130: Chapter 130 The Eccentric School

For the next two days, the heavens seemed to hold a grudge against Pengcheng.

The weather in early May skipped spring entirely, with temperatures soaring to thirty-seven degrees, hot enough to make the ground steam.

The news mentioned something about the El Niño phenomenon, but Li Li didn't finish listening because the alarm rang again.

The first day, six non-fire incidents. The second day, eight.

Catching snakes, rescuing cats, picking locks, trees falling on cars, people trapped in elevators, elderly people falling, children getting their heads stuck in railings—the daily routine of a Firefighter is far closer to the job scope of a neighborhood committee auntie than to a fire scene.

The station's regular Firefighters were completely tied up by various fire alarms. Station Chief Chen Tao adjusted the shifts three times in one day, and all these remaining non-fire incidents were dumped onto the team of guests led by Cheng Songyan.

In his words, this would not only increase the intensity for the guests but also promote firefighting work.

For the first few calls, Shen Jue still had the energy to imitate an old man trapped in an elevator while in the vehicle.

"Young man, press the door open button! I did! Which one? The red one! Sir, that's the alarm!"

Ji Shen laughed and slapped his thigh. Gu Zeyan's mouth twitched, but he didn't laugh, because he was the one who had gone to calm that old man down, only to get poked in the knee by the man's cane.

After finishing the last call on the first day, Shen Jue stopped talking.

By the afternoon of the second day, Gu Zeyan was leaning against the fire truck seat, eyes half-closed. His idol image was shattered on the ground, and no one was there to help him pick up the pieces.

By evening, when Qi Wanyin got off the truck, her walking posture was indistinguishable from that of a seventy-year-old woman.

Su Nianzhi's makeup was ruined, He Manzhou's ponytail was loose, and Tao Qianzhi's knees were covered with two layers of medicinal patches.

Ji Shen slumped in a cafeteria chair, staring at the ceiling.

"I used to think playing table tennis was tiring."

No one replied.

"Now I think playing table tennis is like a spa."

Shen Yu nodded in agreement.

"Even Brother Li doesn't have the energy to call Sister Mu."

Qin Xiaoshan walked over with his third bowl of rice and sat down, his chewing frequency completely undiminished.

He was the only human perpetual motion machine in the entire team, with no battery anxiety whatsoever.

The third day.

Cheng Songyan stood in front of the dispatch board, clutching two dispatch slips. His face didn't show fatigue, but resignation.

"There are too many; one truck can't handle it. Split into two groups."

He scanned the people present.

"I'll take Zhong Ji, Gu Zeyan, Qi Wanyin, He Manzhou, and Tao Qianzhi in Truck 1. Han Su and Qin Xiaoshan will take Li Li, Shen Jue, Ji Shen, Jiang Shiyu, and Su Nianzhi in Truck 2."

Gu Zeyan stood up 0.5 seconds slower than he had the previous two days.

"Captain Cheng, can I switch to Truck 2?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because Truck 1 is missing someone who can move things."

Gu Zeyan opened his mouth, then closed it again.

The plan to compete with Li Li had failed; after the show aired over the next few days, he would definitely get chewed out by President Zhou again.

Fine, his role had shifted from talent show idol to porter.

Over at Truck 2, Han Su held the walkie-talkie, standing at the front of the vehicle with a very tight expression.

This was his first time leading a team independently, although the composition of the "team" was roughly equivalent to a reality show crew plus two newly hired probationary Firefighters.

But at least it was leading a team.

He specifically clipped the walkie-talkie onto his left shoulder, adjusting the angle twice.

Li Li was buckling his seatbelt in the back row. He glanced down at the position of Han Su's walkie-talkie; the angle was exactly the same as how Captain Cheng clipped his.

He really picked the wrong person to imitate.

They ran to three locations in the morning: a burst water pipe, a false alarm from a gas detector, and one more.

"The handcuffs key was dropped?"

Shen Jue's volume was so loud that the vehicle's walkie-talkie was vibrating along with it.

At a police station in the Luohu District, two officers stood at the door of the interrogation room, with a young man in handcuffs sitting in the middle. He looked gentle and weak, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a plaid shirt, looking like a programmer.

The handcuffs were locked securely.

The key had fallen into the gap of the floor drain in the interrogation room.

Li Li squatted on the ground and used a wire to hook it for three minutes, fishing the key out of the gap.

When unlocking it, the handcuffed man kept his head down the whole time and said nothing.

The officers thanked them, and the guests walked out.

Shen Jue leaned in close to Li Li.

"Brother Li, what do you think that guy did? He looks quite refined."

"I don't know."

"Could it be a financial crime? Like cooking the books?"

Ji Shen chimed in from behind: "I think it's online fraud, the kind that goes 'Hello, I am your boss'."

Jiang Shiyu: "Looking at his face, maybe it's voyeurism."

Su Nianzhi covered her mouth and chuckled. She didn't join the discussion, but slowed her pace slightly to listen.

Qin Xiaoshan was the last to get on the truck. He looked back at the police station gate and said very seriously:

"No matter what he did, dropping the key to his own handcuffs is just too embarrassing."

The officer closing the door behind them paused for a moment.

The truck drove three blocks, and everyone was still chatting casually about that unlucky handcuff key.

Suddenly, a burst of static came through the walkie-talkie.

Then the voice of the command center cut in.

"Luohu Truck 2, Luohu Truck 2."

Han Su pressed the talk button.

"Luohu Truck 2 receiving."

"Report your current location."

Han Su reported the road name.

The command center paused for a second.

"Your return route passes by Cuiyuan Middle School. A report has been received from the public that someone is standing on the edge of the roof of the school's teaching building, suspected of attempting suicide. Firefighting forces are needed on-site to deploy a life-saving air cushion. Please proceed to handle it."

The truck went quiet.

Han Su's hand holding the walkie-talkie froze for a beat.

"Command Center, this vehicle is the Production Team's accompanying fire truck. There are only two probationary Firefighters on board; the rest are all variety show guests."

"All nearby firefighting forces are currently responding to calls. The closest reinforcement truck is expected to arrive in twenty-five minutes. You are the closest firefighting unit."

The tone on the other end of the walkie-talkie left no room for negotiation.

"Please proceed immediately."

Han Su swallowed and pressed the talk button.

"Luohu Truck 2 received, proceeding to handle."

He turned his head to look at Qin Xiaoshan.

"Let's go, Cuiyuan Middle School."

Qin Xiaoshan turned the steering wheel, the front of the truck swerved, and Li Li grabbed the overhead handle.

Everyone in the truck stopped talking.

The mouths that were chatting about the handcuff key three minutes ago were all shut. Shen Jue rested both hands on his knees, his fingers still. Ji Shen leaned against the truck wall, watching the street trees passing by outside the window. Su Nianzhi tucked her loose hair behind her ear, and Jiang Shiyu leaned against the seat with his eyes closed, but his breathing rhythm had changed.

When the fire truck turned onto Cuiyuan Road, they could see the police cars at the school gate from afar.

Three of them.

The cordon had already been set up, and several uniformed officers were standing outside the iron gate. A crowd had gathered at the school gate—some holding up phones, some standing on tiptoe to peer inside, others whispering to each other.

Qin Xiaoshan parked the truck steadily.

Li Li was the first to jump off the truck.

The school gate faced a U-shaped teaching building, with a six-story main body and a one-story attic-style roof equipment level. The opening of the U-shape faced the school gate, and in the middle was a small plastic-paved square. At the end of the square was a wide staircase leading from the second-floor platform to the first-floor playground.

Above the stairs, on the roof cornice of the seventh floor.

A figure.

Very small, sitting there, with both legs dangling outside.

Han Su walked over to coordinate with the lead police officer. Li Li stood where he was, looking up, assessing the relationship between that position and the ground.

In the staircase area in the middle of the U-shape, the slope was about thirty degrees, with steps extending from the second floor to the ground of the first-floor playground.

Damn.

The air cushion couldn't be placed flat.

If placed there, it would slide, and once it slid down, it would lose its purpose as a cushion.

Han Su obviously saw it too. He spoke to the police for a moment, and when he turned and walked back, he was clenching his back teeth.

Qin Xiaoshan carried the air cushion bag over to Li Li, looked up at that position for a long time, and then said:

"Can we ask him... to move a bit?"

Shen Jue, Ji Shen, and Jiang Shiyu turned to look at him simultaneously.

Qin Xiaoshan scratched his head.

"I mean, move twenty meters to the left, and it's flat ground below..."

No one replied.

Qin Xiaoshan shrank his neck.

"I was just saying."

Li Li didn't respond to this, because he turned around and saw the accompanying cameraman adjusting the camera angle, and the red light was already on.

He walked over.

"Turn it off."

The cameraman was stunned.

"Brother Li, we...?"

"It's highly likely a child up there."

Li Li's voice was very flat.

"Broadcasting this kind of footage would be a secondary trauma to that child, and in all likelihood, it won't be broadcastable anyway. If something goes wrong, the trouble would be too great. Turn it off."

The cameraman looked at the director's assistant next to him. The director's assistant hesitated for two seconds, nodded, and made a cutting gesture.

The red light went out.

All cameras were put away.

Inside the teaching building, a teacher stood by the window of every classroom, facing away from the window, using their body to block the students' view of the outside. Some teachers were teaching, some were standing silently, and some were whispering something.

In the U-shaped building, sounds carried clearly.

One could hear a female teacher crying.

Li Li, Han Su, and Qin Xiaoshan unloaded the air cushion, safety equipment, and rescue ropes from the fire truck together. Shen Jue and Ji Shen helped out. Jiang Shiyu carried a roll of safety rope on his shoulder, silent but efficient. Su Nianzhi stood inside the cordon without moving; it wasn't that she didn't want to help, but she truly couldn't.

The group carried the equipment and walked into the school gate.

Li Li walked at the very back.

When passing by the crowd at the school gate, two middle-aged women were leaning against an electric scooter, chatting.

One of them lowered her voice, but because the distance was so close, every word fell into his ears.

"Is this school haunted? Someone jumped just last week, and now another one?"

The other replied.

"Kids these days are under too much pressure. I heard that school posts the monthly exam rankings on the wall..."

Li Li's pace slowed for a beat.

Last week.

Someone just jumped.

He looked up at the small figure on the seventh-floor cornice.

The sun shone on that child, casting a short shadow onto the exterior wall of the building, hanging in mid-air, unable to reach the ground.

Han Su called out to him from the front.

"Li Li, hurry up!"

Li Li withdrew his gaze, carried the rescue rope, and walked into the school gate.

Behind him, the two women were still chatting.

"That one who jumped last week, did they save him?"

"Haven't heard, probably didn't make it..."

The iron gate closed behind them, cutting off the noise from outside the school.

The echoes of the U-shaped teaching building amplified the sound of footsteps in the first-floor corridor threefold.

On the seventh-floor cornice, the figure's legs swayed.