143: Chapter 143 Sweeping Thirty Floors Under Heavy Burden

Qin Xiaoshan still had half a rib in his mouth, mumbling, "I haven't spat out the bone yet."

Zhong Ji pushed the bowl half a foot away for him and patted his shoulder. "Are you a Pixiu?"

— —

A row of mini action cameras was placed at the entrance of the equipment room, palm-sized and equipped with mounting clips.

The executive director stopped Li Li. "Today's drill at the China Resources Building will be livestreamed in its entirety. Each guest will have a first-person perspective camera, with ten signal sources going live simultaneously."

Li Li clipped the camera onto his chest.

"Understood."

— —

At 1:45 PM, two fire trucks and one command vehicle pulled out of the Fire Station.

Li Li sat in the back row, his combat suit only half-worn, and the bandage on his left wrist had been replaced with a new one. Gu Zeyan sat opposite him, adjusting his helmet strap three times without finding a comfortable fit. He Manzhou was squeezed into the corner, fumbling with the chest camera, taking ten seconds just to open the lens cover.

Cheng Songyan was in the passenger seat, pressing the walkie-talkie.

"Since you are all newcomers, I will tell you the search and investigation task directly."

"The task starts from the first floor, searching level by level up to the fire floor, the thirty-fifth floor. You must sweep at least thirty floors."

The walkie-talkie hissed.

Han Su's voice: "Thirty floors?"

Cheng Songyan did not repeat himself.

The walkie-talkie was silent for two seconds.

Li Li put on his jacket and zipped it up tight. Thirty floors, carrying twenty kilograms of weight, with no elevator.

He looked down at his left wrist.

Fine, consider it rehabilitation training.

— —

TikTok homepage.

Thursday, 2:00 PM, the most boring time on the entire internet.

Until someone discovered that the Brave Blue Friends Production Team, Shen Jue, Jiang Shiyu, Su Nianzhi, Qi Wanyin, Ji Shen, and Tao Qianzhi—six livestreams—had all gone live simultaneously.

There were no main hosts, just first-person perspectives.

In front of the camera was a large conference room, with "High-Rise Building Fire Escape Points" handwritten on the whiteboard, and a floor plan of the China Resources Building posted next to it, with three evacuation routes marked in red.

The number of viewers in Shen Jue's livestream rose first. He couldn't sit still, the camera kept shaking, the frame tilted, and he reached into his pocket to pull out a gummy candy.

[Shen Jue, can you sit still? Hahahahaha]

[Qi Wanyin's livestream is full of knowledge points, the others are just live footage of motion sickness.]

[Wait, there are nine guests but I only see six. Where is Li Li?]

Subtitles scrolled across the main livestream: "Li Li, Gu Zeyan, and He Manzhou will start their livestreams in a different way, please wait."

— —

In the conference room, the fire instructor was talking about the chimney effect.

Boom.

A sharp sound came from downstairs.

Even with the warning that an explosion would occur, this sound still frightened the guests.

Six folding chairs screeched in unison; Tao Qianzhi's thermos slipped and flew off, tea splashing half his pant leg; the gummy in Shen Jue's mouth was almost swallowed whole.

Outside the window, gray-white smoke clung to the glass curtain wall and surged upward, covering half the window in two seconds.

Qi Wanyin was the first to stand up: "It's on fire!"

The instructor spoke at the same time: "The drill has begun! Act according to the plan!"

The six of them jumped up almost simultaneously. Ji Shen grabbed Tao Qianzhi's arm.

"Brother Tao, let's go!"

Tao Qianzhi bent down to pick up his thermos.

"Don't pick it up!"

"It cost three thousand yuan..."

"Have you calculated how much your life is worth?"

"And I can come back to get it!"

But he still spent two seconds stuffing the thermos into his pocket and followed along.

The six livestreams exploded at the same second:

[Holy crap, did it really explode???]

[Is this a drill or is it really on fire??]

— —

Three kilometers away, the police lights on the two fire trucks flashed.

Three livestreams opened simultaneously.

Li Li's feed was incredibly stable, the camera aimed at the pressure gauge of the air respirator cylinder in his hand; Gu Zeyan was putting on gloves; He Manzhou's camera was aimed at the street scene flying by outside the car window.

[They are in the fire truck!!]

[Six people are trapped upstairs, and these three are going to save them?? A live fire drill??]

The fire truck made the final turn.

Outside the window, the outline of the China Resources Building filled the entire sky. Above the thirty-fifth floor, smoke rolled out from the preset exhaust vents.

Gu Zeyan looked up from the car window, tilting his head back completely, but couldn't see the top of the building.

"Is this really not a set?"

Li Li was still adjusting his mask: "A set can't be this expensive."

Cheng Songyan's voice came from the front row: "The standard for firefighters is that the juniors train the same way the seniors died."

The car stopped.

— —

Outside the building, everyone looked at the flames on the building and the sound of occasional further explosions.

Four people stood in front of Cheng Songyan.

"Clear it floor by floor, confirm there are no fire spots and no trapped personnel, and report via walkie-talkie. Thirty floors of stairs, full load, no elevator."

Zhong Ji shifted the fire hose on his shoulder: "Will we still be able to breathe when we get to the top?"

"Do you think the fire will wait for you to catch your breath before burning?"

Zhong Ji didn't ask again.

"Li Li, take the lead."

The iron door of the fire escape was kicked open by Li Li.

The emergency lighting was ghastly white, the light clinging to the concrete walls. The sound of the air respirator's airflow and footsteps overlapped in the helmet, muffled.

The first step.

Upward.

— —

The total online viewership of the ten livestreams was jumping by 100,000 per second. The official account of the Ministry of Emergency Management reposted it, and the CCTV News client pushed it simultaneously.

[Thirty floors! Climbing thirty floors in full gear!!]

[I'm panting like a dog after climbing six floors, and they are carrying twenty kilograms??]

— —

Fifth floor. Walkie-talkie: "Fifth floor cleared."

Eighth floor. Walkie-talkie: "Eighth floor cleared."

Twelfth floor. Han Su's breathing became heavier.

Zhong Ji was behind him: "Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth."

Han Su didn't reply, his pace instead quickening by half a beat; the livestream was watching.

Fifteenth floor.

Gu Zeyan was much slower on every step.

Li Li didn't look back; his own thighs were starting to ache too.

In the first-person view, corners came one after another, endless.

The bullet comment format changed, leaving only three rows:

[Keep going]

[Keep going]

[Keep going]

— —

Upstairs.

Qi Wanyin took the five guests and more than twenty other volunteers and retreated into the refuge area on the fortieth floor. The door closed, wet towels were stuffed into the door cracks, and they crouched against the wall.

Smoke seeped in from the ventilation ducts, not thick, but choking, though not dangerous; it was special smoke.

Shen Jue covered his mouth with his sleeve: "I really regret eating that piece of rib now."

Ji Shen squatted next to him: "What does that have to do with the ribs?"

"It's heavy. An extra two taels of meat is an extra two taels of burden. We have to go down forty floors later."

Qi Wanyin scanned the room: "Talk less, don't waste your energy."

Tao Qianzhi unscrewed his thermos for the fourth time and took a sip of goji berry tea.

Everyone waited calmly for rescue.

— —

The landing platform at the twentieth floor.

Li Li stopped for three seconds.

He bent down to take the fire axe from his waist and switched it to his right hand.

He looked up.

Starting from the twenty-fifth floor, the emergency lights flickered, and the smell of smoke seeped downward.

"Continue."

Without saying another word, he lifted his foot and stepped up.

Gu Zeyan wiped his face and followed. Han Su gritted his teeth. Zhong Ji was at the very back, his steps steadier than the first three.

— —

Twenty-fifth floor.

The smoke arrived.

Gray-white, swirling in the emergency light.

A thin layer of fog formed on the inside of Li Li's mask, and he reached out to wipe it.

In Gu Zeyan's livestream, the first-person view the audience saw was Li Li's back, the words "Luohu Firefighting" on it, his shoulders heaving, his pace never stopping.

On the first step of the twenty-sixth floor, Gu Zeyan's thigh muscle twitched.

His lips moved, but he didn't make a sound.

He switched the fire axe to his other hand and continued.

The bullet comments changed:

[Gu Zeyan, you can do it!!]

[Don't give up!!]

No one remembered that he was an idol from the Company; millions of people only saw a twenty-two-year-old young man, wearing twenty kilograms of gear, gritting his teeth and climbing up.

— —

Twenty-eighth floor.

Cheng Songyan's voice on the walkie-talkie: "Report your position."

"Twenty-eighth floor, all cleared. Seven more floors, the smoke is getting thicker."

"Watch your air cylinder reserve."

Li Li glanced at the pressure gauge; fortunately, it was enough.

He lifted his foot.

Twenty-ninth floor, thirtieth floor.

Han Su's breathing drowned out the sound of the respirator's airflow.

Zhong Ji patted his back from behind.

"Stay steady."

Han Su's back straightened by two centimeters.

— —

The iron door of the thirtieth floor appeared above the corner.

Under the crack of the door, the smoke connected into a gray curtain.

Li Li stood in front of the door.

He took a few deep breaths.

Fire axe in his right hand.

His left hand touched the door handle.

He pulled the door open.

Standing behind the door was a person.