Chapter 14

In Luodian City, Zhenglong County, since the mid-1980s, it has become one of the most concentrated areas for chemical enterprises in Nanhu Province.

There are nearly a hundred chemical enterprises of various sizes in the county, among which seventeen have investment scales exceeding 100 million yuan.

Among the many enterprises, the largest and most outstanding is Yuanbang Chemical (Nanhu) Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Yuanbang Group.

Founded in 2003, the Yuanbang Chemical Group, after five years of development, with the completion of the second and third phases of the project, now covers nearly 200 hectares, and its annual production of phosphate fertilizers has reached one million tons.

Last year, it achieved a total annual sales revenue of over 2 billion yuan and a profit of 200 million yuan, a remarkable achievement.

It is undoubtedly the leader in the phosphate fertilizer industry in Zhenglong County and one of the top three taxpayers in the county.

When such an enterprise suddenly went into a production halt, not only was the Zhu family, the backers of the Yuanbang Group, extremely anxious, but the relevant county leaders of Zhenglong County were also restless, wishing they could move their desks to the factory to urge Yuanbang Chemical to resume production as soon as possible to minimize the county's tax losses.

Ma Mingjun, the executive vice-county magistrate, was one of those who was extremely anxious. In the days since Yuanbang Chemical halted production, he had made countless trips between the county government and Yuanbang Chemical!

As the person in charge of the relevant department, he had to keep a close eye on the situation, but the senior management of Yuanbang Chemical were all pretending to be ignorant about the reason for the halt, saying they had received a production halt order from the parent company, Yuanbang Group.

They were tight-lipped about more details, and no matter who he asked, they would either dodge the question or hide from him.

This made Ma Mingjun extremely angry, yet he was helpless and had to find ways to investigate the reason for the halt.

It wasn't that he personally had to get to the bottom of the matter, but the county party secretary had given a strict order: within a week at most, Yuanbang Chemical must resume production!

To get it back into production, he had to first understand why it had halted.

Thus, Ma Mingjun went all out, conducting open and covert investigations, and through these efforts, he heard some rumors from the workers about the reason for the factory's halt...

But he wouldn't dare bring these rumors to the county party committee meeting, no matter how many times he was pressured.

The workers were privately discussing that the recent series of accidents in the factory, which resulted in injuries and deaths, were due to ghostly activities... and the factory had halted production because of these ghosts...

Ghosts? Come on! What era are we in? The new generation, raised under the banner of communism, is deeply rooted in atheism, especially in the political arena. Whether he believed in these things or not didn't matter, but if anyone dared to bring up such matters in a formal setting... even a county party secretary of Zhenglong County, the top county in the city, would lose his position.

At best, it would be considered feudal superstition; at worst, it would be a major political issue. Once labeled as such, a person's career in politics would be over.

Therefore, even under the pressure of several calls a day from the county party secretary, Ma Mingjun did not dare to report the conclusions he had heard and understood as the final result.

One afternoon, he received a message that Yuanbang Chemical had brought in a truckload of young men in their twenties, and someone had seen the general manager, Zhu Hongyi, accompanying a fifty-year-old Taoist to the accident-prone workshop.

Soon after these people entered the factory, a group of professional security guards hired from the county security company sealed off the factory, not allowing anyone to enter or leave without the order of General Manager Zhu Hongyi!

When Ma Mingjun heard this news, he couldn't help but shudder.

But he also realized this was an opportunity, a chance to finally understand the reason for the halt at Yuanbang Chemical!

So, Ma Mingjun borrowed a small remote-controlled aerial photography device from a friend in the city. As the sky darkened, he drove a very inconspicuous silver-gray Chery car to wait outside the factory.

In the car with him was a young man of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, his nephew, who had returned to Zhenglong County after graduating from university and had become a deputy town mayor after a few years of training.

His nephew had come to the county to see him today, and Ma Mingjun, who was at a loss for who to bring along, naturally took him along.

There was no activity in the first half of the night; the unclear aerial footage only showed the Taoist directing the young men to stand scattered outside the workshop.

But as they waited through the second half of the night, the aerial footage on the display screen made Ma Mingjun, who had been mentally prepared, turn pale with fright.

His nephew, who was operating the aerial device from the passenger seat, was so scared that he almost destroyed the device!

"Ghost... there really are ghosts!" Seeing the blurry, semi-transparent shadows rushing out of the workshop, Ma Mingjun was terrified, and his nephew was on the verge of breaking down.

The deputy county magistrate and the deputy town mayor sat in the car, staring at each other, stunned for several minutes.

When they finally came to their senses, the Taoist, Yuqing Zhenren, was already trapped on the ground, waiting to die...

Seeing these scenes, Ma Mingjun couldn't sit still anymore. After much consideration, he called Zhu Hongyi.

He didn't hide the fact that he was spying nearby. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Ma Mingjun asked Zhu Hongyi directly, "The Taoist doesn't seem to be a match for those ghosts... what do you plan to do now?"

Zhu Hongyi, who had also seen everything through the factory's surveillance cameras, was at a loss and had no plan.

It was his nephew, Ma Youfeng, who had been drafted by Ma Mingjun, who suddenly thought of someone...

"Uncle, I have someone in mind who might be able to help," Ma Youfeng hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, "A disheveled Taoist from out of town caused quite a stir in our town a while ago..."

"An out-of-town Taoist?" Ma Mingjun paused, then asked Zhu Hongyi, "Mr. Zhu, what do you think?"

What could Zhu Hongyi say? At this point, he had to try anything, even if it was a long shot!

He immediately responded, "If he really has the skills to help, I have no objections... I just fear he might be a fraud and end up causing more trouble, or even a fatal accident."

"Better than doing nothing and watching the old Taoist die!" Ma Mingjun made up his mind and said to his nephew, "Try to contact him. If he can come, that would be best..."

He didn't ask his nephew, who was also in the political field, why he had the disheveled Taoist's contact information, because after seeing the scene tonight, he was considering whether to build a relationship with these masters who seemed to have real skills...

Even if he didn't encounter such a situation himself, it was possible that something like what happened at Yuanbang Chemical tonight could happen again, and someone would need to step in to solve it!

Ma Youfeng quickly took out his phone and dialed a number. The call was answered shortly.

"Who is it?" A hoarse voice came from the other end, sounding a bit confused, as if the person had been drinking heavily, and the smell of alcohol could be detected through the phone. The tone was also quite harsh.

At this moment, Ma Youfeng didn't dare to be picky. He forced a calm smile and said, "Hello, Daoist, I am Ma Youfeng from Hengfeng Town. Do you remember me?"

"Ma Youfeng... Ma... Oh, you're the slick young man from a few days ago?" The old Taoist burped and asked, "Why are you disturbing me so late at night? What do you want?"

"Hehe... I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important... It's like this..." Ma Youfeng laughed and explained the situation at Yuanbang Chemical to the old Taoist, then asked, "Can you do anything about this situation, Daoist?"

The old Taoist, who had seemed confused a moment ago, fell silent after hearing Ma Youfeng's words.

After about ten seconds, he asked in a serious tone, "Can you see the ghosts?"

"Yes..."

"Good grief, they've already manifested..." The old Taoist muttered to himself, then said, "Where is the factory that had the accident? I'll be right over."

"That's great..." Ma Youfeng was delighted. If the old Taoist was willing to come after hearing the situation, it at least proved that he had some real skills!

He quickly gave the old Taoist the detailed address of Yuanbang Chemical and added, "If it's inconvenient, I can drive over to pick you up..."

"No need, I'm in the county town." The old Taoist seemed to stand up, and there was a clattering sound from the other end. "Make sure no one goes in before I arrive! Not even a fly! The things inside are very dangerous!"

"Rest assured, the entire factory is now under strict lockdown, and no one will go in."

"That's good." The old Taoist responded and hung up the phone.

From his tone before hanging up, it seemed he was also quite serious...

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