169: Chapter 169 He went to save you

The tabletop was still trembling.

The garlic shrimp in the dish slid two centimeters away.

The soy sauce dish overturned.

Brown sauce dripped down the white tablecloth.

Fang Ruowei's chopsticks fell to the floor and bounced once.

The shrimp shell in Wen Tang's mouth got stuck, and she coughed twice.

Cen Ye had already shrunk half his body under the table.

Han Xubai's hand, which was pushing up his glasses, stopped in mid-air, and half the tea in his cup spilled out.

Yin Ruoying was still sitting.

But the bottle cap in her hand was no longer being twisted.

Jiang Rumu didn't move either.

Li Li's right hand was already stretched out in front of her.

The movement was too fast.

It was so fast that Jiang Rumu only realized what had happened after she looked down and saw that arm.

The livestream feed froze for half a second.

Then the comments exploded.

"What was that sound???"

"An explosion? What happened in Pengcheng?"

"Look at Li Li's hand! His first reaction was to shield Jiang Rumu!"

"I'll ship them first, we can talk about the rescue later."

"Disaster-magnet status confirmed."

"Why does he cause explosions wherever he goes?"

"Dubai exploded, wildfires burned, and he even managed to encounter an explosion while filming a variety show."

Li Li pulled his hand back.

Just as he was about to stand up, the private room door was pushed open from the outside.

Lao Zhou rushed in.

The cameraman for Busy Roommates still had the camera on his shoulder, his forehead covered in sweat.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's not on our side."

Lao Zhou blurted out first, gasping for breath.

"It's at the China Resources Mall next door. A new energy vehicle caught fire in the first-floor showroom, and several cars nearby have caught fire too."

"The first floor of the mall is full of brand showrooms. People haven't been fully evacuated yet, and the fire is uncontrollable."

Cen Ye crawled out from under the table and patted his pants.

"Damn, I thought the restaurant exploded."

Han Xubai set down his cup.

"New energy vehicle batteries suffer from thermal runaway. If several burn in a row, the temperature will rise very quickly. The smoke is also troublesome; in a space like a mall, smoke travels faster than people."

Cen Ye looked at him.

"You're a lawyer, you know this too?"

"I learned it from consumer rights protection cases."

"Your range of knowledge is a bit scary."

The tension in the private room eased a little.

At least it wasn't happening right under their feet.

But Li Li had already stood up.

Jiang Rumu looked up.

"Going to fight the fire?"

Li Li pulled out a tissue and wiped the oil off his hands.

"This place isn't close to the nearest Fire Station. Receiving the call, dispatching the trucks, and arriving at the scene will take at least ten minutes."

He threw the tissue into the trash can by the table.

"I'm going over first."

Jiang Rumu stood up and blocked his path.

"You don't have fireproof gear, don't try to be a hero."

Li Li stopped.

Jiang Rumu continued.

"Reconnaissance is fine. Evacuation is fine. Entering the fire zone is not."

Li Li nodded.

"You'd better remember that."

Li Li pulled open the private room door.

Lao Zhou chased after him with the camera on his shoulder, and the sound of their footsteps quickly disappeared down the corridor.

The private room door closed again.

It was quiet for three seconds.

Cen Ye put his chopsticks back on the table.

"Every time I'm in the same frame as Brother Li, my heart never gets a rest."

Han Xubai picked up his teacup.

"From a legal perspective, this is called long-term exposure to high-risk assets. If insurance companies saw his name, they would have to recalculate the premiums."

Cen Ye turned his head.

"Can you stop giving legal lectures at a disaster scene?"

"Professional habit."

"That habit of yours is going to get you beaten up."

Wen Tang put down her phone and stood up.

"How about... we go take a look too?"

Yin Ruoying didn't move.

"Look at what?"

Wen Tang paused for a moment.

"The scene must be very chaotic, what if we can help?"

Yin Ruoying put her water bottle back on the table.

"If you go, passersby will spot celebrities at the scene and crowd around to take pictures."

"Fire trucks need to get in, but the crowd will be blocking them."

"That's one less rescue lane."

She leaned back against the chair.

"Are you going to help, or are you going to cause more trouble?"

Wen Tang stood where she was, her hand still resting on the back of the chair.

The livestream comments flipped to a new layer.

"Yin Ruoying isn't wrong this time."

"Gawking at a time like this is just adding to the chaos."

"Is Wen Tang trying to leech off the scene?"

"Maybe she's genuinely worried, don't be too harsh."

"If she were truly worried, she should stay put."

Wen Tang sat back down.

She lowered her head, fingers pressing against the side of the cup, and didn't speak again.

Fang Ruowei handed her a glass of water.

"Everyone is just worried, wanting to help is a good thing. It's just that the scene really shouldn't be chaotic."

Standard smoothing things over. Offending no one.

Cen Ye sucked his teeth but didn't respond.

Yin Ruoying didn't continue to press the issue either.

Enough was said. Any further, and it would just be bullying.

Just then, Yin Ruoying glanced at Li Li's seat.

The cup. The tissues. Half a plate of unfinished fried noodles.

And a mobile phone.

The screen was lit up. Vibrating. Once. Twice. Three times.

Messages were popping up one after another.

Yin Ruoying reached out and picked it up.

"He forgot his phone."

On the screen, WeChat notifications were piled up, filling the display.

Yin Ruoying swiped. Locked screen. She couldn't unlock it.

Jiang Rumu stood up.

She walked over and took the phone.

The phone screen was still lit.

Jiang Rumu turned to the side, avoiding the nearest camera, and blocked the bottom half of the screen with her hand.

Four-digit input. Unlocked successfully.

The entire private room went silent.

The chopsticks in Cen Ye's hand fell to the edge of the plate and bounced once.

Han Xubai's movement of pushing up his glasses froze.

Fang Ruowei held her water cup, not taking a single sip.

Wen Tang looked up, her breathing becoming light.

Yin Ruoying looked at the phone in Jiang Rumu's hand, not saying a word.

The number of people in the livestream was still jumping up.

The comments directly flooded the screen.

"She knows the password????"

"Jiang Rumu, explain yourself."

"Unlocked it in one go! Once!"

"The numbers weren't captured, but she really opened it."

"They even share phone passwords?"

"The evidence for Li Li and Rumu is irrefutable."

"The judge doesn't need to come, I declare them real."

Jiang Rumu ignored the comments.

She opened WeChat.

Song Yaoshan's chat box was pinned at the top.

There were over a dozen unread messages.

The earliest one was from eight minutes ago.

Song Yaoshan: "Brother Li, the mall is on fire, I'm on the third floor, there's quite a bit of smoke, how do I save myself?"

Song Yaoshan: "Is covering my nose and mouth with a wet towel useful?"

Song Yaoshan: "The smoke is getting thicker, the first floor is all fire, I can't go down the stairs."

Song Yaoshan: "Should I run first? Should I run up or down?"

Song Yaoshan: "I can't run out."

Song Yaoshan: "The elevator stopped, there's smoke at the stairwell."

Song Yaoshan: "Brother Li, are you there?"

Jiang Rumu scrolled down.

The next item was a video.

Nine seconds.

She opened it.

The footage was shaking violently.

The background was full of gray smoke.

A young man was leaning against the wall, the phone's flashlight shining on his face, two streaks of gray under his nose.

His voice was trembling.

"This is my will."

"My name is Song Yaoshan, my ID number is..."

"I voluntarily donate all the property under my name to Li Li's Qingshan Welfare Institute..."

The video cut off there.

Nine seconds.

No one in the private room made a sound.

Cen Ye clutched his pant legs, all his snarky comments bottled back up.

Han Xubai set down his cup.

The validity of a minor's will. Emergency avoidance. Mall management liability. Fire exits.

These things swirled in his mind for a moment, then he suppressed them.

Now was not the time to talk about the law.

Jiang Rumu switched directly to a video call.

Dialing. Waiting. Two seconds. Connected.

On the screen, Song Yaoshan's face was very close.

The background was gray and hazy, with orange light flickering behind him.

He saw the person on this side of the screen and was stunned for a moment.

The next second, he perked up completely.

"J-Jiang Rumu?!"

Sixteen years old.

Trapped in a third-floor restaurant.

The smoke was getting thicker.

His first reaction was still fanboying.

Jiang Rumu didn't give him time to be excited.

"Where are you? Your specific location."

Song Yaoshan coughed twice and turned the phone to the side.

"Third floor of the China Resources Mall, Xinrongji Restaurant. I was eating just now, the first floor suddenly exploded, the elevator stopped, there's too much smoke at the stairwell, I can't get down."

Jiang Rumu picked up her own phone and opened the dialer.

"Are you injured?"

"No, just choked."

"Are there other people in the restaurant?"

"Yes. The waiters took a group away and left through the staff passage."

Song Yaoshan coughed a few more times.

"But smoke is starting to come from that side now too. I'm in a private room, I ran too slow and didn't keep up."

Jiang Rumu put the phone on the table, turned on speakerphone, and her finger pressed 119.

On the other side, she continued addressing Li Li's phone.

"Is the room door closed?"

"Closed."

"Is there smoke coming in through the door gap?"

"Yes, there's smoke underneath."

"Take a wet towel or tablecloth and block the door gap. Don't stand, stay close to the ground. If you can find water, pour it on the cloth."

Song Yaoshan immediately moved.

The camera shook.

The people in the private room finally snapped out of it.

Cen Ye stood up.

"Water! Towels! He needs water over there!"

Han Xubai held him down.

"He's at another mall, pouring water here is useless."

Cen Ye froze.

"I'm muddled with anxiety."

Yin Ruoying pushed aside the spare tissues on the table to make space.

"Make him state the private room number clearly, don't just say the restaurant."

Jiang Rumu nodded.

"Song Yaoshan, private room number."

Sounds of rummaging came from the other side of the screen.

"Let me check... Third floor, Xinrongji Restaurant, Lanting Room."

Jiang Rumu immediately reported the address to 119.

"Third floor of the Luohu China Resources Mall, Lanting Room at Xinrongji Restaurant. A sixteen-year-old boy is trapped, name is Song Yaoshan, no external injuries, inhaled smoke, there is smoke at the stairwell, and smoke is starting to enter the staff passage as well."

The operator's voice came through the speakerphone.

"Please stay on the line, do not hang up."

Jiang Rumu gave a hum of acknowledgement and switched back to Song Yaoshan.

Song Yaoshan pressed a wet cloth under the door gap, squatting on the floor, his voice sounding very muffled.

"Sister Jiang, is Brother Li there?"

Jiang Rumu paused for a moment.

Li Li had already gone out.

Towards the China Resources direction.

No phone.

No location tracking.

But he would definitely enter the mall perimeter.

He would definitely look for the fire escape.

He would definitely ask if there were any trapped personnel.

Jiang Rumu looked at the teenager on the screen.

"He went to save you."

No one in the private room moved.

The livestream comments paused for half a beat, then started scrolling like crazy again.

On the other side of the screen, Song Yaoshan also quieted down.

A few seconds later, he nodded.

"I knew it."

"Brother Li wouldn't ignore me."

Just as he finished speaking, the smoke behind the camera pressed down another layer.

Song Yaoshan coughed violently.

The phone screen shook.

The next second.

A "bang" sound came from the screen.

The door of the Lanting Room was struck by something from the outside.