Chapter 1269 Warm Sunshine

As Gu Chengyuan finished his drive amidst cheers and tears and officially stepped onto the solid cement ground of Factory 003, he chose the simplest yet most profound method—a foot inspection.

The factory's security and internal sanitation personnel, who had been notified in advance, quickly cleared the passage and set up a cordon with the highest standards and the least interference, but did not disperse the spontaneously gathered crowd.

In reality, it couldn't be dispersed either—whenever he headed towards a planned inspection point, more workers, technicians, and cadres would quickly gather along the way, putting down their work and coming excitedly to catch a glimpse of their leader.

The first stop was the bullet production workshop, which had just completed equipment debugging and started trial operation.

This is an extremely spacious, incredibly tall, giant factory building, brightly lit inside, with a low humming sound from the air circulation system.

The brand-new automated production lines stretched out like long steel dragons, with conveyor belts moving slowly, covered with bright yellow bullet heads or silver-gray bullet casings, and the air was filled with the faint smell of metal cutting fluid and lubricating oil.

As Gu Chengyuan, accompanied by Lei Jun, Zhou Guihong, and a group of key leaders from Factory 003, stepped through the side door of the workshop—

"Attention, everyone! The commander has arrived!" Someone shouted in a trembling voice, clearly excited.

In an instant, hundreds of cadres, workers, quality inspectors, and logistics personnel who were busy at their respective workstations or waiting in line straightened up, their eyes focusing like searchlights on the young figure in a dark green military uniform with a general's star on his shoulder.

"Greetings, Commander!!"

The deafening, uniform, and yet deeply moving greetings, brimming with boundless excitement and reverence, resounded like thunder throughout the spacious and towering factory!

The sound waves crashed against the steel walls and roof, creating echoes that lingered for a long time!

As Gu Chengyuan looked around, every upturned face was filled with undisguised excitement, joy, and an almost devout thrill.

Many people's eyes were already wet, especially some of the older workers and key technical personnel standing in the front row. They pursed their lips tightly, their chests heaving violently, as if they had to use all their strength to control their surging emotions.

Several young apprentices were so excited that they trembled slightly and their cheeks turned red.

Gu Chengyuan stopped and greeted all the employees in the workshop: "Hello everyone!"

His action once again elicited shouts of "Greetings, Commander!" from the workshop.

Then, he smiled gently, waved his hand to signal everyone to relax, and under Lei Jun's guidance, he began to slowly walk along the production line.

"This is the copper stamping line. It was just put into operation by a master craftsman who was transferred from Factory 001..."

"This is the automatic propellant filling and warhead assembly area, where safety requirements are the highest..."

"The finished product testing line conducts random checks on every batch to ensure absolute safety..."

...

Lei Jun and the workshop director explained in hushed tones. Gu Chengyuan listened attentively, nodding occasionally and stopping occasionally to carefully observe the operation of a certain step.

When Gu Chengyuan reached a relatively open workstation platform in the middle of the production line, he stopped.

Here gathered a dozen or so specially arranged representatives of workers, technicians, and logistics personnel, both men and women, ranging in age from their early twenties to their fifties. They wore uniform blue work clothes, but the badges on their chests and the gleam in their eyes showed that they were the best in their respective positions.

Gu Chengyuan stepped forward without any airs and shook hands with each of the representatives. With each hand he shook, he could feel the rough calluses on the hands and the owner's uncontrollable trembling with excitement.

"Comrades, you've worked hard!" Gu Chengyuan's voice was clear and full of strength:

"How is it working here? Is the food filling? Does the food suit your taste?"

A veteran worker in his forties, with a dark complexion and large knuckles, was the foreman of the stamping team. When he was the first to be asked, he was so excited that he almost couldn't speak. He took several deep breaths before answering loudly in heavily accented Mandarin:

"Reporting, sir! The food is great! It's fantastic! Every meal has meat and vegetables, and there's plenty of rice and steamed buns! It's much better than... much better than what I ate at the factory back home before the apocalypse!"

As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily reddened: "Back when the apocalypse first broke out, who would have dared to dream of having meat and white rice to eat every day..."

A middle-aged technician wearing glasses and appearing somewhat refined chimed in, his voice also slightly choked with emotion:

"Sir, not only is the food good, but the factory has also provided us with staff dormitories. Although it's still four people to a room, it's clean, bright, and has electricity and hot water!"

"The key issue...the key issue is our child's schooling. The school配套 (supporting facilities) for the factory area has been built, and my son went to school yesterday with his backpack! It's all free!"

"And there are hospitals, so I don't have to tough it out for minor illnesses anymore..." He couldn't continue, turned his face away, and quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

He was referring to the two things that are most worrying for almost all surviving families after the apocalypse: children's education and family members' health.

A woman in charge of the cafeteria's logistics also excitedly added:

"Commander, our logistical support is all on wartime standards, with timely and full payments! As for wages... oh, now they're called 'contribution points,' paid monthly, and we can save them up to exchange for things at the factory's small shop! There's hope for the future!"

...

Listening to these simple yet heartfelt answers, and looking at the faces around him flushed with excitement and tearful as they recalled past hardships, Gu Chengyuan's eyes also shone with emotion.

He knew that when the workers said "good," it was relative to the hellish living conditions of the apocalypse; they were still far from being truly "wealthy."

But it is precisely this contrast between despair and hope, between struggling to survive and being able to work and support their families, that makes their gratitude so sincere and intense.

P.S.: I need to build up a backlog of chapters recently. I'm going to Northeast China in a few days for a comrade's wedding. In order to keep updating, I can only be a little stingy.

Regarding the book's progress, I'm about to start using the time-jumping technique, which means speeding up the pace. I've discussed this with everyone before, and I've wanted to use it for a long time, but unfortunately, it's my first time writing a book, and I really can't control it. I don't know where to start, so sometimes it just turns into a daily log.

In addition, the author's attempt to be realistic, such as making the development and construction processes take a reasonable amount of time, led to a serious contradiction between time and development. I myself was also very frustrated by this. If I wanted to push things along, the time frame set in the novel was too short, and various industries had not yet been established to support them, so they could not supply the army or serve major operations.

We're starting to get a feel for things, so we'll speed up the plot, improve the quality, and try to finish it as soon as possible to start the next chapter...

Regarding the comments accusing me of deliberately claiming to be on welfare, I am truly innocent. I'm also a bit numb from writing. When my book was taken down last time, to be honest, I felt a huge sense of relief and even thought I should just let it go...

I was really thinking of giving up, but then I thought of everyone who had supported me, and it didn't feel right... During the time the content was taken down, I only updated without making any changes, which dragged on for over a week.

Having said all that, my main reason for wanting to thank everyone for your support, companionship, and understanding...

Well, I'll save all my thanks for the day it's finished, hehe.

Otherwise, they'll accuse me of padding the word count again QAQ