Chapter 282: Bizarre Symbol
Mower moved like a true ghost through the complex steel jungle and the crowded streams of people inside the factory.
Her optical sensors and auditory enhancers were fully active, capturing every snippet of conversation, every expression, and every sigh.
The massive data stream was rapidly categorized, analyzed, and recorded within her deeply modified nervous system.
The preliminary intelligence compilation made her feel a trace of anomaly.
The situation was more complex than she had anticipated.
She noticed that among the crowd gathered at the production lines and the main workshop, a considerable number of people had faces full of bewilderment and fear.
They tightly gripped crude tools, their eyes darting around, occasionally looking nervously toward the tightly closed factory gates.
From their fragmented, lowered conversations, Mower captured key information:
"Outside... there are so many soldiers outside..."
"It's the Enforcers! I heard the noise!"
"There are even bigger machine sounds... are we in trouble?"
"If I had known, I wouldn't have charged in with them..."
These people seemed more like they were swept up by the chaotic torrent, joining the riot out of herd mentality or fantasizing about reaping some minor benefits amidst the chaos.
At this moment, realizing the severity of the situation and that the outside was surrounded by heavy troops, their courage was rapidly being swallowed by fear; they only wanted to get away as soon as possible.
The other roughly two-thirds of the workers constituted the main body sustaining this riot.
Most of them gathered near key corridors and damaged production lines. The weapons they held were relatively "superior," mainly large industrial laser welding torches and hydraulic pincers for cutting. A small number held crude firearms of unknown origin.
They shouted slogans loudly, the content focusing on demanding reduced working hours, decreased labor intensity, improved food rations, and increased meager wages.
Their emotions appeared agitated, even somewhat hyperactive, as they fiercely denounced the factory's exploitation.
On the surface, this seemed like a spontaneous worker resistance movement triggered by accumulated grievances under an extremely oppressive environment.
The demands were clear, the participants' emotions were genuine, and logically, there seemed to be nothing wrong.
However, when Mower tried to trace the source of this riot to find the initiator or organizers, she encountered a hurdle.
She quickly shuttled through the crowd, monitoring conversations in the core areas and analyzing the behavioral patterns of the most active individuals, only to discover a perplexing fact: she could not find a clear leader.
The workers had indeed been networked together.
They could say, "Someone told us to stand up today," or "Everyone said we can't endure it anymore."
But regarding who exactly this "someone" or "everyone" was, their descriptions were vague, pointing to multiple different, even contradictory figures, or they simply said, "Don't know him, but he made sense."
Those maintaining order, distributing "weapons," and shouting slogans were all ordinary workers. They were merely executing what they were "told" to do, but could not articulate who was giving the orders.
It was as if an invisible hand had pushed all this from behind the scenes, yet hidden itself at the critical moment.
Mower compiled all the detected circumstances into a structured data packet: the fearful followers, the indignant but leaderless protesters, and that organizer hidden behind the scenes who could never be located.
Based on the current intelligence, she judged that the situation bore obvious marks of artificial manipulation, but the motive and the mastermind's purpose remained unclear and required a rendezvous with Maine for further analysis.
Her figure flickered a few times amidst the massive shadows of the factory building and dense mechanical structures, silently arriving at the designated extraction point: a ventilation duct entrance located high up.
Just as she was preparing to blend into it, her enhanced vision captured an unusual detail.
Beside an auxiliary production line piled with scrapped parts and rarely visited by people, at the base of a metal wall covered in thick grease, a symbol drawn in a dark red, seemingly uncoagulated viscous fluid abruptly appeared.
The pattern's structure was simple yet exuded weirdness: a complete circle, evenly ringed by eight sharp arrows, all pointing outward without exception.
Mower's internal database performed a rapid comparison. This symbol was neither a mark of the production assembly line nor the emblem of any known gang or organization in the Hive's intelligence.
The drawing material was suspected to be blood, the location choice was concealed, and the graphic itself carried a primal, unsettling tension that was completely out of place with the surrounding industrial environment, emitting an irrational sense of evil.
She did not hesitate at all. Her optical lenses quickly focused and scanned, integrating the high-definition image of the symbol with the previously collected worker intelligence, tagging it as highest-priority data.
After completing all this, she seemed to be swallowed by the shadows, completely disappearing into the profound darkness of the ventilation duct without leaving a single trace.
Moments later, in a relatively hidden equipment maintenance tunnel on the outskirts of the factory, Mower's figure re-condensed.
She established contact with Maine via the encrypted link.
Mower's voice came through the communication channel, steady as ever, but carrying a trace of imperceptible gravity compared to usual. "The situation inside is more complex than anticipated. The workers are roughly divided into two types: about a third were swept into this. Now, hearing they are surrounded by the army outside, they are scared and just want to leave.
"The rest are the main force causing the disturbance. The demands they make are very clear, but... their emotional state is not right. They are overly agitated."
She paused slightly, seemingly organizing her next finding. "The strangest part is, I can't find anyone leading them. They all say they were incited by someone, but when asked who, no one can explain clearly.
"Also, I found this in a corner."
She transmitted the image of the symbol—a circle ringed by eight arrows—to the tactical eye-pieces or cockpit displays of every team member.
"What the hell is this ghost drawing?" Rebecca was the first to speak, her tone full of disgust and incomprehension.
Pilar stared at the image, subconsciously shrinking his neck. "Looking at it makes me uncomfortable... like some bad omen."
Dorio frowned tightly. "Can't find the leader? Then how did they coordinate their actions and even destroy the production lines? This doesn't make sense."
Falco's voice came through, carrying the gravity of post-analysis. "The symbol's structure possesses strong directionality and expansiveness. Combined with the missing leader, there is reason to suspect external guidance or... abnormal factor intervention."
Valerie's voice rang out through the Iron Guard's communication system, even calmer. "Motive unclear. If they only wanted to incite the workers to riot, why hide themselves? This goes against common sense. Unless... the incitement itself is not the ultimate goal, or the inciter is afraid of exposing their identity."
Maine looked at the bizarre symbol on his tactical eye-piece, then recalled Mower's report about "cannot find a leader," and a strong ominous premonition rose in his heart.
The matter was definitely not as simple as a worker protest.
The sudden intervention of the Inquisition might not be entirely baseless.
But even so, that potential, cruel solution that could lead to tens of thousands being "purified" remained unacceptable to him.
"Mower, good job." Maine said in a deep voice. "This symbol is the key. We must figure out what it represents."
The situation had become even more confusing due to the new findings Mower brought back, while simultaneously giving Maine a more sufficient reason to delay the Inquisition's actions.
However, the truth hidden in the dark might be even more dangerous than they imagined.
(End of Chapter)