Chapter 768: Chapter 768: People Who Have No Shame
The group suddenly acted as if they had gone mad, rushing toward Qiao En. They surrounded him, kicking and punching relentlessly, cursing at him with venomous words, while the security guards, who stood by as mere background, were stunned. They never expected such a scene to unfold right before their eyes.
"Stop hitting him, you’ll kill him," a well-intentioned security guard ran over, trying to rescue Qiao En, but was pushed aside by the furious crowd.
The bloodshot eyes of the attackers made the security guard halt his attempt to stop them, fearing he might end up like Qiao En if he continued to intervene.
Initially, Qiao En trapped in the beating circle could still let out cries of pain, but eventually, they turned into soft whimpers and then no sound at all.
When the crowd finally calmed down and backed away, Qiao En was left unrecognizable, his face a mass of blood, his limbs twisted into unnatural angles. A security guard even noticed one of his fingers had been crushed into pulp yet still clung messily to his hand.
The security guards, who had been in fights themselves and believed they’d seen enough, were unprepared for this terrifying and bloody scene. They furrowed their brows, and some couldn’t hold back and vomited.
"We can’t just leave like this."
"We can’t lose this job."
"We knew nothing about the contract issues."
"We were all misled by Qiao En, none of this was our intention."
"We realize our mistakes now, and will never repeat them."
"Yes, so the factory should give us another chance, and rehire us."
"We want to go back in and reclaim our jobs."
"We need to negotiate with the manager; simply firing us like this is entirely unreasonable."
The crowd spoke back and forth, ignoring Qiao En on the ground. A security guard had dialed for an ambulance, but once he turned around after hanging up, he saw the crowd fixated on the entrance. Having vented their anger, their eyes remained red, looking like a pack of vampires who had spotted the flesh and blood of prey, sending chills down one’s spine.
"What are you planning to do? I warn you, you are no longer factory employees, and you have no right to enter the premises. I urge you to step back and leave," the security guard shouted, swallowing hard as he watched them prepared to charge inside.
It would have been better had the guard not yelled. His shout sent the crowd into a frenzy, charging towards the gate with abandon. The young guard who had spoken was freshly out of college, working here just as a part-time job, and had never seen such a chaotic scene before.
Confronted with a sight as horrific as a biochemical crisis, the young man’s mind blanked, leaving him frozen in place.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
At the crucial moment, a security guard standing next to the young man pulled out a handgun from his waist, firing three shots that successfully brought silence to the crowd.
He was a retired soldier, accustomed to various situations, and maintained his calm composure as he aimed the gun at the few people in the front line of the crowd, saying, "Do not move any further, step back. If anyone tries to advance without permission, don’t blame my gun for accidentally going off and injuring someone."
The crowd quieted down under the pressure of the gun in his hand, standing opposite each other, the situation fell into a stalemate.
Finally, someone seeming to hold a higher status in the crowd stepped forward, "We can refrain from moving forward, but you need to bring out Xu Ke to see us. If you do not agree, we’ll stay here indefinitely. You won’t let us in, but then neither shall any of you come out."
The blatant threat made the armed security guard frown, but he still followed their request, calling the internal line to inform Xu Ke of what had just transpired.
The new factory was filled with new workers, who were adapting to its environment, just as Xu Ke was adapting to both the factory and the workers. When the security guard called in, Xu Ke was reviewing various documents from the past half year of work.
After listening to the security guard’s report, Xu Ke set down the paper file, massaged his nose bridge in silence before speaking, "I understand the situation. I’ll be out shortly; for now, just keep them under control and prevent any extreme actions. I’ll be out soon; just hang in there a bit." He closed the file in front of him and said.
The security guard hung up the phone, looking at the crowd in front of him, and said, "The manager will be out shortly. There’s no need to rush, but without my permission, no one is allowed to enter the factory. If anyone attempts to use violence, I won’t hesitate to respond in kind. You can try if you don’t believe me."
"You better not be lying to us, or we won’t fear your gun," someone shouted from the crowd, earning a chorus of agreement.
Their mindset had become completely distorted, the security guard thought, frowning.
Xu Ke said he would come out and meet them, and he wouldn’t go back on his word. Shortly after the call, Xu Ke arrived at the gate. He emerged from behind it to stand before the crowd, his demeanor unchanged, not even sparing a glance at Qiao En.
"I heard you wanted to see me. I’m here. What do you want to say?" Xu Ke asked.
Before Xu Ke arrived, they had many things they wanted to say. But now that Xu Ke stood in front of them, looking at them with such a gaze, several people couldn’t help but lower their heads, too guilty to speak.
"If you have nothing to say, I’ll be going back. I have many unsolved matters to handle, and don’t wish to waste too much time here." Xu Ke glanced over the crowd, of those who met his gaze, several inevitably shifted their eyes away, evidently shamed and repentant for their misdeeds.
"We’ve thought it over, it was wrong of us to be absent without notifying. But don’t you think you hold some responsibility? If you had phoned to remind us, we would have returned immediately, and today’s situation wouldn’t have occurred. So part of the blame is yours as well," the person who had spoken out earlier said again.
"We’ve sincerely apologized for our mistakes, yet you haven’t acknowledged your errors or apologized either. But it doesn’t matter; if you allow us to return to work and re-sign our contracts, we can overlook your mistakes and forgive you. How about it?"
Even Xu Ke and the security guards present were stunned by the crowd’s shamelessness. They truly couldn’t comprehend why such people would exist in the world, who contribute nothing to society but only pose harm.