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墨書 Inktalez
I set off immediately, but after waiting for an hour, Li Wanqing still hadn’t shown up. His phone was off, and my messages went unanswered.
A sudden wave of foreboding washed over me, prompting me to head to his laboratory. At the entrance of the Laboratory Building, a student informed me, "Professor Li is on leave today; he said there was an emergency at home."
This didn’t feel right. Just yesterday, he had mentioned he would share important clues with me. I tried calling again, but it was still off. At that moment, a news alert popped up: "Oasis Environmental announces completion of Series D financing, valuation surpasses ten billion."
In the article, Zheng Mingyuan stood impeccably dressed among the investors, beaming with a bright smile. I scrutinized the list of investors and was taken aback to find the name "Azure Sea Investment."
Just then, a text from an unknown number came through: "You should be more concerned about your safety, young man."
My hands trembled slightly. Clearly, the sender had noticed my investigation. But what worried me more was Li Wanqing's safety. I attempted to search for his home address, but the information available online was scant.
Later that evening at the Newspaper office, the Editor-in-Chief called me into his office. "Old Yang," he said, "Oasis Environmental called and accused you of defamation."
"But I haven’t published anything yet."
"They claim you impersonated a buyer to probe for trade secrets." The Editor-in-Chief handed me a legal notice. "Maybe we should just drop this; their background is not simple..."
I interrupted him, "Do you remember the original purpose of our newspaper?"
The Editor-in-Chief fell silent for a while before replying, "I'll give you three days. Either provide solid evidence or drop this topic."
As I left his office, my phone rang again. It was another unknown number. Hesitating for a moment, I answered it.
"Reporter Yang, this is Manager Xu. I heard you're investigating Oasis Environmental? I might have something you need..."
I hung up the phone and let out a sigh. Perhaps the truth was about to surface. But what awaited me was a far more shocking answer than I had imagined.
In the dimly lit old teahouse, smoke swirled around us. Manager Xu, sat across from me, his teacup already half-cold.
"I should have seen the problem long ago," he said with a bitter smile as he pulled out a stack of documents. "These are the financial records I had prepared, detailing all transactions from equipment purchases to now. Take a look for yourself."
As I flipped through the materials, a staggering figure jumped out at me: over the past two years, Xu's factory had paid nearly 30 million to Oasis Environmental to comply with environmental regulations. This included not only equipment costs but also exorbitant Technical Service Fees and system upgrade fees; even simple repairs came with outrageous charges.
"The most ridiculous part is this," Xu pointed to a loan agreement. "Last year, during a surprise inspection by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, they claimed our emissions exceeded limits and threatened a fine of 5 million. Just when I was worried, Oasis Environmental introduced Azure Sea Investment, saying they could lend us money in an emergency."
I examined the loan agreement closely; the terms were shockingly harsh: an annual interest rate of 15%, with late fees soaring to 30%, and requiring our factory and equipment as collateral.
"You signed this?"
"What choice did I have?" Xu rubbed his reddened eyes. "It was either sign or shut down production. But now I understand; it was all a trap. Those environmental data were manipulated by them!"
I felt a jolt of alarm. "Do you have evidence?"
Xu pulled out a USB drive from his pocket. "Last month when they came to repair the equipment, I had our technician secretly copy the system data. Take a look at this..."
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