Chapter 288 Management Methods
Charles's explanation left Lily totally speechless about this guy.
She couldn't even figure out how to describe Charles, 'cause he had his own weird logic.
It was such a raw emotion that, no matter what he did, he never thought he was wrong.
Even when he sacrificed others to get what he wanted, Charles had a way to justify it.
The thing was, Charles wasn't making excuses; he genuinely believed he was right.
Pure good or pure evil, both could freak people out.
Lily kept quiet and didn't talk much with Charles anymore.
At night, the temperature dropped like crazy.
Charles said to Lily and the others, "Let's head back and rest for the night! It's too dark now, so we don't have to worry about Steven noticing anything weird."
He took the special forces team back, stopping by the tunnel excavation site to check on the work.
The whole Cox Town had over a thousand survivors, and nearly a thousand could be put to work.
But it was impossible to have that many people digging the tunnel at the same time.
They had to work in shifts, with twenty people in each shift.
Then they'd switch every half hour.
The initial digging was the toughest.
Because a certain depth below the surface was frozen soil, digging with just manpower was super hard.
Charles walked over with his team and asked Elmer, who was running the project, "How's it going? Was the first day smooth?"
Elmer said, "Everything's going according to plan. If nothing goes wrong, with this nonstop digging, we can break through this 4,900-foot tunnel in a month!"
"And then—" Elmer mimicked an explosion with his hands and grinned, "We'll use 1.9 long tons of explosives to blow Steven's shelter sky-high!"
Charles nodded, satisfied.
He looked at the busy construction site.
Several armed soldiers were guarding the area.
Not far away, people waiting to take over the shift were holding shovels and baskets, ready to go.
Suddenly, Charles frowned, quickly walked up to a villager, and stopped him. "Hey, lift your head and let me see!"
The villager's face was covered by a scarf, showing only his small stature.
Hearing Charles's order, he pulled down the scarf, revealing a young face.
Charles's eyes widened. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirteen," the boy answered honestly.
Charles suddenly got furious and shouted at Gavin and Elmer nearby, "Didn't I say no kids under sixteen should be working? Don't you know kids are the future and hope of the country?"
Gavin hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Captain Reed, we're all farmers. Even though he's only thirteen, he's as strong as an adult from the city."
But Charles angrily said, "I said no, and that's final! Even if the project is urgent, we must have principles in what we do!"
He pointed at the boy. "Take him back immediately! This is a battlefield; we can't let kids join!"
Gavin quickly pulled the boy aside. "Yes, I'll take him back right away!"
The boy looked at Charles, his eyes filled with gratitude and admiration.
Not far away, Lily saw this and felt even more speechless. She really didn't know how to judge Charles anymore.
Gavin had the kid taken away.
Charles said to Gavin, "To speed up the project, this tunnel must be worked on 24 hours a day. I hope you can set an example and help everyone push through this."
Gavin was stunned.
Charles had never told him about this.
No, Charles had never considered the opinions of him and the Cox Town villagers. Even as they dug the tunnel, these people remained utterly oblivious to its purpose.
Hearing that they had to work nonstop for 24 hours, Gavin was scared stiff.
"Captain Reed, isn't this too much?" Gavin asked.
Charles shot back, "Too much? Two shifts of 40 people per hour, about 1,000 people a day. Isn't that reasonable?"
Gavin argued, "But in this weather, even working just half an hour a day, regular folks can't handle it!"
"Plus... if we really work nonstop, we don't even know how long this will take. What exactly are you trying to do?" Gavin mustered the courage to ask.
But Charles didn't explain to Gavin, he just lightly patted his shoulder. "Gavin, you just need to cooperate with our work. Got it? Everything we're doing is for the good of Cox Town. If we don't get rid of Steven, this demon, you'll all die in the future! Trust me, I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm trying to save us!"
Having said this, Charles turned and walked away, leaving Gavin no chance to negotiate. In Charles's eyes, Gavin didn't even have the right to negotiate.
"Let's head back and rest! We gotta come back tomorrow!" Charles said with a grin to Lily and the others.
As the main force for the frontal feint attack, using their supernatural abilities was super draining.
Lily had figured Charles out by now, so she just followed him back across the river to Cox Town without saying a word.
When they got back, someone immediately told the women of Cox Town to whip up some food for them.
Before long, a table full of food was brought to Charles and the others.
The main dishes were bread and grilled fish, 'cause those were the most plentiful supplies at the moment.
Charles dug in, taking huge bites of bread.
For the next while, life got pretty simple and monotonous.
Charles led a few psychics, continuing their daily feint attacks around the shelter.
Meanwhile, the villagers of Cox Town became laborers, tirelessly digging the tunnel.
Since Earl was a psychic and would be taken back to West Mountain Base later, no one made him work.
But after losing communication equipment, he was totally cut off from Steven.
By the third day, the tunnel had been dug over 330 feet, and the harsh working conditions started to show.
The deeper they went, the thinner the oxygen got.
Without modern oxygen supply equipment, they used a basic method: delivering air through rubber tubes. Like the earliest diving gear, air was manually pumped into the tunnel from outside.
But this method was way less effective than modern equipment.
With the cold temperatures and intense labor, someone finally collapsed.
There were constant shouts from inside the tunnel, and people frantically carried the person out.
A special forces medic checked him and shook his head. "Acute myocardial infarction. There's nothing we can do."
The deceased was named Travis Cox, fifty-two years old, a construction worker.
Older folks were most prone to heart attacks and strokes in cold conditions.
This condition could be treated, but it needed quick transport to a place with good medical facilities for bypass surgery.
West Mountain Base had such medical conditions.
But it wasn't worth the trouble for an ordinary villager.
So Travis was pronounced dead on the spot.
The villagers of Cox Town looked at Travis's still-warm body, feeling a wave of sorrow and anger. Travis wasn't dead yet, but he was as good as dead. And he had lost his life working for West Mountain Base.
A young man shouted at the surrounding special forces members, "What you're doing is wrong! You're treating us like slaves, I quit!"
Saying this, he angrily threw down his shovel.
Seeing this, the surrounding villagers of Cox Town also threw down their tools, demanding an explanation.
Shawn, the overseer, frowned and said coldly, "Orders from the organization can't be disobeyed! Everything we're doing is for your revenge. We've come this far, anyone who dares to quit is a deserter!"
The word "deserter" was emphasized by Shawn. He shook his assault rifle, the muzzle subtly aimed at the villagers.
This simple action was like a bucket of cold water, cooling the hot blood in their veins.
Gavin sighed, "Carry him back! Get someone else to take over!"
The villagers, with sorrowful eyes, could only carry Travis's body away, preparing to bury him back in Cox Town.
However, once one person died, things quickly spiraled out of control.
As the tunnel got deeper, the working conditions and intensity rapidly changed.
The second, third, fourth... More and more villagers of Cox Town died during the tunnel digging.
Some people suddenly collapsed while working. Others went home after a day's work, lay down on their beds, and never woke up.
The human body was inherently fragile. They were already struggling to survive in the extreme cold. Now, being forced to work in harsh conditions, a slight push could cost them their lives.
Eventually, several bodies were carried out of the tunnel each day.
The villagers' emotions grew more volatile with the increasing number of deaths.
Although they didn't dare to directly confront the armed special forces, verbal conflicts and minor acts of defiance were constant.
When Charles learned of this situation, he remained unusually calm. Everything was going according to their expectations.
"Pick a few leaders and make an example of them. Some people only understand fear when they see blood. Our only demand is progress on the project. Let their village chief and town mayor handle them. It's more efficient and effective to have them manage their own affairs," Charles said.
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