Chapter 1 The Dragon City

Inside Dragon City.

After Su Tiannan finished giving his statement, he had just reunited with Yu Mingyuan and others when he received a call about the accident in the mining area.

In the call, Yang Decheng said anxiously to Su Tiannan, "Go directly to the mining company headquarters. I'll have a helicopter pick you up to the mining area. Hurry!"

After ending the call, Yu Mingyuan, Su Tiannan, Su Tianbei, Kong Zhenghui and others rushed directly to the mining company.

The group arrived at around 7:10 in the morning, and the rain was even heavier at this time. When Su Tiannan and the others were rushing to the main building, they saw the city's rescue team's plane circling over the mining area, organizing the rescue.

The group quickly entered the main building, arrived at the small conference room, and saw Yang Decheng and Lu Feng, who had just arrived.

After Su Tiannan exchanged a glance with Lu Feng, he immediately asked Yang Decheng, "How many of our workers are buried down there?! What the hell happened? Our workers haven't officially started working yet. Who told them to go down into the mine...?!"

"Xiao Su, calm down first."

"How can I calm down?" Yu Mingyuan was also a little angry. "We are the labor union. If something this big happens, we have to take responsibility."

"Does questioning me now do any good?" Yang Decheng also roared and asked, "Did my decision cause the mine accident? Xiao Su, you know, we were together last night. We went to the police station together. I haven't rested yet, and I'm still confused!"

Hearing this, everyone no longer blamed Yang Decheng, because Su Tiannan was indeed with him last night, and afterwards, they both gave their statements at the police station. So, the mine accident really had nothing directly to do with him.

In the quiet small conference room, the atmosphere was a bit heavy. Yang Decheng winked at his secretary, asking them to lock the door to prevent others from disturbing them.

After pondering for a while, Yang Decheng spoke first, "There are no outsiders in the room. I'll be frank. The numbers have been tallied. There are fifty-eight people from the Tongji Association, thirty-three from the Changqing Company, and twenty-two from other small contracting companies and the dock labor union. Your two companies have the most workers affected by this disaster, so I contacted you first."

"What's the current situation of the rescue?" Yu Mingyuan couldn't help but ask.

"The city rescue team and the mining area's own rescue team are doing their best to rescue. But the mine shaft is nearly four hundred meters deep, and the entire mine tunnel structure has been destroyed by the collapse. I personally think the workers have very little chance of survival." Yang Decheng lit a cigarette. "Let's make a long story short. My meaning is very simple. Since something happened, we need to bring the situation under control. We also need to be reserved when reporting to the higher-ups..."

"Reserved? What do you mean?" Lu Feng asked.

"We can't report the actual numbers," Yang Decheng said directly.

"Underreport? How is that possible?!" Kong Zhenghui frowned and said, "The involved parties include multiple associations and multiple mining area departments. Once it's exposed...!"

"As long as your association doesn't have problems, the company definitely won't have problems," Yang Decheng interrupted. "I've already taken care of the relationships above, and the company's management has also had a meeting. We'll only report twenty-two deaths to the city government, lowering the level of the mine accident to the lowest level, so that it won't attract high social attention, and it will be easier for the higher-ups to explain."

"What about the affected workers?" Su Tiannan asked.

"The company will compensate them!" Yang Decheng said directly. "The highest insurance payout is around 980,000. We'll settle privately, and I can raise the price to about 1.2 million per person. That's twenty percent more than the normal payout! I believe the workers' families will definitely agree. Let's be blunt, the people are already dead, so money is the guarantee, right? We'll give them twenty percent more, so they can get more benefits."

Everyone fell silent after hearing this.

In fact, it was not difficult for the people in the room to guess Yang Decheng's true thoughts. His motive for wanting to underreport the number of deaths was very obvious. They wanted to protect the group's interests and their personal interests.

On a larger scale, the Baolong Group's mining company had just started working, and now there was a mine accident with more than a hundred people. Wouldn't the higher-level departments investigate? Once the numbers were reported and the public paid attention, the matter would be completely blown out of proportion.

A large-scale mine accident with more than a hundred people meant that the management company had major responsibilities, regardless of the excuses. Either there were management loopholes, or there were operational errors in specific departments. In short, work stoppage for rectification was certain.

Four large mining areas, several thousand miners, thousands of management and technical personnel, as well as equipment that needed to be managed and maintained, would all be in a state of stagnation.

How much money would be lost?

Mining development also had a construction period. Contracts that had already been signed with partners and sellers would not be fulfilled, resulting in huge economic losses, and even lawsuits.

Therefore, from the Baolong Group's perspective, they definitely wanted to minimize the impact. As for human lives, they would definitely not be the first consideration in the face of pure commercial interests.

On a smaller scale, top-level company figures like Yang Decheng were absolutely linked to the company's interests. They might have huge dividends from the mining company, or they might have shares themselves, or even have gambling agreements. The premise of safeguarding these interests was to maintain the normal operation of the mining company. Therefore, at this critical moment, they were more anxious than anyone else and hoped that the matter would be as small as possible, even at the cost of underreporting to the higher-ups.

Inside the conference room.

After Yu Mingyuan pondered for a long time, he said, "Underreporting is not acceptable. We are an association organization. Once there is a problem..."

As soon as Yang Decheng heard Yu Mingyuan say no, he immediately interrupted, "Xiao Yu, let's not talk nonsense. If you can suppress the workers' families, I'll sign a ten-year labor contract with you, guaranteeing that you'll have work for a long time in the future. As for cash, you name a price. As long as it's not outrageous, our mining group will support you in the form of donations."

Yu Mingyuan frowned upon hearing this.

"If work stops, it won't be good for anyone. You need work, and we need stability." Yang Decheng spread out his palms and said urgently, "The miners have already had an accident. To put it bluntly, people are already gone. Why are we being so serious about this? We'll pay more money, the miners' families will get benefits, everyone will be safe and sound, and the higher-ups won't have to worry about the death toll of more than a hundred people. This is a win-win situation for everyone!"

Yu Mingyuan turned to look at Lu Feng, who pondered for a long time and said directly, "The people are mine, but they are managed by Changqing Company. I can't make the decision on this matter. I need to discuss it with the higher-ups."

"One hour. I'll give you one hour." Yang Decheng stood up and said to everyone, "Everyone, I'll say it again. The dead are already dead. Don't make things difficult for yourselves. Otherwise, if work stops, your workers and the association won't get a single cent, and the advance payment will have to be returned. That's it!"

...

First District, New York City.

Su Tianyu also learned about the accident at the labor union, but as he was preparing to return, he received a message from the airline.

"Due to heavy rain in Dragon City and other areas, the flight has been indefinitely delayed."

Su Tianyu was anxious.