122: Chapter 122 He walked into the firelight

Li Li did not hesitate.

He turned and rushed toward the duty room.

The turnout gear was hung in four rows according to size; he yanked down a set, kicked his legs into the trousers, zipped them up tight, fastened the belt, and pulled on the jacket—forty seconds from start to finish.

He grabbed two rolls of 65mm fire hoses from the equipment rack, tucked one under each arm, and bolted out the door.

He almost collided with someone at the corner of the hallway.

It was Gu Zeyan.

He was wearing a quick-dry T-shirt and sweatpants, his hair loose and unstyled.

Seeing Li Li fully geared up and running out with the hoses, he paused for a second.

Then, he reached out and took one roll from Li Li's arms.

He didn't ask why.

He didn't ask what was going on.

He just took it and started running alongside him.

Li Li glanced at him.

Good, quick reaction.

The two of them rushed out the gate of the Fire Station.

Old Zhou, a cameraman from the Production Team, crawled out of a tent with a camera on his shoulder, a sound recorder clipped to his waist, and spare batteries stuffed in his pants pockets.

"Li Li? You guys?"

Before he could finish, Li Li was already crouching beside the fire hydrant at the entrance of the Fire Station.

He jammed the fire wrench into the hydrant cap, twisted—a half turn, a full turn—and the cap came off.

He repeated the action three times until all three outlets were exposed.

Old Zhou chased after him with his camera, and the lens followed Li Li's gaze.

Across the street.

The rolling shutter of the community restaurant was twisted and deformed from being struck by a white SUV, with only the rear of the car visible at the shutter.

Flames from the undercarriage had already licked up to the second-floor window sill.

Thick smoke billowed up from the window gaps and ventilation ducts, and the entire wall of the second floor had turned black.

The third-floor window was open.

Shen Jue, Ji Shen, Jiang Shiyu, and Tao Qianzhi rushed out of the dormitory building.

Shen Jue was in the lead, his shoelaces untied, stepping on his heels and nearly tripping on the lawn.

Ji Shen followed closely behind.

Jiang Shiyu was third, still wearing one headphone.

Tao Qianzhi was last, his steps the steadiest.

Seeing the fire across the street, the four of them collectively froze for a second.

Li Li didn't give them any time.

"Gu Zeyan, Ji Shen! The equipment room—bring out three fire nozzles and three rolls of hose!"

Gu Zeyan dropped the roll he was holding and turned to run.

"Shen Jue, come help me lay out and connect the hoses."

Li Li picked up a roll of hose, gripped the nozzle end with his right hand while supporting the roll with his left, crouched slightly, and flicked his wrist.

The entire roll flew from his hand, spinning and unrolling in the air, then rolling along the ground toward the other side of the street.

The 65mm-thick canvas hose unfurled all the way to the edge of the sidewalk.

It was perfectly flat, without a single kink.

Shen Jue stood there, stunned.

During training, it took him twelve seconds to unroll a hose, and it often got tangled.

Li Li did it in two seconds with just a flick.

That's what you call a gap.

The second roll.

The same movement—wrist strength, the hose flew out, parallel to the first, perfectly aligned.

"Everyone from the Production Team who isn't filming, come over here!"

Li Li shouted toward the Production Team's tent.

Four or five staff members crawled out of the tent, all of them looking completely bewildered.

"Two people, go to both ends of the road and stop the traffic! It's a six-lane two-way road; clear it for me! The hoses need to cross the road!"

The assistant director opened his mouth to speak.

But seeing Li Li standing by the fire hydrant in full turnout gear, his belt fastened tight, and two hoses already laid out across the street, the assistant director shut his mouth.

He grabbed the lighting technician and ran to both ends of the road.

"Jiang Shiyu, Tao Qianzhi!"

The two of them stepped forward.

"Move the onlookers back along the sidewalk, at least thirty meters.

If they won't leave, drag them away."

Jiang Shiyu pulled off his headphones, shoved them into his pocket, and rushed over without a word.

Tao Qianzhi set his thermos on the lawn and followed.

Gu Zeyan and Ji Shen came running out of the equipment room, carrying three fire nozzles and three rolls of hose.

The forty-pound load had both their faces flushed, but they hadn't dropped anything.

"Take them to the other side, and attach a nozzle to the end of each hose."

Gu Zeyan hugged the gear and dashed across the street.

"Then come back and change into your turnout gear! Shen Jue, you go change too! Bring out an air respirator!"

Shen Jue gave a quick "Got it!" and bolted.

Ji Shen rubbed his hands together.

"What about me?"

"Help Gu Zeyan connect the hoses."

Ji Shen rushed over.

The two of them crouched on the other side of the road, twisting the couplings into place just as they had practiced during training.

At both ends of the road, traffic had been stopped.

A crowd of onlookers had gathered, their phones held up in a row.

Someone shouted:

"Where are the Firefighters? Why aren't the professional Firefighters here?"

"Gu Zeyan? Be careful, brother!"

"Why did Shen Yu run away!"

"People filming a variety show coming to put out a fire? Do they think this is a game?"

Li Li crouched beside the fire hydrant, connecting the third hose to the water distributor, his hands never stopping.

All three hoses were connected.

He ran across the street, checked the seals on the connections of the three fire nozzles one by one, and lined them up along the edge of the sidewalk.

Three fire nozzles, three lines of water, all aimed at the fire source on the first floor.

Only by extinguishing the first floor and controlling the second could they get into the third.

The three female guests came down from the dormitory building.

"Go change into fire-resistant gear.

You are not allowed to get close without it."

Su Nianzhi paused for a moment, then turned and ran; Qi Wanyin grabbed He Manzhou and followed.

Shen Jue rushed out from the equipment room, his turnout gear half-on, his helmet crooked by fifteen degrees, and handed over the air respirator.

"Brother Li!"

Li Li took it, fastened the shoulder straps, secured the belt, and hung the mask on his chest for now.

Only then did Shen Jue see the full picture across the street.

The fire on the first floor had spread from the restaurant to the hardware store next door, with flames shooting out from the gaps in the rolling shutters.

At least three windows on the second floor were spewing black smoke, and one pane of glass had already shattered from the high heat.

The third floor.

That small shadow flashed by the window frame.

He saw it clearly.

Five or six years old, face covered in soot, mouth open and shouting something; across the street and through the roar of the flames, not a single word could be heard.

Shen Jue clenched his hands tight.

"Brother Li, there's a child on the third floor!"

"I see."

Li Li fastened the last buckle of the respirator and picked up a fire nozzle.

"Gu Zeyan, Shen Jue, each of you take a nozzle and focus on the fire source on the first floor.

Do not get close; spray from a distance."

"Ji Shen, Jiang Shiyu, take the third one together and spray the second floor.

Switch when you get tired; you must get the water in through the windows."

"If you see sparks on the third floor, spray the third floor; there's a child there!"

"Brother Tao, keep an eye on their rotation; the water nozzles must not stop."

"When everyone is ready, have Brother Tao open the fire hydrant valve.

Open it slowly; if it's too strong, they won't be able to hold onto them."

Gu Zeyan had changed into his turnout gear, his helmet was straight, and the strap was fastened—he was a completely different person from the idol who had been brooding in the dormitory ten minutes ago about how to compete with Li Li.

He ran over and grabbed a nozzle.

Shen Jue grabbed the other.

Li Li turned, picked up the fire wrench, and prepared to go upstairs.

As he walked across the street to the sidewalk, the white SUV embedded in the restaurant's door frame let out a dull thud.

It wasn't the sound of an engine.

It was the sound of the battery pack.

The new energy vehicle's battery pack was undergoing high-temperature thermal runaway—no prelude, no warning.

Boom.

The shockwave exploded out from the direction of the first-floor door frame, carrying shattered glass and metal shards.

Li Li was lifted by the blast, his feet leaving the ground, and he flew three meters before his back slammed into the asphalt road.

A buzzing sound filled his ears.

The world went silent.

Three seconds.

His hearing slowly returned—screams, the sound of metal shards still clattering to the ground, and someone crying in the distance.

He looked down at himself.

The outer layer of his turnout gear was scorched in one spot, and there was a tear in the cuff of his left sleeve.

No blood.

He pushed himself up from the ground and stood.

Across the street, Shen Jue had been tackled to the ground by Gu Zeyan; the two of them rolled half a meter away, and the water nozzle had been thrown aside.

In the third-floor window, the child was gone.

Had they retreated?

Or?

Li Li's ears were still ringing.

He stood up slowly, shook his limbs, and found nothing seriously wrong.

He pulled the mask up from his chest and fastened it over his face.

He turned on the respirator switch.

Compressed air flooded into his lungs.

One breath, two breaths.

He lifted his leg and walked toward the firelight.

Someone behind him was calling his name.

He didn't look back.