job is unstable. This salary leaves almost nothing for rent and daily life. After the repeal of the Corn Laws, although the cost of living will drop slightly, more farmers will flock to the cities to compete for the already limited job opportunities, and their wages will only be further reduced due to vicious competition.
From this perspective, the labor mutual aid associations that monopolize most dock work actually help workers bargain and avoid the devaluation of labor caused by unscrupulous price-cutting.
At least Angel couldn't see much evidence of "gangsterism" in the busy scene before him.
She walked along the road beside the river, avoiding the crowded crowds, and after turning a few corners, she came to a group of warehouses.
There were originally rows of wooden houses here. After being burned to the ground by a fire a few years ago, the new buildings are all made of bricks and concrete, forming a sharp contrast with the low wooden buildings in other suburban areas.
Angel's target this time was a three-story warehouse, but the internal structure was divided into only two floors. There was a row of double arches on the front, and behind the doors were different small compartments separated by brick walls. The first floor was for storing goods, and the second floor was for the office area.
As far as Cole could remember, he had been to this warehouse twice and had some impression of its internal structure.
By now, most of the workers would be at the docks moving goods, waiting until nightfall to bring items back to the warehouse for the night. But right now, the warehouse's main entrance was bustling with activity. Hundreds of men in various work uniforms crowded the entrance, surrounding a crude podium constructed from boxes.
"Quiet, everyone, be quiet!"
A middle-aged man on the stage, also wearing a worker's uniform, shouted into a tin loudspeaker.
"I have received everyone's requests, but the president won't be back for two days. Before then, please continue working peacefully and don't delay our progress. Once the president returns to Tingen City, a representative conference will be convened immediately."
"Don't even think about it! You said the same thing last time, two days after that and two days after that!"
"Get out of here, you lackey!"
"We want to see the president!"
Several workers who were clearly taking the lead encouraged the crowd around them, and the effect was very good. The noise of hundreds of people immediately drowned out the shouts for maintaining order.
Seeing the man standing on the platform sweating profusely and comforting the workers around him, and several tall and strong men surrounding the platform, repeatedly blocking the workers who rushed in front of them, as if protecting the man who was shouting, Angel had an idea.
This farce will not end in the short term. Everyone in the warehouse has been attracted to the main entrance. Perhaps now is the best chance to retrieve the ring?
Angel bypassed the bustling front area and came to the back of the warehouse.
The surface of the building, which was built only a few years ago, is already covered with traces of peeling paint, revealing the brick structure underneath. It is obvious that the owner of the building does not care about these "face projects". There is a row of narrow windows along the wall until it is five meters high, and the only available foothold is a row of beams protruding from the wall slightly below the windows.
No matter how agile the "assassin" was, it was impossible for him to climb a five-meter-high vertical wall without the help of tools. Fortunately, the second floor of the warehouse was an office area, and several gas and water pipes ran vertically upward along the corner of the wall and entered the wall at a position slightly lower than the window.
Thanks to the man on the podium at the warehouse entrance shouting at the top of his lungs, and the workers' various insults, people near the warehouse gathered towards the main entrance.
Seeing that there was no one around, Angel no longer hesitated. She walked to the corner of the wall, reached out to test the strength of the pipe, and found that it could easily bear the weight of a person, so she climbed up directly.
Using her hands and feet, the physical fitness and extraordinary agility granted by the Assassin Potion allowed her to quickly climb to the second floor. Then, using the horizontal pipe inserted into the wall, she leaped up and landed on the beam below the second-floor window. As she jumped, the fixing screws where the pipe connected to the wall made a sound under the heavy load, which made Angel's heart tighten. After she stood firm, she looked around. The back of the warehouse was empty, and the workers further away would not notice the small movement here.
But now that she was high up, anyone looking from afar could easily spot the figure climbing the outer wall. Angel didn't dare linger any longer. She pulled on the nearest window and found it wasn't locked from the inside. So she gently opened one side, took a quick look inside the room, and with both hands on the window sill, she climbed in.
This is a small filing room. The wooden shelves against the wall are piled with file bags, from newer kraft paper to paper bags with torn edges, stacks of paper documents are neatly arranged.
Near the door, there was a set of tables and chairs with a registration book spread out on it and a cup of coffee next to it, steam rising from the cup.
Perhaps out of concern for fire, the room is not equipped with gas lamps, but relies on two windows for natural light.
Angel quickly scanned the room and found nothing that looked like a safe. She casually pulled out a stack of documents from the shelf and found that it was a statistics of goods entering and leaving the warehouse, so she put it back.
She gently pushed open the door, revealing a long corridor that ran right through the center of the second floor. Several gas lamps lined the walls. Even though it was daytime, the corridor only had windows at either end, so the gas lamps still provided the primary light. Every few meters on either side of the corridor were identical doors, some open, some closed. The door she had just exited had a sign on it that read "Information Room."
At this time, the entire second floor was quiet, with only faint voices coming from the excited crowd at the front door of the warehouse. The workers were arguing with the warehouse manager and his bodyguards.
It seems that we have to hurry up. No matter which side wins the fight, they may come to the second floor of the warehouse. We must find the safe before that and "take" the ring away.
Angel walked quickly through the corridor, checking the house numbers. If he saw an unlocked door, he would open it and look inside. If he saw a locked door, he would knock twice to see if anyone was inside.
Angel walked through the "tea room", "lounge", "assistant office" and other rooms in turn. Except for a big man sleeping soundly on the sofa in the lounge, he did not meet anyone else.
She walked through the stairs in the middle of the corridor to the other end, searched several rooms, and finally found the doorplate with the words "President's Office".
I pressed the brass door handle lightly, but felt a resistance and the handle didn't budge at all.
Angel was delighted, it seemed that this was the room.
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