Empire of Shadows

Before coming, the Federation of Labor didn’t hold much hope for the entertainment value of this skills competition. After all, what kind of eye-opening technical competition could dockworkers have?

It was just that Scott was the first to propose this idea, so they came to see the situation.

During internal discussions at the Federation of Labor, some believed that welders, fitters, and the like should be grouped together.

The technical competition of these skilled trades would be more interesting and exciting. Of course, there were also welders and the like at the docks.

However, this part was very small in number and was not included in the competition.

As the vice president of the State Federation of Labor, as well as the special representative of the National Union, the president of the State Union, and others got out of their cars one after another, it was finally Lance’s turn.

The three who had already gotten out of the car felt the enthusiastic welcome, and everyone was in a good mood. They also stood on the main stage and looked towards the fourth car.

When the host, whom Vaughn and the others had found from somewhere, began to read the welcoming speech, the docks erupted in even more enthusiastic applause, as well as whistles and other sounds!

The vice president of the State Federation of Labor squinted his eyes slightly and looked at Lance coming out of the car, asking with some curiosity, “Is this person very rich?”

“It seems everyone welcomes him very much.”The people from the State Union knew a little more, “He sponsored a lot of money, and he also runs the local club, so the workers on the docks quite like him.”

The vice president of the Federation of Labor was a little puzzled, “Did you ask him to run it?”

Clubs and the like in various industries were difficult to sustain. On the one hand, it was a matter of funds and energy. For the working class of this era, this period.

They actually didn’t have that many unrealistic demands. Their only demand was to have good food, especially meat, and then to be full.

But even this was difficult to satisfy for them.

As for being able to have a drink after filling their stomachs, that was just a fantasy. In these times, selling liquor was illegal. The unions wouldn’t do this kind of thing… maybe some unions would, but most unions wouldn’t touch it.

Running a club was very difficult. If you gave the benefits to the working class, then the club would definitely lose money.

As a non-profit organization, the union had only a few ways to get money, which couldn’t support their consumption at the club.

So the workers’ clubs, which were booming a few years ago, were suddenly met with a cold shoulder. In some places, in some industries, they even stopped operating altogether.

The only ones that were doing well were some currently popular industries, for example, automobile manufacturing companies, power companies, etc.

But if the club was handed over to someone else to run, the purpose of those capitalists running it would be to make money. Then the club would not only not be able to provide recreation and relaxation for the workers, to be used for exchanging experiences, but would instead become a big problem.

They would rather close it, not open it, than transfer it out.

So the vice president of the Federation of Labor was very curious.

The president of the State Union explained, “He asked to run it himself, and I heard he loses several thousand dollars every month.”

The vice president of the Federation of Labor showed a look of astonishment, “Losing so much?”

“Then why does he continue to do it?”

The president of the State Union had an expression on his face as if evaluating a fool, but he didn’t really take Lance for a fool, “He said that as long as he loses enough, no one will be able to snatch this thing from his hands!”

The vice president of the Federation of Labor was stunned for a moment. When he looked at Lance again, his eyes had widened considerably.

He understood Lance’s meaning. Making money was not important. These people who supported him were the most important!

The people around were all applauding. He also began to raise his hands and clap lightly, “A little interesting.”

Lance walked onto the main stage, shook hands with the three of them separately, and then found his seat.

Next were President Scott, Zink, and some other people.

Many people from the Federation of Labor came today. Lance also saw Ms. Debbie. He even took the initiative to greet her, but Ms. Debbie was not qualified to sit on the main stage.

She was only in charge of liaison and work arrangements for a certain category of skilled workers and had nothing to do with the dockworkers.

After a series of warm-up speeches, Scott began to talk about the significance and purpose of holding this event. He proposed that “technology” was not intangible.

When people used a standardized method to evaluate a person’s technical ability, technology became tangible.

He believed that this grand event would be a grand event that would change the pattern of the working class. The vice president of the Federation of Labor also believed in his subsequent speech that this grand event would have a profound and significant impact on the entire working class!

Amidst the flying ribbons, a large number of things used to test technology were brought to the square.

It was called a square, but it was actually just an open space.

The first to come up were the screw workers. This was the most common type on the docks, and everyone was unconvinced of each other.

Today’s event was personally hosted by Vaughn. He also had to show his face well in front of his peers from all walks of life to prepare for taking over from Scott.

“…Every screw here has been soaked in seawater for a period of time in advance. According to our tests, they have all ‘rusted solid’.”

“Now we need the contestants, in the shortest possible time, using the common tools at your disposal, to separate the screw and the nut.”

They were all very common tools: wrenches, crowbars, and some other things.

The screws they needed to loosen were as big as an adult’s outstretched palm. The red rust already made people feel that it was not simple.

As the timing began, the workers immediately began to think of ways to handle the screws in front of them.

On the main stage, President Scott also began to introduce the situation to the vice president of the Federation of Labor and others. Screws rusting solid often happens on the docks.

The corrosiveness of the seaside is very strong, and anti-corrosion paint is not very effective. Rusted-solid situations still often occur, so this tests the skills and methods of the screw workers when tightening screws.

Watching them use various methods to slowly unscrew all the screws, the surrounding people also began to applaud.

Vaughn gave them scores and then brought on the next batch. The person with the highest score in the end would become the champion.

Besides tightening screws, there were also many other events, such as—

“Wiping the deck faster…”

“Skillfully tying knots in eighteen different ways…”

“Finding the one among a pile of parts that is no longer suitable for continued use and picking it out…”

It could be seen that these skills were indeed all very common, but… it also made people feel that they were a bit unpresentable. However, looking at everyone’s interested eyes, Lance could only pretend that it was very exciting.

It took more than an hour to decide the first place. When the vice president of the Federation of Labor presented the “Skilled Worker” medal and certificate of merit, as well as the $500 prize money, to the winner, the entire dock seemed to fall into a strange climax!

It turns out that being a worker also has… a moment to stand in the middle of the stage!

At this moment, many workers secretly swore that next time, they would also stand there and receive a $500 prize from someone else!

The whole process went very smoothly, but it couldn’t be solved in one day. Lance sat for most of the day, and it was not his turn.

There were more than 10,000 workers right away, and many of them had signed up more than once. Although there had been a simple screening before, there were still too many people and too many events.

People’s attention was all focused on these interesting competitions. They didn’t notice that at a distance of about a kilometer from the port, several cars were speeding on the road.

The car at the very front looked shabby. A pedestrian on the side of the road looked with some confusion at the owner of the car worth a few thousand dollars being so careless with it, fantasizing about how much he would cherish this car if it were his.

Suddenly, some gunmen with pistols leaned out of the three cars closely following behind and fired a burst of shots at the car in front!

A shop window on the side of the road was suddenly hit by a ricochet and shattered all over the ground, or sparks suddenly appeared on the ground for no reason.

After a brief moment of distraction, the surrounding people immediately screamed and hid everywhere!

A gang firefight!

This was probably the most common thing in the Port District recently. The car in front kept swerving to change its trajectory to avoid the shooting from behind.

Bill was panting heavily, his hands were trembling, he couldn’t even complete the action of changing the magazine!

He looked at the pistol magazine that he couldn’t aim or insert properly. After cursing “f—k” a few times, he suddenly started slapping the pistol frantically with his hand.

I don’t know if it was because Lady Luck hadn’t given up on him yet, but in his frantic movements, the magazine clicked into place with a snap!

He was stunned for a moment, grabbed the gun, turned around, and began to pull the trigger at the cars behind him.

The three cars that were about to catch up with him suddenly slowed down and were thrown off by a distance. No one wanted to get too close and be hit.

The four cars kept swerving on the road, and the constant sound of gunshots also filled the street with screams!

Their speed of chasing and escaping was very fast. In a short while, maybe… twenty or thirty seconds, they had already approached the port.

The people at the port were still cheering for the skills competition and had not noticed this at all.

“Go, go to the docks!” Bill, who had shrunk back again, had calmed down a bit now. He told the driver to drive towards the docks.

If he continued to drive along this highway, he would be killed by these people sooner or later. He could only use the terrain advantage first and see if there was a chance to shake them off.

Besides this, Bill also had another idea. If he abandoned the car and fled at the docks, the docks were so big, there were so many places to hide, it would definitely be safer than running down a single road into the darkness!

He could already feel that the other party’s car was getting closer and closer to him!

The driver suddenly turned the steering wheel, crossed the road, and headed towards the docks.

As they approached the docks, Bill was surprised to find that there were police officers. This made him breathe a huge sigh of relief, but the people behind them didn’t seem to care about the police at all and continued to chase them in a firefight!

The two police cars and four police officers parked on the side of the road looked at me, and I looked at you. In the end, they decided to request backup.

The gunshots on the docks finally also alerted the ongoing skills competition!

There was obvious commotion at the scene. Lance got up and walked down from the main stage, gave Hiram a look, and the latter immediately left with his men.

President Scott also reacted and quickly explained, “The public security in Golden Port has been a bit bad recently. Please rest assured, this definitely has nothing to do with us. I will handle everything!”

He also hurried off the main stage and walked outside.

If there was anyone who was the most angry at this moment, it must be President Scott!

This was related to whether he could get into the national union!

These damn gangs!

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