128: Chapter 128 First Day of Police Response

The next morning, Station Chief Chen Tao stood in the first-floor lobby.

Behind him stood eighty Firefighters in formation, and in front of him were nine variety show guests and the Production Team.

A Level 2 Commander, with two bars and one star on his shoulders, he was in his early fifties with a crew cut, and his posture was straighter than steel.

"Regarding yesterday's events, on behalf of the entire station, I would like to formally thank you all."

Station Chief Chen Tao bowed.

Behind him, eighty Firefighters saluted simultaneously.

It was neat and uniform; even the angle of their fingertips was identical.

Shen Jue reflexively stood at attention, and the milk carton in his hand nearly fell.

Gu Zeyan subconsciously wanted to put on his professional smile, but when the corner of his mouth moved halfway up, he bit it back and changed it into a stiff nod.

Station Chief Chen Tao straightened up.

"In view of the fact that you have passed the practical test of the fire, and given the foundation established by your preliminary training, the station has decided that, starting today, you may accompany the team on emergency responses."

This time, Shen Jue's milk carton actually fell.

"Really?!"

"Limited to non-fire social assistance tasks," Station Chief Chen Tao added. "You are still far from being ready to fight fires."

Han Su stood in the Firefighter formation, his lips moving, but he didn't make a sound.

He hadn't made it to the fire scene yesterday and hadn't slept well all night. Now that the Station Chief had granted the guests permission to accompany the team on calls, he clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.

Qin Xiaoshan, standing next to him, muttered.

"Brother Su, if they go on calls, does that mean they don't have to train anymore?"

"Shut up."

Zhong Ji, on the other side with his hands in his pockets, winked at Qin Xiaoshan.

"Xiaoshan, they still have to train even if they go on calls."

Qin Xiaoshan looked relieved.

At least they could still have the things Sister Su gave them.

— —

The first emergency call came faster than anyone had expected.

At two in the afternoon, the alarm bell rang.

It wasn't the continuous high-pitched ringing of a fire alarm, but the short, double-tone signal for social assistance.

Captain Cheng came out of the duty room holding the dispatch sheet, his expression subtle—not serious, but rather as if he were holding something back.

"We're heading out. The Public Security Bureau reported a snake in their office and requested assistance."

Shen Jue sprang up from his chair.

"A snake?!"

Ji Shen put down the ping-pong paddle in his hand.

"What kind of snake?"

Captain Cheng looked down at the dispatch sheet.

"The reporter described it as, 'likely non-venomous, but very long.'"

Su Nianzhi's smile didn't waver, but she moved half a step behind He Manzhou.

The movement was so natural that no one noticed.

Except for Li Li.

Two vehicles headed out: one fire truck and one follow-up car for the Production Team. Including the guests, Firefighters, and photographers, there was a grand procession of nearly twenty people.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Public Security Bureau, two police officers were waiting outside.

When one of them saw the fire truck formation, the smile on his face vanished.

The other started glancing at his phone frequently, likely debating whether to post about it on social media.

Captain Cheng jumped off the truck and scanned the team behind him. Two vehicles, nine guests, three Firefighters, four photographers, and one person carrying a boom mic.

All to catch one snake.

He rubbed his face.

"Which office is it in?"

The young officer pointed inside.

"The third floor, in the Criminal Investigation Detachment office. It's in the corner behind a file cabinet; we saw it and retreated."

"A snake in the Criminal Investigation Detachment?" Captain Cheng repeated.

"Yes."

"And where are the people from the Criminal Investigation Detachment?"

"They retreated too."

Li Li didn't say anything from the back. A dignified Criminal Investigation Detachment, fully armed with guns, had retreated because of a snake.

Gu Zeyan adjusted his sleeve and stepped forward from the group.

"I'll go."

Captain Cheng turned to look at him.

"Have you ever caught a snake before?"

"No, but I'm not afraid."

As he said this, he lifted his chin by three degrees—a standard idol angle—but there was no fear in his eyes.

The moment he tackled Shen Jue in the fire yesterday had been real, and volunteering today wasn't entirely for show.

Li Li didn't comment, but moved aside to clear the path for him.

Captain Cheng looked at the dispatch sheet.

"The reporter said it should be non-venomous. Han Su, Qin Xiaoshan, you two assist Gu Zeyan and take the snake catcher up."

The three men entered the building with the photographers following behind, their red recording lights flashing.

The rest of the group waited downstairs.

Shen Jue crossed his arms.

"Brother Li, how big do you think that snake is?"

"The dispatch sheet says, 'very long.'"

"'Very long'—how long is that? Half a meter? A meter?"

Li Li didn't answer.

A scream came from the third floor.

A male voice.

Judging by the tone, it was Gu Zeyan.

Shen Jue's neck shrank a little.

Thirty seconds later, Han Su poked his head out from the stairwell.

"Captain Cheng! This snake... it's not short!"

"How long is it?"

"I'd estimate 1.2 meters or more."

Captain Cheng took two steps up the stairs, then stopped.

"Where's Gu Zeyan?"

"Leaning against the wall. He says he's not afraid, but his face is pale."

The police officers watching downstairs whispered among themselves, and someone took out a phone to start filming.

Captain Cheng went up to the third floor.

Li Li didn't follow, but the Production Team's boom mic did, and fragmented noises could be heard downstairs.

Gu Zeyan's voice: "I'll do it! I'll use the clamp!"

The sound of metal clashing.

"Damn it, it moved!"

Clap—the clamp had likely fallen to the floor.

Han Su was much calmer: "You drive it to the left, I'll take the right!"

Clang.

The file cabinet tipped over.

It was the Criminal Investigation Detachment's file cabinet, which likely contained case files.

Li Li silently held a moment of silence for the Criminal Investigation Detachment for three seconds.

Another twenty seconds passed.

Qin Xiaoshan's voice came down from the third floor, speaking Mandarin with a Guizhou accent.

"Don't panic, don't panic, I've got it."

Silence for five seconds.

Then, Qin Xiaoshan came downstairs carrying a burlap sack. Something was writhing inside the bag, and the outline made it clear it was a snake.

The mouth of the bag was tied tight. He had no expression on his face, as if he had just come back from the cafeteria after getting a meal.

"There are plenty of them in the mountains back home. This kind of non-venomous little snake is nothing to be afraid of; you just have to pinch it by the seven inches."

Gu Zeyan came down behind him, his face pale, but still stubborn.

"I was just strategically retreating to prepare for a second attack."

Shen Jue leaned over to take a look at the burlap sack.

"Xiaoshan, did you just grab it with your bare hands?"

"Yeah."

"You call this a little snake? It's over a meter long!"

Qin Xiaoshan tilted his head and thought about it.

"The ones coiled up under the stove in our village are much thicker than this."

Gu Zeyan's face turned another shade paler.

— —

The second emergency call didn't even really count as a call.

At the entrance of the Fire Station, a few elementary school students ran over carrying an orange traffic cone, sweating profusely.

"Firefighter uncle! A cat is stuck!"

The traffic cone was upside down, and the small opening at the top revealed a furry orange cat's head. It had a look of utter hopelessness.

Li Li tried to pull it out, but the cat let out a yowl and extended its claws through the gap in the cone, scratching a red mark onto the back of his hand.

Fine, you're tough.

Zhong Ji took a pair of tin snips from the equipment room, squatted down, and slowly cut along the seam of the traffic cone. His technique was ridiculously steady.

After three cuts, the traffic cone split open. The orange cat jumped out, rolled on the ground, bared its teeth at Zhong Ji, and dashed into the green belt.

It didn't even look back.

The elementary school students applauded in unison.

Zhong Ji slung the tin snips over his shoulder and walked away. Qin Xiaoshan followed behind him.

"Brother Ji, you're so skilled at cutting traffic cones."

"I often took things apart when I was a kid."

"Take apart what?"

"The family safe, whenever I forgot the password."

Qin Xiaoshan decided not to ask any further.

— —

The third emergency call.

The alarm bell sounded different.

Long, urgent, and continuous.

The speed at which Captain Cheng rushed out of the duty room made all the guests' spines straighten simultaneously.

"A three-year-old child has fallen into a ten-meter-deep pile pit at a construction site. There are vital signs and external bleeding. Dispatch multiple vehicles!"

Three fire trucks, the entire station of over twenty people, and even the guests were crammed into the vehicles.

When they arrived at the scene, the construction site perimeter had already been cordoned off with warning tape. An excavator was stopped by the pit, and the driver stood next to it, his face pale and his hands shaking.

Li Li leaned over to take a look.

It was a circular vertical shaft with a diameter of less than forty centimeters. It was a pitch-black hole; when he shone a flashlight into it, the beam vanished ten meters down.

He could vaguely hear crying. It was faint and intermittent.

A crowd had gathered around the mouth of the pit. The child's mother was collapsed on the ground, her voice already hoarse from screaming, with two workers supporting her on the side.

Captain Cheng lay at the mouth of the pit to measure the diameter.

He stood up with a grim expression.

"Thirty-five centimeters."

Every Firefighter present knew exactly what that number meant.

The thinnest Firefighter had a shoulder width of forty-five centimeters; no one could fit down there.

A rope loop? They had tried. How could an injured three-year-old cooperate? Even if they lowered a loop, they couldn't catch the child.

A cradle? The mouth of the pit was too small to lower it.

Enlarge the hole? The vertical shaft was surrounded by concrete retaining walls, and forced demolition could cause a secondary collapse, burying the child.

Captain Cheng squatted at the mouth of the pit, the sweat on his forehead unheeded.

He turned to look at the veteran Firefighters behind him.

One shook his head.

Two shook their heads.

Everyone was trying to think of a way, but no one spoke up to say, "It can be done."

The child's mother's crying grew louder.

The crying from inside the pit grew weaker.

Time was not on their side.

Li Li squatted next to the mouth of the pit, shining his flashlight downward. In the beam of light, he could see the mud and gravel on the walls of the shaft. The concrete retaining wall extended from the ground to about three meters down before ending, and below that was all exposed soil. Ten meters down, there was a small silhouette.

He was calculating.

A thirty-five-centimeter diameter hole—no one in the station could fit.

His own shoulder width was forty-three; he'd have to cut his shoulders off to get in.

This time, he couldn't think of a solution either, and the system hadn't taught him any bone-shrinking techniques.

Then, a voice came from behind the crowd.

"I'll go down."

Everyone turned.

He Manzhou was standing at the edge of the warning tape, wearing her fire suit with her hat secured, and was pulling on her gloves.

"My shoulder width is thirty centimeters; I can fit into this hole."

Captain Cheng's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

He Manzhou had already walked to the mouth of the pit, squatted down, looked inside, stood back up, and clapped her gloves together.

"Tie the rope around my waist and lower me down upside down. I'll secure the child and bring them up."

She turned to look at Captain Cheng.

"Captain Cheng, just tell me what I need to watch out for."

The crying at the bottom of the pit grew weaker again.

Captain Cheng looked down at the dark mouth of the vertical shaft, then looked up at the twenty-five-year-old diver in front of him.

He didn't nod, and he didn't shake his head.

The walkie-talkie in his hand crackled; the ambulance had arrived.