Warhammer Survival Guide

Chapter 43 The Real Manager

Outside the iron gate, Lowe stopped and turned to look at Old John.

Old John looked very grim.

He was trembling slightly, both from anger and fear.

"What's going on?" Luo Wei's face darkened instantly.

Old John swallowed hard and explained in a low voice, "Advisor, this is... the rule here."

Through old John's intermittent narration, Lowe learned about the living conditions of the working class.

Young women are not only a workforce, but also a "resource".

When they have a husband, who is their legal "protector," they are safe and are considered private property belonging to a family unit.

Once their husbands die, they instantly transform from "private property" into "ownerless property".

So-called community elders, foremen, idle scoundrels, and gangsters will take advantage of the situation.

They would use all sorts of high-sounding reasons, such as "redistributing housing" or "insufficient productivity," to extort money.

They would also forcibly "assign" these unprotected women to lowly scum who couldn't find spouses due to disability, genetic mutation, or old age, in exchange for the little bit of resources and money they had accumulated over the years.

Some even end up as prostitutes in the underground black market.

The despair of these three widows was not due to the loss of their husbands' love.

It was because they realized that with their husbands' deaths, the protective umbrella over their heads had collapsed.

What awaited them was the fate of being completely devoured.

Luo Wei fell silent.

This is the seventh granary under his rule.

Even though he was desperately trying to maintain order up there.

Even though he had just brought back life-saving supplies.

In the shadowy corners, the most primitive and savage law of the jungle still prevails.

Since transmigrating, Luo Wei has constantly reminded himself to become ruthless.

However, when faced with reality, he still felt some inner turmoil.

"Advisor, should I go and drive them away?" Old John tentatively asked.

"Just drive one wave away, and another will come." Luo Wei pondered, "As long as the 'unspoken rules' exist, they will always be sheep waiting to be slaughtered."

He pushed open the half-closed iron gate and went inside.

The noisy argument inside the room suddenly stopped.

The narrow pigeon coop was packed with people.

A middle-aged woman with a fierce face and her hands on her hips.

A bald man about to reach his dirty hand into a can of meat.

Three sleazy-looking young men were standing in the corner.

They wore oil-stained leather jackets, with rough tattoos showing on their arms.

The logo of the "Rust Gang" in the front area.

One of the young men was playing with a switchblade, a mocking lewd smile on his face, the tip of the blade waving back and forth in front of the youngest widow.

With Luo Wei's intrusion, all eyes turned to him.

The air froze instantly.

In the Seventh Granary, some people may not have seen the Governor, but there is no one who doesn't recognize this face.

This man enabled more refugees to drink green soup and led his men to retrieve fuel from the fourth grain depot, allowing the heating to be turned on again.

"Consultant Gu...?!"

The bald man's knees seemed to have been suddenly ripped out of their bones, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

The middle-aged woman was so frightened that her hand trembled, and the half block of synthetic starch she was holding fell to the ground and rolled to the side of Rowe's military boots.

The three thugs, who were originally arrogant and domineering, now looked like rats who had seen their natural enemy.

The young man playing with the knife trembled, and the switchblade clattered to the ground.

He frantically tried to pick it up, but under Luo Wei's cold gaze, he froze, and could only put his hands behind his back and desperately shrink into the corner.

The three young widows, who had been huddled in the corner of the bed, also looked up.

Their faces were streaked with tears, their eyes were red and swollen, and they were filled with fear and shock.

They couldn't believe that such a high-ranking, god-like figure would actually appear in a pigeon coop that even cockroaches would find dirty.

Luo Wei ignored the group of scoundrels and walked straight to the three widows.

There were three cans of meat on the table, one of which had been forcibly pried open, its lid twisted and deformed.

These marks were clearly left by the group of people using violence.

"This is what your husbands risked their lives for." Rowe, wearing black gloves, pointed to the canned meat. "No one has the right to touch it except yourselves."

"Sir... sir, we dare not eat..." one of the widows trembled, her voice barely audible, "They said... they said it's the rule, that we're not qualified to live here, and that we have to pay protection money..."

"Who said that?"

Luo Wei turned around and questioned him coldly.

"Misunderstanding...it's all a misunderstanding!" The bald man kowtowed desperately, his forehead banging against the ground repeatedly. "I only asked these gentlemen to...to help maintain order because I felt sorry for them, a widow and her child..."

"Maintain order?" Rowe drew his explosive pistol from his waist.

He didn't point at anyone, but slammed his hand on the table.

"Thump."

The heavy metallic clang was like a hammer blow to everyone's heart.

"Using knives to maintain order?"

Luo Wei had no intention of offering any sentimental condolences.

If he only provides temporary support to these three widows, once he leaves, these hyena-like gangsters will only intensify their attacks and tear them to shreds.

What he needs is to establish a new set of "rules".

An ironclad rule, forged in blood, that was linked to his newly established military prestige.

"Old John."

"Here," Old John outside the door immediately responded, followed by two armed guards.

As soon as Rowe entered the room, he hurriedly called for the nearby patrolmen.

He didn't want anything to happen to Rowe.

"Pass on my order and announce it to the entire region."

Luo Wei surveyed his surroundings, his gaze sharp as a knife, and said authoritatively:

"First, starting today, the right to reside and the rations of the families of all soldiers who died in the Seventh Grain Depot will be forcibly reserved for three months."

"During these three months, anyone who dares to harass, drive away, or extort for any reason will be considered to be undermining morale."

"Secondly, the widows of all fallen soldiers have priority in recruitment. The logistics department's sewing factory, canteen, and laundry will prioritize recruiting from among them."

"They are part of the military, under the direct jurisdiction of the defense force, not under the jurisdiction of the community, much less under the jurisdiction of any bullshit gang."

Upon hearing this, the three thugs turned deathly pale.

Luo Wei paused, then continued speaking to the three youths huddled in the corner:

"Third, drag all the scum who dare to stab soldiers in the back out of the country. Since they have so much energy and the strength to bully women, then let them go to the front lines."

He raised his hand and pointed at the three thugs and the bald man.

"Assign these four men to the vanguard of the next armed scavenging team. In other words... a suicide squad."

"No, sir, spare me!"

"We're from the Rust Gang, and our boss knows Father Simon! This isn't the rule!" the thug wielding the knife shouted desperately, trying to invoke his powerful backer.

Luo Wei gave a cold laugh.

"Father Simon of the state church? Fine, let him come to me for the person. As for the rules... here, my word is the rule."

Two guards rushed in like wolves, smashing the butts of their rifles into the mouth of the taunting thug, breaking several of his teeth.

Then drag them out.

The bald man let out a pig-like scream, his hands gripping the door frame so tightly that his fingernails broke and left bloody streaks, but he was still mercilessly dragged out.

The room was suddenly empty.

The middle-aged woman was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground and lost control of her bladder.

Lowe frowned in disgust and put his hat back on.

"As for you..." he said sternly to the woman, "If you dare to step into this room again, or if I hear anything about you bullying them, your fate will be worse than theirs!"

As soon as he stepped out of the apartment building, a cold wind blew, and Luo Wei felt a slight chill.

"Advisor, your move was brilliant!" Old John exclaimed sincerely as he followed behind. "Now, who would dare to bully the families of soldiers? If those greenhorn recruits knew, they'd probably be even more willing to risk their lives for you."

"This isn't for me." Luo Wei stopped and gazed at the towering granary tower in the distance, his tone indifferent. "This is for efficiency."

"If soldiers are fighting desperately on the front lines and have to worry about their families being wiped out, then this war is impossible to fight. I'm not doing charity, old John, I'm maintaining my tools."

Old John paused for a moment, then lowered his head deeply.

He might not understand the cold, administrative logic of "maintaining tools."

But he knew very well that by following this new advisor, he could at least live like a human being.

"Oh, right."

Luo Wei suddenly stopped and asked in a low voice:

"I want to assign a secret mission to the three widows. It might be life-threatening, even more dangerous than going to the front lines. Would they be willing to do it?"

"Of course, Your Excellency."

Old John answered with almost no hesitation.

A fawning smile spread across the old man's face.

Then he said in a slick, knowing tone that men often use together:

"You not only saved their houses, but you also gave them a way to live. Forget about going on any dangerous missions; tonight, if you just snap your fingers and have them cleaned up and come to your office for 'night shift,' they'll kneel down and thank you."

Upon hearing this, Luo Wei turned his head to the side.

There was no anger at being offended.

There was no lewd smile from men when they heard dirty jokes.

It just exudes a kind of indifference.

Old John's wrinkled neck instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

He then realized what a stupid mistake he had just made!

He was actually using the same standards he used to judge that fat pig Case to judge the man in front of him.

Although he hadn't been promoted yet, he had heard a lot of gossip about Case.

When the fat pig saw the beautiful widow, all he could think about were those sordid affairs in the bedroom.

When this new advisor saw them, all he could think about was labor, order, and how to extract the last bit of value from them.

This absolute coldness terrified old John.

But what followed was an unprecedented sense of peace.

The Seventh Granary was finally no longer ruled by a single breeding pig that only knew how to mate and gorge itself.

This is a true manager.

A manager who is neither like an animal nor, in other words, like a "human".

The slickness on Old John's face vanished instantly, replaced by genuine awe.

He quickly bent down and gave himself a light slap on the mouth.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency... I forgot, you and Case are different."

"Since you know it's different, put away your unnecessary thoughts." Luo Wei withdrew his suffocating gaze.

"Advisor, what exactly do you want them to do? I will relay your message word for word."

Luo Wei said calmly:

"Save the Seventh Grain Depot, save Abundance No. 2..."