242: The workers went on strike, and thus became men.

The place where the few men were staying was an equipment room that served as a temporary warehouse. This equipment room had been discovered by their colleagues last month.

At the time, because almost no one came here and there was plenty of empty space, plus it was close to the factory, the organizational personnel in charge of this area directly designated it as the warehouse for storing weapons—

At this moment, over a dozen crates of Electromagnetic Rifles, shipped in as disassembled parts, along with some individual anti-material weapons, had already been assembled and were leaning against the corner of the wall.

Qi Ruofeng looked at Yang Fangming standing before him. Just over ten days ago, this guy in front of him seemed to have been unable to bear this life of endless labor and had stubbornly tried to take a metallic hydrogen battery to perish together with the assembly line. Fortunately, he had discovered it early back then and stopped him in time.

At that moment, Qi Ruofeng knew that regardless of what state of mind this guy in front of him had when intending to destroy this assembly line, the seeds of rebellion had already been planted in his heart—and this was the very thing he had most wanted to see after infiltrating here several dozen days ago.

Hearing Yang Fangming's question, he raised his hand, checked his watch, and replied:

"According to the plan, the brothers at the shell factory will first detonate all the shells on their side,"

"As soon as it begins, our people arranged within the factory will immediately kill the guards beside the production lines,"

"Afterwards, the other members will quickly mobilize the workers here to come here and collect weapons."

"Our mission is to establish a defensive line on Transport Passage No. 13 when the general offensive on Distribution Center No. 3 is launched, and to resist the reinforcing garrison troops with all our might."

"As for now, it should be starting immediately."

Yang Fangming was silent for a moment, then he suddenly asked:

"By the way, we are just a group of workers, right?"

"Even if we on the ground succeed and we occupy the industrial facilities and administrative centers on this planet,"

"If The Corporation brings in starships, we..."

"No, not just us," Qi Ruofeng suddenly interrupted Yang Fangming,

"The entire planet, no, the entire galaxy—in the space stations, inside the starships, all the workers and slaves will launch an uprising at the same time, in the places where they work,"

"We will not be fighting alone; we are an organized uprising with a goal,"

"Besides, do you think we would have a good outcome if we didn't resist?"

"Alright—" The last trace of hesitation in Yang Fangming's eyes vanished, replaced by a steely determination,

"Then we shall..."

"Beep, beep, beep—beep, beep, beep—"

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, startling the two men who were conversing.

Subsequently, the alarm transformed into a cold, mechanical voice,

"Detected: Employee ID 2338689, Yang Fangming, time away from post exceeds 60s,"

"Accumulated working hours for the fourth day of the third work period have been cleared. If you wish to appeal, please prepare the materials and investigation fees yourself and submit an appeal to the Planetary Labor Office within 0.5 working days."

"Sending alert to the nearest supervisor... Error, current device detected as disconnected from the network, activating backup alarm mode—"

"Beep beep beep beep beep————!!!"

The piercing busy signal immediately rang out in the small room, and Yang Fangming covered his ears in pain.

Qi Ruofeng reacted, grabbing the damned monitoring device hanging on Yang Fangming, smashing it fiercely onto the ground, and stomping on it a few times, directly turning the incessantly beeping object into a pile of fragments.

Only then did it become quiet.

Yang Fangming lowered his hands from his ears, looked at the black debris on the ground, and cursed angrily in a low voice,

"Damn thing!"

"Wasn't it three minutes before!"

Although he didn't know if the alarm sound just now had been discovered, his exposure was now a certainty—that monitoring device on him was essential for him to leave and return to his post!

He had come under the guise of going to the restroom to confirm the final combat deployment, but there were still a full ten minutes until the planned action time. In these ten minutes, whether he went back or not, his fate would be the same.

Yang Fangming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in a panic. When he looked up at Qi Ruofeng, he saw him staring at himself with a very serious expression.

"If you are not at your post for ten minutes, what is the probability of being discovered?"

"One hundred percent."

"One hundred percent..." Qi Ruofeng gritted his teeth.

In fact, he only learned today that the group of people he led was meant to act as "cannon fodder," and their objective was "sacrifice"—

As an industrial stronghold of the Saint Blade Group on this planet, the garrison here had deployed a large number of heavy units and possessed the authority to directly call for orbital strikes and air support.

What to do? Should they act early?

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Just as he was still hesitating, a sound of heavy footsteps came from outside the door, along with voices approaching from afar:

"Hey, are you sure you heard the alarm sound here just now?"

"Don't worry, you've been patrolling with me for so long; if you don't trust your auditory aid, don't you trust me?"

"It's you I don't trust..."

The owners of the footsteps grew closer and closer, then stopped in front of the equipment room.

Qi Ruofeng aimed the Electromagnetic Rifle in his hand directly at the door, and Yang Fangming also tiptoed to the corner of the wall and picked up a disposable recoilless rifle that looked like a "Panzerfaust."

The two guys didn't seem to be in a hurry to come in; they stood right at the door and started chatting.

"Do you think that guy died suddenly, and when his body fell, it crushed the alarm device?"

"It's possible—that's just incredible. If you're going to die, can't you just die properly? Why run all the way here?"

"There's no help for it. These opportunistic scumbags are the most detestable. They just love to crawl into these nooks and crannies. Whenever it's time to work, they drag their feet; I don't know what they're doing."

"Alright, alright, want to smoke a cigarette? It's rare that we can come out for some fresh air. Staring at that bunch of scumbags all day long makes my eyes go numb."

"What about the Chief Supervisor?"

"Just say the guy died suddenly. We'll follow standard procedure and prepare to stage it as a suicide; it'll take some time."

"Alright—then let's smoke..."

Listening to the voices of those two guys outside, Yang Fangming and Qi Ruofeng, holding their guns and cannons inside the room, actually felt a hint of relief—

These two guys who heard the alarm had accidentally provided them with cover?

Fortunately, perhaps the two guys at the door couldn't have imagined that these usual slaves and expendables would secretly plan a rebellion...

Time passed second by second, and the movements outside gradually diminished, leaving only the occasional sound of friction.

Qi Ruofeng checked his watch from time to time. Although he appeared to maintain a final shred of calmness on the surface, the heart within his chest was pounding wildly, "thump, thump, thump."

Just as both sides were in a standoff, suddenly—

"BOOM!!!!!!!"

A deafening sound came from afar, causing the two nervous men to freeze, followed immediately by extreme excitement after extreme tension:

"Their great uprising was about to begin!"