When the last noise died down, it meant that the soldiers from the mobile section who were playing poker had also gone home. I put away the poker cards, went back to the office and lay down on the sofa. I was really tired after a busy day. The workers from the second shift had already started working. The sound of the presses was rhythmic. The production and sales targets were all met. The factory director was less irritable, and I, as the office director, was less worried. Under the tree on the roadside downstairs, a few idle night shift workers were chatting. I yawned and wanted to go to sleep.
Just at this moment, the cell phone rang. It was my wife Sun Xiaocui calling: "Hello, Xiaochuan, where are you now?" "At the work." "Mom called and asked you to come back."—-"Wife, didn't I tell you that I was on duty today? Okay, what's the matter?" Xiaocui was a little unwilling to my rudeness and said: "Today is the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. Mom told me to ask you not to forget to burn paper for your grandma. Goodbye—-Director Xu!" After that, she hung up the phone with a click.
I thought my wife's greetings would be more gentle and caring, but I was disappointed. After a while, I went downstairs for a walk and ran into a few night shift maintenance workers who were going out for a drink. Seeing me, I had to smile and say, "Director Xu, are you going out for a drink with us?" "No, I don't drink – this won't happen again. Please bring me a roll of burning paper when you come back."
The press also stopped. After dinner, I returned to the office and suddenly felt that I was very unlucky. There were so many people in the entire office 365 days a year, but I happened to be on duty on July 15th.
The production workers started working again, and soon the drunken maintenance worker on duty also brought back some paper for burning. It was already dark, and the bridge across the river in the distance was particularly spectacular with the lights and street lights on the sidewalk. I squatted at the intersection to the left of the office building, drew a big circle, and lit the paper for burning. In the firelight, the pieces of paper turned into ashes and floated in the smoke. I thought of the diligence and kindness of my grandmother who brought me up, and the peanuts she gave me when I was a child… I couldn't help but shed tears. Grandma, your grandson is now successful, and Xiao Cui has also given you a beautiful great-granddaughter. Grandma, how are you doing there? Grandson… Grandson misses you.
After burning paper, I sat on the stone bench beside the factory and chatted with the idle people on duty. "It's been 5 years, exactly 5 years." Master Zhang, the electrician, sighed and suddenly said, "What 5 years?" I asked him curiously. He took a puff of cigarette and said slowly: "You were not assigned to this position at that time. You know Daqiang who drives a dump truck, right? His father Lao Shen used to be in our unit and was the section chief of the vertical kiln. It was also July 15th 5 years ago. I was working overtime at 8 o'clock in the evening to direct the unloading. At that time, because the train broke down, a truck was used to tow the train car, and it was crushed to death. Hey, it's been 5 years…" He was still sighing, and others didn't seem to care. They were still chatting lively about finding prostitutes, seducing women, etc.
When I got back to the office building, I suddenly felt that the empty office building was particularly gloomy. The cool breeze of the summer night blew and gave me goose bumps. After listening to the songs for a while, I felt that I couldn't stand it anymore. I might as well go to the scene to have a look. There were many people there.
The production workers were working very hard, and seeing me working even harder, they laughed secretly, thinking that I was just an office manager, and I didn't care about production at all, so why were they pretending to do it? Suddenly, there was a creaking sound under the press, and the workers stopped – "The center of gravity rod is bent. Director Xu, please go find someone to check it out."
Soon, two fitters and a welder came. The two fitters went to the pit under the machine, adjusted left and right for a while, and the welder went into the pit. After welding for a while, he suddenly came out. "Is it done?" I asked him. He shook his head: "No, I always feel that if I go over, the hammer head will fall down…" "What do you think? Don't want to do it?" I asked coldly. He still didn't go down, and I got a little angry. I said to the production worker: "Go check the safety measures again." After checking, the production worker told me that it must be fine. The power switch of the press was also pulled to the bottom, and there would be no problem. The welder still said: "I always feel that the hammer head with a pressure of 1,600 tons will fall down if I go down." "Go quickly," I was angry: "Do you think I'm easy to bully? The production manager is on duty. Do you dare to say this? Go down quickly." He looked at me and went into the pit.
I looked at the watch. It was 20:00 sharp. What? Suddenly, a strange cool breeze blew behind me. I had an inexplicable ominous premonition. The welder in the pit had already started welding. "Come up…" Before I could finish my words, there was a rumble. The horizontal wheel on the top of the press suddenly turned, and the hammer head with a pressure of 1600 in the middle rose up. The iron pipe supporting the hammer head fell to the ground. Then the press fell heavily as if someone was controlling it. Crack. The pad in the mold cracked. There was a scream in the pit. People were stunned.
"Something happened!" The first person to react, everyone was busy, the team leader told the operator: "Go and raise the hammer!" The operator ran to the operating table – "No, there is no electricity…" "What?" I was shaking all over. Although I had heard about production accident reports many times, this was the first time I saw it with my own eyes. Moreover, there was no electricity and no one was operating. How could the hammer head rise and fall by itself? I rushed to the power switch and saw that the power was indeed off! Thinking of the strange cool breeze that had just blown, I felt creepy. An old worker saw me standing there in a daze, and came over to turn on the power and fiddled with the operating table for a while to raise the hammer. A fitter immediately got into the pit. The pit was narrow, but I still saw that the upper body of the welder inside had been crushed into a meat pie! The fitter dragged his legs and pulled him out. The old worker also felt something was wrong and stared at the operating table.
Bang! A big screw from the operating shed roof fell off and hit the old worker's hand that was holding the button tightly. "Ah!" As the old worker shook off the screw, another big screw fell off and hit the button. Boom! The hammer head fell again. Ah! The left leg of the fitter who was pulling the welder was crushed.
At this time, the place was in chaos. I told the dispatcher to contact the factory manager, production manager and safety officer. Then I directed the workers to rescue people. "The machine is so strange today…" A production worker in his 30s, Xiao Wang, thought: "Director Xu, let the overhead crane hold the hammer head." I nodded calmly. The crane operator, Master Huang, quickly climbed onto the overhead crane. Two production workers went to the operating shed and hung the horizontal wheel on the hook of the overhead crane. "Lift up—-" Buzz———It didn't lift up. Strange? How could it be? "Keep lifting." It still didn't lift up.
In the chaos, the factory director, production director, and safety officer all came. The factory director said nothing and gave orders calmly. "Ah…" Master Huang screamed from the overhead crane: "Help! Help!"
"Help…" When people's attention was focused on the overhead crane, Master Huang actually fell off the overhead crane. I tried my best to suppress my fear and accompanied the factory director. It should be said that the factory director gave me the courage to go up. Master Huang fell headfirst, with his brain and blood all over the floor. I looked at the factory director, and it was obvious that his calmness was also forced. "It's really strange. I have been working for 30 years and have never seen such a thing?" The factory director muttered to himself. "That's right," I responded: "How could he jump down by himself? And shout for help?" The production director Yu suddenly shouted: "No, he didn't jump down by himself. He was scared to death and fell down." Everyone came over to see. I squeezed next to the factory director, but turned my head away. The factory director looked at me: "Xiao Xu, are you scared?" "No, I'm not—" After that, he also went to see Master Huang's body. His skull was cracked, his hair was stuck together by brain and blood, his eyes were wide open, his eyeballs almost popped out of his sockets, his mouth was wide open, his face was distorted by fear – obviously, he saw something very scary. The second shift leader, Brother Yan, picked up Master Huang and rushed down to the operating shed. "Could it be…" The factory director's voice was also trembling: "Could it be that there is really someone in the overhead crane? Li Zi, you and A Ming go up to the overhead crane and take a look." Safety officer Xiao Li and another fitter A Ming also climbed up the overhead crane: "Nothing, factory director." "Then go to the overhead crane beam and check it." The two walked up to the foot-wide overhead crane beam and checked each part.
Suddenly, the overhead crane shook, and two people on the overhead crane beam slipped and fell from the three-story overhead crane beam. The screams cut through the empty factory building and disappeared immediately. "What's going on?" The factory director was obviously really scared and screamed hysterically. Boom – the unmanned overhead crane actually lifted the horizontal wheel and then swung it towards the crowd. Four unprepared people were quickly knocked down, their brains burst, and they twitched and then stopped moving. "This is weird, run." I finally woke up from my fear and pulled the terrified factory director down the operating shed, and the rest of the people also ran down. Boom – Crack, the horizontal wheel was hit heavily on the shed by the overhead crane, and the iron plate on the roof collapsed. Several people who didn't have time to run out were crushed by the iron plate on the roof without even shouting.
The survivors stared at everything in front of them in a daze, as if they were dreaming. The coworkers who had just been chatting about women were now all turned into meat patties! Crack — crash. The overhead crane — collapsed! Those who reacted quickly ran away, and the factory director also pulled me out of the factory building in a daze. When I looked back, the lights in the factory building had dimmed, emitting a mysterious green light, which made everyone shudder. "Factory director, I —" I didn't know how to explain to the factory director, and the factory director waved his hand: "Forget it, it has nothing to do with you — it's weird here today, let's go first, get in the van." Xiao Wang was the first to jump up and shouted immediately. Yan, the squad leader who was holding Master Huang, was already dead, and that expression — was obviously scared to death. What on earth is going on? There is no way to think about it, so let's get in the car. After everyone got in, the driver Chen Xiaoguang checked the car and pulled the door of the cab — but didn't open it. At this time, the car actually, actually started on its own, turned on the spot and pressed the driver under the wheels, then backed up and ran over the driver's head. The car was like crazy, circling the flowerbed at the factory door and crashing heavily into the wall. There was a burst of shouting in the front of the car, and they were all squeezed to death – the heads were squeezed flat, and the stomachs were squeezed out, it was horrible. I was saved because I was sitting in the back of the car. I climbed out of the window with difficulty, and unexpectedly saw the factory director standing outside the car without any injury. He didn't seem to care about the people who died in the car in an instant, and he didn't have the fear and panic just now. He asked me with concern: "Xiao Xu, are you okay?" I was at a loss for what to do with this unexpected concern: "It's okay,… just a little scratch—skin." "It's okay—let's go, it's okay, let's go to the air compressor." The factory director was as calm as usual. I followed him to the air compressor control room. Meng Fu, who was looking at the air compressor, was scared and cowered on the bed. Seeing the factory director and I coming, he cried and laughed. After the factory director and I comforted him, he calmed down. The factory director lit a cigarette, smoked it quietly for a while, and suddenly said: "Old Shen has been dead for 5 years…Xiao Xu, you probably heard that we all wronged Old Shen at that time. I feel sorry for him—maybe it was Old Shen who came to see me today." I felt strange. The factory director who was always taciturn and conceited actually said so much today? And blamed himself?
Meng Fu took over and said, "Director, why did Lao Shen go to find those production people?" "Have you all forgotten?" The director said coldly, "Didn't you all say the same thing as the factory? You pushed the responsibility to me, a dead ghost…" I suddenly felt my hair almost stand up. Meng Fu was still smoking indifferently. He didn't notice that the director accidentally called himself "I, a dead ghost"
"There's no one working in production anymore – Meng Fu, go and turn off the gas." Meng Fu got up and went out after hearing the director's order. The director called him again: "Come back and see what's wrong with the lock." Meng Fu, who had walked outside the door, came back after hearing this, opened the door a crack, and stuck his head through the crack to look at the lock.
The factory director, who was always weak, suddenly came to life. He jumped up and kicked the door. "Ah, Director Jiang…" Director Jiang did not answer him. He jumped up, turned around and kicked the door harder. Meng Fu screamed again, blood spurted out of his mouth, and his eyes almost popped out. He instinctively grabbed the door frame tightly. "Director Jiang, no, you are not the director." When I went up to pull the director, he shook me lightly and threw me into the corner. Director Jiang went crazy. He picked up the sledgehammer by the door, swung it up and hit Meng Fu's back of the head hard. Bang, Meng Fu fell to the ground with a dull sound, and his brain and blood splattered all over the director, but the director did not stop and continued to hit Meng Fu's head until there was only a pool of red and white blood and flesh left.
I huddled in the corner, shivering. I couldn't believe that this was real. Was it a dream? If it was a dream, why hadn't I woken up yet? While I was daydreaming, the factory director picked me up like a chicken and jumped out of the window. The strong wind on the summer night finally woke me up. This was not a dream at all. I knew I couldn't escape death, so I closed my eyes and waited for the possessed factory director to judge me.
I didn't die. When I felt him put me down, I opened my eyes. The abandoned open-air factory was full of scrap metal. The wind was whistling through it. Under the pale moonlight, the whole empty space made people feel desolate and gloomy. I looked down. Oh my god, why am I standing on the edge of the scrap car body that is only 10 centimeters wide? I almost fell down. I quickly squatted down and held the edge of the car body with my hands. But Director Jiang was very steady. He looked very proud against the wind. Seeing my series of actions, he sneered and said, "Young people are timid and have too little experience." I looked at the director in confusion, but I couldn't see any other appearance: "You are definitely not the director. If I'm not wrong, you are Uncle Shen…"
The factory director suddenly laughed: "Haha, college students are still smart. Stupid people like Meng Fu can't find their master even after they die. Boy, look, this is where I was squeezed to death five years ago…" "Uncle Shen, you are too resentful. Work-related deaths are too common. Why are you still like this… Besides, the company also gave your family money and a house, and arranged a job for your son…" "Shut up." The factory director suddenly yelled at me: "I didn't get any of those. Now my wife lives with another man in the house given to me by the company, and my son is calling another man – dad." I was stunned, and he continued: "Not only that, but after my death, I became a typical example of illegal command. Do you know what the company's internal safety examples say about me?" Of course I remember that the safety education after the assignment included education on illegal command for managers. Among them, the negative example was Lao Shen, and the content was roughly as follows:
Shen Zhiwen, the section chief of the vertical kiln section of the ** Company's * Plant, was directing the 2nd shift to unload ore sand powder on * month * day, 19**. Because there was no locomotive, he temporarily directed the Jiefang truck to tow the train car. After being sternly rejected by the workers, he personally violated the rules and was crushed to death by the car car and the truck…
That was roughly what it said. The original text was full of official language and I couldn't learn it, but I also knew at that time that before I was assigned, a grassroots cadre in our unit gave orders in violation of regulations and suffered the consequences in the end. I looked up and saw the factory director who was possessed by a ghost looking at me: "Humph, do they think the dead are easy to bully? Today I will punish them… Let me tell you, it was not my blind command at all, it was the bastard factory director Jiang Long who forced me to unload the materials before 9:00 p.m. I would not take that risk. I didn't expect that I would die in order to help him. I came back today to seek revenge on Jiang Long."
Gradually, I was no longer afraid, and I said to him, "You came to seek revenge on Director Jiang? Then why did you kill so many innocent workers?" "Asshole, you know nothing—" he continued to yell, "Later, when the company came to investigate, these fence-sitters actually spoke in unison on the director's side. I'm the one who took the blame today." After saying that, he slowly raised his head, facing the howling wind, and after a burst of laughter, he shouted, "Jiang Long, it's time for you to get on the road—-!" After saying that, he jumped off the train car. The moment he fell, I heard Director Jiang's very short scream, followed by a muffled sound, and he fell into the pile of scrap iron on the ground. The protruding iron corners pierced Director Jiang's body. He twitched in pain for a few times and died.
I stared blankly at the horrifying scene in front of me. Suddenly, my body became uncontrollable and I jumped off the train car and stood on the hook. Not far away, an abandoned truck actually moved. The deflated wheels supported the scrap metal-like body of the truck and staggered back towards me, sticking to my chest – squeezing my chest, making me feel stuffy and painful. The abandoned truck continued to move back and squeeze me. Finally, I felt my lungs rupture and my heart could no longer withstand the huge external pressure. A fishy liquid came out of my mouth. Was it blood?
When everything went black before my eyes, the pain and fear finally disappeared – I was dead.