"The snow this year is really heavy. The last time I heard someone said it was caused by the gradual popularity of coal-burning and obsidian products. The place where we live is covered with a glass cover. If the temperature inside the glass cover becomes higher and higher, "High, if it gets higher and higher..." The worker in a worn-out cotton-padded coat took out a match and scratched the hem of the cotton-padded coat on the dry waistband of his trousers. With a hissing sound and a bit of choking smoke, the match was lit.
The cigarettes they held in their hands were all rolled by themselves. There was a prosperous big city not far away from here, but the consumption in that city was beyond their imagination. They still used a box of 100 cigarettes honestly. Light up these cigarettes rolled with home-grown tobacco leaves for just a few matches.
More than 20 people are sitting at the construction site in the Eastern Mountains. The support structure above their heads, built with wood and steel as the main body, is like a huge tunnel, which can well block the stones falling from both sides of the canyon. Whenever they encounter stones that cannot be removed manually, Blasting is required when the canyon is opened. Blasting will cause the sides of the artificial canyon to continuously collapse. Falling large and small stones can easily injure people. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of workers and a stable working environment, United Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. They created an almost closed rectangular structure passage in the carved canyon.
At this time, it is the turn of these workers to take a break. United Construction Engineering will provide three times the daily salary for these workers who will not go home during the New Year until the end of January 15th. This bonus is very attractive, and many people choose to stay. If you make it to the end of the month, it is equivalent to working for one month but getting two months' salary. This is very tempting to the workers.
With a violent explosion, the leveled canyon walls on both sides shook slightly, and pieces of broken stone fell from above and hit the support, causing the support to twist slightly.
This kind of thing happens many, many times every day, and everyone has long been accustomed to it. It won't be long before construction machinery will clear away the stones accumulated on the support to ensure that the weight on the support does not exceed the maximum bearing capacity of the support itself. Then these workers would climb out on ladders and perform engineering work on the cliff.
A woman who was also wrapped in a shabby cotton coat and a dirty hood came in pushing a dining cart. In addition to some beef mixed with wheat kernels, there were also a lot of cheap spirits and some hot drinks. This was the joint construction company. When signing the contract, the Otis City Council required basic guarantees. They must provide workers with a place to stay warm and food in winter.
One by one, the exhausted workers silently retrieved their lunch boxes from the dining car, drank the hot and slightly bitter pot water, and ate the food in big mouthfuls. This was the happiest time every day for them. . There is no more comfortable time than this time when you don't have to work, you can fill your stomach and take a rest.
There are forty or fifty similar resting points throughout the project, and one such resting point will be established every time a section of the mountain is dug. In addition to vertical construction, there is also horizontal construction that they need to do. Although construction machinery is very powerful, it cannot do everything.
As for the worker who wanted to show off the few things in his stomach, he also lost his intention to show off under the temptation of food, and the only sound of swallowing could be heard in the quiet space.
Suddenly, a worker raised his head and looked back and forth, "Did you hear it? There seemed to be some noise."
"What can I do?" the worker beside him muttered, "Hurry up and eat your food. You can still sleep for an hour after eating. If you don't want to sleep, I will report you if you are lazy at work in the afternoon.", he He is the foreman of this section of the project. His main job is to lead everyone in the construction of the rock walls on both sides of the canyon that have been blasted and slightly cleaned. At the same time, he will record who did well and who did poorly.
The joint construction workers from the Federation know better than some capitalists in the Empire how these two special things, internal competitiveness and role models, play a role in the group effect. Three people in each construction section will receive an extra dollar reward every day, which is enough to inspire Everyone's work enthusiasm, especially after they established more reward rules and punishment rules, everyone is working seriously, and few people choose to be lazy.
Engineers come over every morning to spray paint. The areas where green paint is sprayed need to be reinforced, and the areas where red paint is sprayed need to be knocked down. Three teams of people work continuously day and night, pushing the work process to the extreme.
The man who spoke was a little inexplicably worried at first. He picked up the lunch box and walked towards the support point used to support the ceiling. There was a layer of iron wire and steel bars entangled outside the thick wood, which not only had a certain degree of hardness, but also had sufficient earthquake resistance. .
He had just walked into one of the support pillars and before he had time to take a closer look, suddenly a piece of sawdust flew into his face with a hiss, hitting his face painfully. He looked down and looked down at the lunch box that was lying in the lunch box. of sawdust, and suddenly there was an unspeakable fear spreading rapidly in my inner world, just like the restless animals before an earthquake and the wild birds before a storm.
The weird sound in his ears seemed to get louder, and with another hiss, a piece of wood as big as the palm of his hand flew out and flew to the ground close to his body.
He suddenly turned his head and looked into the dark depths like a tunnel. A breeze blew past quickly, and after two or three seconds, a dull explosion sounded in his ears! The lighting hanging on the tunnel wall dimmed several times in succession. Everything that happened here was no different from five minutes ago, except for the flying debris.
At the same time, at the headquarters of United Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. in the Federation, an engineer who had drunk too much woke up from a hangover. When he opened the window and saw the heavy snow in the sky, he just had a desire to praise the snow scene in his heart. . The next second, a strong heart palpitation made his whole body start to tremble. He immediately rushed to the phone beside the bed, dialed the dial with trembling fingers, and called the Federal Meteorological Institute.
"Is it snowing heavily over there in the Empire too?"
He was answered by a slightly magnetic middle-aged man's voice. The voice said half-jokingly: "Don't you know about the Er'Neill phenomenon? My answer is 'yes'. The Shining Star Empire is in Lei The north of Del is covered with ice and snow, and there is heavy snow and even blizzard in the central area. What's wrong? Do you have relatives there? Ah, I forgot, your company is doing construction there... "
The engineer's whole body trembled. He hung up the phone and quickly dialed the international telephone line transfer. After about seven minutes, a busy signal sounded on the phone's receiver. He waited anxiously for five or six minutes before the call was picked up.
Before the other party could say anything, he almost roared and shouted: "Evacuate all workers in the mountain operation immediately, immediately!"
A lot of things happened in this short period of time, but the worker standing in front of the pillar didn't know it. Unknowingly, the lunch box in his hand had fallen to the ground, and the slightly hot food was radiating from the side. Weak steam, cooling quickly. The workers behind him stopped eating strangely and looked at him.
He gently stroked the pillar with one hand, turned his head sideways, and looked at the workers behind him, "I feel like this pillar can't bear it anymore..."
The next second, there was a cracking sound from the beng, which was the sound of a steel wire being violently straightened. A twisted piece of steel suddenly shot out from the top of the tunnel, flying and inserting at a strange angle. It penetrated his body, and spurted out from the side of his thigh, inserting it into the ground. This steel bar kept him from falling immediately, and he didn't even feel pain. He lowered his head and touched the half of his unconscious body, then glanced at the exposed steel bar that had pierced his thigh.
Everyone was shocked by the sudden and huge change. They stood up in horror and rushed towards him. Some people rushed towards the alarm bell on the cliff, but more steel bars shot down from the ceiling with the sound of continuous twisting and crackling. The wooden parts of the pillars began to show obvious fractures, and the steel bars and wires were twisting and wailing.
A layer of shadow covered everyone's hearts. Everyone's first action was to look at the tunnel entrance in the distance like a needle's eye, and then run away!
After a sound no less than an explosion appeared, the latest seismometer in the Imperial Academy's earthquake-related research group's research room discovered a small-scale earthquake in the southeastern region of the Empire. The intensity was not high, and the earthquake was not even felt. Therefore, the researcher on duty at this time only recorded the incident in a notebook used for daily information collection and did not report it to his superiors.
Fifteen minutes later, Du Lin, who was chatting with local celebrities and businessmen who came to visit him, apologized, stood up, walked aside, and answered the phone. It only took a few seconds for his face to go from smiling to gloomy and terrifying. After a while, he hung up the phone and walked to the center of the room, "I'm very sorry, gentlemen and ladies, I have encountered some very urgent matters. I am deeply sorry that I need to return to Odis. I solemnly invite you to come and visit Odis if you have time.”
"Sorry!"
As he walked outside, he asked Jose to call Thomas and ask him to send a speedboat to take him to Otis. Something big happened this time!
The engineering auxiliary body completely collapsed, and at least no less than 700 people were buried in the canyon. It is possible that this number will increase even more, because some temporary workers came in for the New Year's salary increase, and they were not registered in the worker list. middle.
Dulin didn't believe what those people said about waiting for rescue. There was no doubt that the vast majority of these people should have been killed. Maybe more than a thousand people died at once. This was definitely the most serious safety incident in the history of the empire. ACCIDENT!
He must get to the scene as soon as possible!
(End of chapter)