The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 65: The Factory Slows Again
Anderson was an utterly ordinary worker.
The factory had been shutting down more and more frequently lately, and that had everyone on edge.
Last year it had started with one week of downtime every month.
Now it was one week of work followed by one week of shutdown.
A growing sense of panic was spreading through the workforce.
Especially after rumors began circulating that the factory itself might not survive much longer.
The factory was not actually losing money.
That was the strange part.
Its products simply weren’t selling anymore.
Inventory piled up in warehouses, gathering dust month after month.
When goods stopped moving, revenue dried up.
Production costs, storage fees, wages, and every other expense became a burden.
Keeping the operation afloat had become the owner’s greatest headache.
He continued assuring everyone that he would do everything possible to keep the factory alive.
Yet everyone felt the same thing.
The day they would need to find new jobs was drawing near.
Today was payday.
Early in the morning, Anderson cleaned himself up, put on his best clothes, and arrived outside the factory.
Workers gathered in small groups, chatting about ordinary things.
Most conversations revolved around somebody who had suddenly gotten rich, or another nearby factory that had gone bankrupt.
Life had never seemed this difficult before.
Especially during the boom years.
Back then the factory ran from dawn until night.
Workers finished their shifts with arms so tired they could barely lift them.
It had been exhausting.
But it had also felt rewarding.
As long as you worked, there was money to be made.
The owner had even expanded the facility and created more jobs.
People reminisced about the past.
Or feared the future.
Then suddenly shouting erupted from the accounting office.
The noise stabbed directly into everyone’s already frayed nerves.
Conversations ended immediately.
Workers hurried toward the building.
When Anderson finally pushed close enough to see what was happening, he found several workers arguing with the owner.
Their boss.
The argument centered on two issues.
The first was simple.
Starting next month, the factory would shut down completely.
As for when operations would resume, everyone would be notified later.
Which, in practical terms, meant the factory was finished.
The promised reopening might never come.
The Federation operated on an hourly wage system.
You were paid for the work you performed.
The system had always seemed fair.
Hard-working people earned more money.
Everyone had thrown themselves into their work.
But a complete shutdown meant one thing:
No work.
No work meant no wages.
And no wages meant that next month these workers would not earn a single dollar.
Most ordinary Federation households had never developed strong saving habits.
Meanwhile, the Six Major Banks had steadily reduced savings interest rates over recent months.
Keeping money in a bank no longer seemed much different from keeping it in your pocket.
That only weakened people’s desire to save.
Money had a peculiar quality.
When people possessed it, they wanted to spend it.
The more they had, the stronger that urge became.
Maybe it was a hot dog they normally wouldn’t buy.
Maybe it was a premium pack of cigarettes they’d never tried before.
Money always seemed eager to become something else.
Without savings, life depended entirely on wages.
Once wages disappeared, many households would simply stop functioning.
Worse still were the installment payments.
Houses.
Cars.
Furniture.
Every payment deadline became another weight pressing down on ordinary families.
Several years earlier, much of the world had finally begun emerging from chaos and war.
The Federation, largely untouched by those conflicts, had entered a period of explosive growth.
New products appeared constantly.
New ways of spending appeared with them.
Not only houses and cars could be financed.
Anyone with a Social Security Card and legal citizenship could buy almost anything on installments.
Even a television.
The era had seemed overflowing with opportunity.
Money felt as though it littered the streets, waiting for someone to bend down and pick it up.
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