170: Chapter 170 The fire axe will save the day!

When Li Li rushed out of the restaurant entrance, an orange-red glow had already lit up over at the Huarun Shopping Mall.

It wasn't lights.

Lights don't have this kind of heat.

He ran the two hundred meters in less than a minute.

Old Zhou was following behind, carrying the equipment, his steps becoming shorter and more erratic as he struggled to keep up, his throat raspy from gasping for air.

At the front of the mall, flames were already shooting out from the first-floor windows.

Shattered glass covered the ground.

A wave of heat pushed outward; getting within twenty meters was enough to scorch one's face.

Black smoke billowed from the second-floor windows, with tongues of flame occasionally darting out from within.

Li Li stopped across the street and scanned the area.

This is bad.

The first floor was already fully ablaze.

The second floor had caught fire.

The new energy vehicle battery was undergoing thermal runaway; the temperature was high, extinguishing it would be difficult, and the showroom next to it was full of flammable renovation materials.

The most troublesome part was the mall's atrium.

It had an open structure.

The fire and smoke would funnel upward through the atrium.

The longer the people on the third floor waited, the more dangerous it would become.

Li Li turned around.

"Old Zhou, don't follow me."

Old Zhou shifted the equipment to his other shoulder.

"Brother Li..."

"It's not safe inside. You film from the outside."

Old Zhou hesitated for half a second, then nodded.

He quickly added another sentence.

"The other cameraman just said that Song Yaoshan has sent you a lot of messages. Jiang Rumu has already connected with him via video call."

Li Li's footsteps faltered.

Old Zhou continued shouting:

"He's on the third floor of the mall, at Xinrongji Restaurant, all by himself."

The third floor.

Xinrongji Restaurant.

All by himself?

The first thing that popped into Li Li's mind wasn't a rescue route.

It was the price.

This little brat, sixteen years old, eating at Xinrongji Restaurant alone?

And in a private room, no less?

When he was sixteen, he was fighting people in the cafeteria for the last vegetable bun.

Sometimes, the gap between people doesn't need to make sense.

Just looking at the menu is enough.

Li Li snuffed out these stray thoughts.

"Got it."

He turned and ran toward the side of the mall.

The main entrance was impassable.

Heat radiation, shattered glass, and thick smoke had completely blocked the front.

Without a fireproof suit or a breathing apparatus, charging in blindly would just add more casualties for the Fire Station to deal with.

There was a secondary entrance on the side.

Before he even reached the door, Li Li saw a few security guards spraying handheld fire extinguishers.

Dry powder extinguishers.

Small ones.

Aimed at the electric vehicle fire.

They finished one bottle and swapped it for another.

After swapping, the fire only got bigger.

The security guards were already being forced to retreat.

The side door was wide open.

People kept rushing out from inside.

Someone carrying a child.

Someone carrying shopping bags.

A waiter in uniform.

And a customer dragging a suitcase.

Everyone was running out.

Li Li pushed his way in against the flow of the crowd.

With every step, he had to dodge several people.

A woman's paper bag swung into his face, the corner striking him hard enough to make his vision go black.

He side-stepped the second wave of people and forced his way through the door.

"Hey! What are you doing? Go out! Don't go in!"

A staff member in a white uniform shouted at him.

In his early twenties.

An employee badge hung on his chest.

Customer Service Manager, Lin Fan.

Li Li didn't stop.

"Firefighter. Take me to a fire hydrant."

Lin Fan froze.

Plain clothes.

No helmet.

No fireproof suit.

His wrist was wrapped in gauze.

He didn't look like a Firefighter on duty at all.

But Lin Fan's legs had already started moving.

Perhaps it was because, at this moment, everyone else was running out, and only this person was walking in.

And walking very steadily.

Lin Fan turned around.

"Follow me!"

The two of them ran along the side corridor, avoiding the fire at the front.

The further in they went, the hotter the air became.

Gray smoke was billowing from the vents on the ceiling.

The central air conditioning had already stopped.

The emergency broadcast was still playing on a loop.

"Please remain calm and evacuate in an orderly manner..."

The voice echoed in the empty corridor, making things feel even more chaotic.

When Li Li passed a corner, he glanced toward the atrium.

Flames were leaping up from the first floor.

There were already open flames along the railing of the second-floor corridor.

The decorative ceiling panels were crackling as they burned, and black smoke was pressing upward along the ceiling.

The glass railing on the third floor hadn't shattered yet.

But the smoke had already reached it.

Song Yaoshan was up there.

Li Li passed a fire hydrant cabinet.

A red cabinet.

It was located near the atrium.

Too close to the fire.

Don't use it yet.

Lin Fan led him around two more corners to another fire hydrant.

Li Li raised his hand and punched.

The glass shattered.

He pulled out the hose and knelt to connect the nozzle.

He connected one end to the hydrant outlet.

Tightened it.

Connected the other end to the water nozzle.

Locked the latch.

Twelve seconds.

Just as Lin Fan reached out, before he could even touch the hose, Li Li had already stood up.

"Open the valve."

Lin Fan quickly turned the valve.

The water pressure built up.

The hose swelled.

Li Li gripped the nozzle, aimed it at the perimeter of the fire in the atrium, and pulled the trigger.

A stream of water sprayed out.

He didn't aim directly at the center of the fire.

A single hose.

A single person.

No equipment.

Trying to tackle it head-on would be suicide.

Control the edges first.

The walls.

The floor.

The decorative materials that hadn't caught fire yet.

Soak everything.

Cool it down.

Fire retardant.

Contain the fire within its current range.

Afterward, he adjusted the angle, raised the nozzle, and sprayed toward the top of the atrium.

A mist of water shot into the smoke layer.

The heat was pushed down a bit.

But the fire didn't recede.

The new energy vehicle battery was undergoing thermal runaway, not just a normal open flame.

Pouring water on the surface was useless; the reaction inside was still ongoing.

Every few seconds, it would flare outward again.

Li Li held the nozzle, his face aching from the heat.

The gauze on his left wrist was soaked through.

This little bit of water could only buy time.

Before the fire trucks arrived, he had to keep the fire from spreading to the third floor.

But Song Yaoshan was still trapped on the third floor.

Li Li tilted his head and glanced at Lin Fan.

This guy hadn't run away yet.

Fine.

He could be useful.

"Where is Xinrongji Restaurant?"

Lin Fan wiped the sweat from his face and pointed to the top of the atrium.

"Third floor, right above the fire."

Directly above.

Li Li almost laughed in frustration.

Song Yaoshan's luck was on par with his own.

If the two of them ever sat down at the same table to eat, the restaurant owner had better check the fire hydrant water pressure first.

Just as Li Li was preparing to continue suppressing the fire, he suddenly noticed an area at the front of the first floor that was glowing bright.

After the wall burned away, a large transparent structure was revealed inside.

He immediately asked:

"What kind of shop is that over there?"

Lin Fan looked in the direction he was pointing.

"An aquarium. A high-end one. The entrance is on the second floor, and part of the exhibit area goes down to the first floor."

"Are there water tanks inside?"

"Yes. Many glass tanks."

"What about big ones?"

Lin Fan swallowed hard.

"There's an especially large one. Five meters high, twenty meters long, an entire wall of a tank. It's full of goldfish."

"Material?"

"I'm not sure. It's very thick. The store's information board mentioned it, and it was worth a lot of money, but I don't remember."

Li Li handed the nozzle to him.

"Hold it steady."

Lin Fan caught it with both hands, but the weight of the nozzle made it sink, and he almost dropped it.

Li Li helped him steady the nozzle.

"Aim at that corner over there, don't spray people, and don't cut off the water. As soon as the fire crosses that line, you retreat."

Lin Fan's voice was tight.

"What are you going to do?"

Li Li had already turned and walked back to the fire hydrant cabinet.

On the bottom shelf of the cabinet was a fire axe.

A red handle.

A steel axe head.

He picked it up and weighed it in his hand.

Five meters high.

Twenty meters long.

Full of water.

Located near the center of the fire.

If he could release those dozens of tons of water, it would at least disperse the perimeter of the first-floor fire and suppress some of the heat.

The water vapor pushing upward would also buy some time for the third floor.

But he couldn't just smash it randomly.

A large water tank isn't necessarily made of ordinary glass.

It could be laminated glass, or it could be acrylic.

The fire axe might not be able to break the surface directly.

He needed to find a weak point.

The fixing frame.

The maintenance hatch.

The drain pipe.

The connections after being heated.

Li Li looked up at the second-floor stairwell.

Smoke was rising.

No open flames.

He could still go up.

He turned and looked at Lin Fan again.

"Has the main power for the mall been cut?"

Lin Fan nodded quickly.

"The engineering department cut most of the areas just now; it should be off in the fire area."

"Should be?"

Lin Fan's face paled slightly.

"I'll have someone confirm it right away!"

Li Li carried the axe toward the stairs.

He walked two steps, then stopped.

"Is the aquarium insured?"

Lin Fan opened his mouth, unable to respond for a long time.

"Huh?"

Li Li didn't wait for his answer.

Lin Fan finally reacted and shouted from behind:

"You're not going to smash the water tank, are you?"

Li Li had already stepped onto the first step of the stairs.

Smoke was pressing down from above.

The fire axe struck the handrail, making a crisp sound.