Jericho saltwater desalination plant. A wide three-story building, it is almost the same width as a small town.

After all, the town was built around this factory, which produces clean water day long, which then flows throughout the wasteland, quenching the thirst of many people and fueling the development of Jericho Town.

As the trio walked past the empty gallows in the center of the town, they saw the building as a matter of course.

The first time he saw this famous water plant, Andy's first impression of it was that it was dilapidated, with gray walls full of mottled and broken and even cracked in places.

This is not surprising, after all, it has been a stubborn existence in the wasteland for almost 200 years, and it is a miracle that it has survived the aftermath of the Great War and the burning of New Canaan.

It resembles an aging patient, the cracks on the walls are like ringworm, and the windows with long lost glass are like empty eyes.

In addition to this, the most impressive thing is the noise of the factory. Because it was daytime working hours, all the machines in the water plant were turned on, and the laborers were working in the water plant, and the sound of the well pumping, the movement of the carts, the sound of liquid flowing in the pipes, and the sound of boilers boiling..... Of course, there are also bursts of hoarse shouts, and those who are inside can only speak by shouting if they want their voices not to be drowned out.

Through a few broken windows, the most thing that can be seen in the waterworks is the pipes, dense pipes are everywhere up and down, left and right, and large machines of unknown purpose are dotted among them; The pipes here should eventually be connected to the easternmost part of the plant, and the huge pipes that are visually large enough to allow an adult to move freely inside end up draining clean water at an outlet on the east side.

Workers in blue overalls waited there, using containers of various materials but mainly wooden barrels to receive the clean water from the outlets, which were then sold all the way to the caravan gathering area at the southern entrance to Jericho Town.

Standing in the doorway stood two of Sheriff O'Connor's lieutenants, the Jericho Town policemen, who recognized Andy's men, after all, all the officers were involved in the previous fight with the Salt Lake Gang Marauders.

"What's the matter?" A policeman held out his hand. Andy paused to explain to him.

"We've talked to Sheriff O'Connor about going in to the water plant for an overhaul, and he told me to go to a guy named Calville to find out, is he in there?" The policeman nodded and motioned for a few people to go in.

As soon as the doors of the water plant opened, they were greeted by an almost unbearable salty smell and moisture, followed by deafening noise pollution.

According to the guide, they walked all the way to the corridor on the west side, surrounded by metal pipes, and from time to time there would be different levels of water on the ground, which was obviously not normal, and it should not have been in these places.

After a while, Andy and the others saw what was supposed to be a man from Calville, wearing something like a raincoat and carrying a gun, and he was there at the moment scolding a laborer who was squatting on the ground.

"Get up! You slacker! Can't you see that you're the only one doing nothing? I'm going to put your performance on the record today, and guess what? The sentence of the lazy guy will definitely be extended, and when the time comes, when everyone else is out of the sea of suffering, you will still be here with these clanging pipes and machines! "This man has a slanted scar on his face, which looks a little oozing, and his whole body looks wet from the environment in the factory for a long time, but he is nothing compared to the state of the laborers, some of them are as if they have just been fished out of the water, and everyone's face is deeply tired and numb.

"I.... I can't move, I need treatment, I have to go to Dr. Wren. The pockmarked creature struggled twice after being kicked twice, and then crouched on the ground again, as if even standing up was a difficult task for him.

Calville asked the two policemen around him to forcibly drag him from the ground, but the man seemed to have no bones, and once he let go of his hand, he would collapse in place again, and he would not be able to return to the ranks of the other laborers in any way.

His eyes widened suddenly, and he took out a leather whip and struck the man on the head and face, but even so, the man still just held his head and lay on the water-covered ground without moving.

The whip was stained with salt water on the ground, and the whip crackled horribly over the man's body, causing the laborer to groan in agony in a short time.

"You! Get up! Don't you believe I can suck you to death here? Then I'll show you if I can do it! He raised the whip in his hand again, and the other laborers winced in horror, but a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Cauville was taken aback, and instantly pulled out his gun and turned back to aim, only to see three strangers coming in from the waterworks at some point.

"Who are you?" A policeman walked up to him and whispered a few words, and Calville reluctantly put down his gun and pulled his wrist out of Andy's hand.

Andy stared at the fierce-looking guy in front of him, who had been stationed inside the waterworks for a long time to help Sheriff O'Connor manage this

The warden of the "worker" is a general presence, at least by his appearance, and he is believed to be quite capable of the job, and it is believed that once he starts a fire, the mere sight of his angry face is enough to make the others fearful.

"Sheriff O'Connor called us over to take a look at the situation here, and he said you know what's wrong here, and we can help." Calwell turned and demanded that the two policemen keep an eye on him, and then told Andy to go to a room where the noise would be kept out for a detailed discussion, and before leaving, Alexandra crouched down to look at the man who was still unwilling to get up after being whipped several times.

The three of them followed Calville all the way to a small room on the second floor, and when the door was closed, the cacophony suddenly stopped outside.

Calwell leaned against the corner with his arms crossed and looked at the three people in front of him, with some doubts in his eyes. Andy pushes Otto out and brags to him like a salesman about the ghoul engineer's expertise, and Calville's expression suddenly changes, and he begins to explain the problems facing the Jericho Town Waterworks.

"We have a very serious leak in our factory right now." Otto nodded his head to indicate that he had noticed, playing with a screwdriver that had been pulled out of nowhere.

"It didn't take long for me to know about this after I came in, and I can see that many of your pipes here are too old, rusted due to water erosion after long-term operation, and some parts with high internal pressure are more likely to burst suddenly during work." Calville immediately turned around and took out a large number of bottles of various sizes from several metal crates in the room, which looked like adhesives, but they were of various brands, and they were all presumably pre-war relics recovered by scavengers from various ruins.

"I've been thinking about what to do for a long time, since there is a leak, then I believe that sticking those places with something can solve the leakage problem, and I can also reinforce the fragile parts, but after I tried it, I found that these glues bought from outside merchants have no effect, and they quickly fail after applying." Otto picked through the large pile of adhesives for a while, picking out some of them and setting them aside.

"What you need is an industrial-grade adhesive, of course ordinary glue is useless, but I have a way to mix these glues in a certain proportion to make something that is sufficient and effective.... Now you're going to have to get some people to come and do what I'm told, and when that's all done, we'll start looking for leaks to work on. "Colville called a few workers vigorously, and under the command of Otto, they opened the bottles one by one and poured them into a large metal cylinder and stirred them, and the strange smell wafted around, and the smell only made people feel a pain in the head.... But eventually a strange pile of paste was made, which was distributed and applied to the necessary places by the workers using long-handled brushes after Otto's observation.

Andy was also involved, and the paste made in an unknown order was really good, and many of the leaking areas were gradually returned to their normal state after the brush applied enough adhesive.

After a busy morning, most of the leaks in the western part of the plant have been treated, and some areas that Otto considers to be at risk of bursting have been taken care of.

Calwell is excited that plugging the leaks will not only improve the plant's internal environment, but also reduce waste in the production process.

After a hurried lunch, at noon, the workers of the waterworks, under the supervision of the police, temporarily put down their work, and they left the waterworks in a neat line to a building on the western outskirts of the waterworks, which was filled with bunk beds, and a large table was placed in a small hall at the outermost.

According to Calville, this is the workers' dormitory in Jericho, but looking at the police officers who are always on alert and the small parts on the bed frame for auxiliary fixation, it can be seen that this is more like a prison in Jericho than a dormitory, where the prisoners have a hard time escaping, and when they finally drag their tired bodies back to rest, the shackles and guards are the biggest obstacle to their freedom.

In the case of Ivan, it can only be said that he was lucky, he had not yet been crushed by the intense labor, and the guard happened to leave his post without permission that night; As a thief, he must have found a way to pick the locks with local materials, get himself out of the bondage and open the door of the dormitory and run towards the caravan gathering area to the south, and finally escaped.

The food was carried in several wooden barrels, the first of which contained a double-headed beef stewed with potatoes, which the chef seemed to be somewhat level, and the taste of the pot was very fragrant; The second vat contains a soup, the main soup is some kind of mutated fish, it is estimated that the aquatic products caught in the Great Salt Lake not far away, the taste is more fishy, I don't know what it tastes like when I drink it; The third vat contained some bread made of blade flour mixed with some variant fruits, and looked very hungry.

The Calvilles were cautious at all times, sitting at the door of the dormitory while eating, staring at the workers, and never taking their guns off their hands; On the other side, Andy and the others also got their share of food, and everyone's food came from one place, but there was no difference.

The goulash tasted more than Andy had expected, and he could say it was the most delicious dish he'd ever had, with more than one seasoning and fresh ingredients, which made it surpass the boring dishes made by the tribal natives or the strange dishes made by the black-hearted vendors at the top of the Hoover Dam.

Fish soup tastes weird.... Each of the fish in this soup has more than a dozen eyes, and the meat tastes bitter, but the soup is actually spicy to drink.

Both Alexandra and Andy couldn't accept the soup, but Otto didn't seem to be aware of it, and drank the soup clean, not to mention eating all the fish.

Bread made from blade grain flour mixed with chopped variant fruit is the perfect staple.... Andy thought that the workers here would eat like slaves, munching on swill-like things, but in fact, the standard of food here is quite good, even at the Hoover Dam, only a few wealthy people in the top area can eat such high-end dishes every day, and here it is just a daily routine.

When he asked about Calville, the policeman was very flat, his eyes lingering on the eating workers.

"We have contact with most of the caravans in the wasteland, from whom we can buy a lot of high-quality ingredients at a low price, which is what Sergeant O'Connor demands, if there is no guarantee of the quality of the food, how can these workers have the strength to work? Don't listen to the rumors spread by those out there, we are not practicing slavery..... It is only to force the guilty to atone for their sins with labor. ”

"But I've heard that among the workers there are slaves you bought from slave traders." Cowlville gestured to a couple of ghouls who were eating.

"You say they? We had no choice but to buy them from the slave traders, after all, thanks to Sheriff O'Connor's wise decision, the crime rate in Jericho is now close to zero. These ghouls were supposed to be crushed to death after being captured by the slave traders, and everyone knows that the physical needs of ghouls are extremely low, so they are considered a sought-after commodity, and the slave owners force them to work for them without eating, drinking, or sleeping, but as you can see, they are treated equally with us. ”

"Those slaves are very grateful to us, and we like them very much, after all, they work hard, never make trouble or get sick." After eating, the workers returned to work at the waterworks under the command of Calville and others, Andy noticed that the weak worker was missing in the morning, and after inquiring with Calwell, he learned that he had been sent to the hospital in Jericho Town, and there was a shop called Wren on the southeast side of the waterworks, and the owner was the only doctor here.

Alexandra suddenly asked a question.

"Is that Dr. Wren really healing?" Cowlwill looked back at Alexandra with some confusion on his face.

"Of course, although some people still die after a long time, most of them have recovered after being cared for by Dr. Wren, and even worked harder than before; It seemed to me that the slacker in the morning was trying to be lazy, he had just been to Dr. Wren not long ago, and now he was pretending to be sick and was going again, obviously not wanting to work. Alexandra was silent for a moment and shook her head.

"I doubt that maybe I can visit the doctor later, I guess the drugs he uses on those workers are not very formal and common." When Andy heard this, he suddenly remembered Ivan's condition.