The night vision device made it easy to see the terrain, but it was useless against the smoke.
The smoke spread at an unbelievable speed, and the temperature rose rapidly too, yet their pace grew slower and slower.
The exposed skin was scorched as if walking down a forty-degree street. Sweat kept flowing down as the smoke irritated the eyes, forcing them to secrete tears for relief.
They crouched lower and lower, crawling on all fours, but the three theaters were so far away that it seemed they could never reach the end.
This was when the importance of strengthened cards became apparent.
Physique usually lacked presence, but it was the foundation of all physical stats. With this up, resistance improved significantly. Coughs arose one after another behind them, but Jian Jing endured it well.
"Passed C, do we turn left?" she asked.
"Cough cough, yes, cough cough, go straight ahead." The female staff coughed badly.
It was another long stretch.
Impatience flickered in Jian Jing's mind, but was soon suppressed by her Composure card.
Panic was the most dangerous in times of crisis.
"Cough," Xiao Xiao struggled to ask, "Are we there yet?"
"Almost," Jian Jing said.
The theater layout had three vertical halls and two horizontal ones at a 90-degree angle. They had walked down one side and were now crossing the distance of one hall to reach the office wing.
Everyone's spirits lifted slightly.
Jian Jing told them, "Wet your clothes and hair if it gets too much."
She opened a bottle of mineral water herself and soaked her hair.
The cooling water washed away the surface heat significantly, relieving her ears and eyes.
"Let's go," she quickened her pace.
Everyone hurried with this burst of coolness, finally making it precariously through Hall D. As the last male staff crawled past the door, Hall D's walls erupted with tremendous energy and exploded with a bang.
"Here it is." The female staff was so frightened that she made for the office without a thought upon seeing it.
Jian Jing grabbed her hand. "Wait."
Hall D's explosion was close to the office. They couldn't open the door recklessly. If it was already ablaze inside, going in would be walking into a death trap.
She waved the back of her hand outside the door but felt no heat. She touched the metal handle next gently and found it not scalding either. Only then did she breathe easy and slowly push the door open.
Explosions were everywhere. The door could not be opened with force but had to be nudged open carefully.
Luckily there were no flames inside the office.
A huge weight lifted from her chest.
The female staff took out the prepared gas masks and fire blankets. Everyone busied themselves with opening the packages and helping each other get properly dressed. With this equipment, they could block the toxic smoke and heat, temporarily preserving their lives.
But the explosion from Hall D had affected the last staff member slightly, burning his back.
Burn pain was exceptionally excruciating. The burly man wept tears and snot from the agony.
Jian Jing was glad she had drawn the First Aid card earlier.
She found scissors on the office desk and cut his shirt open. The skin had turned red with blisters.
"It's just a second-degree burn, luckily." She poured water over the wound and consoled, "The worse it feels, the less serious it is. It'll heal quickly."
The man's expression immediately looked much better.
Burns certainly hurt, but more than the pain, there was fear.
Seeing Jian Jing busy, Xiao Xiao took over cooling him and dressing the wound. She sprinkled water while consoling gently, "Just blisters, no damage to muscles or bones. Like being scalded by hot water."
She spoke softly, conversing continuously to distract the injured.
Jian Jing took the chance to step away and consider their next move.
If she remembered right, the other emergency stairwell was at E, opposite D. Hall D's explosion had essentially cut off their escape route.
Though there were passages between the halls, taking the long way around would waste precious time and strength. Plus the situation no longer allowed them to venture deeper into the fire.
She turned her gaze to the office windows, first opening them to dispel the thick smoke. Then she used the binoculars feature to search for fire trucks below.
Thank heavens, she spotted the familiar red vehicle!
"Teacher Jian, they can't figure out our location," Ji Yunyun ran over with her phone, drenched in sweat. "Let's make some noise to get their attention."
That wouldn't be hard.
The office had fire ropes. She threaded one through Ji Yunyun's phone case handle - the back had a ring stand. After knotting it tightly, she switched the phone to flashlight mode and tossed it out the window, swinging the rope.
Whipped around, the phone's weight as a pendulum caused the light to trace wider and wider circles in the air.
With her Strength, Jian Jing swung it faster and faster, making the circles increasingly dense.
The phone flashlight itself wasn't very bright, easily drowned out in the raging flames below. But the spinning white circles became quite visible.
Ji Yunyun's eyes lit up. "They see it, Teacher Jian!"
The fire truck was quick to respond, immediately raising the extension ladder.
A seven-story height wasn't much for it.
They first lowered the injured man.
Then the two female students, followed by the staff member. Jian Jing went last.
By the time she emerged, the fire had spread to the office. Scorching waves nearly licked her back as they burst through the window. As the fireman helped her off the ladder, the flames soared, licking the outer walls, unstoppable.
Her body suddenly shuddered, chilled to the bone.
Unknowingly, she had broken out in cold sweat.
[Mission accomplished, system calculating rewards]
She let out a long breath, surviving the ordeal.
Jian Jing had much more experience, soon recovering as she located Ji Yunyun and her classmate. "I'll take you girls home," she said.
Then she realized something was off and hurried to check the parking lot.
The car...was gone as expected.
Damn!
In the end she could only hail a cab to drop off Xiao Xiao first, then Ji Yunyun.
When they reached the Ji family home, there were lights on upstairs.
Ji Yunyun was slightly surprised. "Brother's home?" She pondered, then said, "Off work so early... Teacher Jian, you've come all this way, come up and sit a while. I'll get my brother to drive you later."
Jian Jing didn't want to impose, but met Ji Yunyun's gaze and suddenly understood.
She was afraid.
Girls feared everything. Feared taking cabs alone, coming home alone, seeing lights on early at home.
"Sure," Jian Jing agreed.
The complex housing the Ji family was somewhat old, with years of weathering on the stairs and tiles. But construction quality was excellent, standing strong against wind and rain. Everything was clean and tidy.
The two ascended quietly, but before they reached the door, it opened.
Ji Feng poked his head out. "Brat, home so late..." He trailed off as his eyes fell on Jian Jing, then flicked to Ji Yunyun. His eyebrows rose in great surprise.
"Bro!" Ji Yunyun's unease vanished instantly as she bounded inside. "Teacher Jian sent me back and I invited her over to sit a while."
Ji Feng glanced at his sister, then Jian Jing. He fetched her slippers. "Come in and have a seat. Tell me, what did you two run into?"
"Tell what?" The cheeky sister wouldn't back down. "What am I, a convict?"
Ji Feng said, "I'm just concerned about you."
"A person who sees me once a week is concerned?" Ji Yunyun retorted while thoughtfully grabbing coke from the fridge for the guest. "Teacher Jian, want a late-night snack? I'll call some noodles from downstairs."
Ji Feng immediately said, "Order me a bowl too."
"Eat eat eat, I hope you get fat to death." Ji Yunyun grumbled as she rifled through Ji Feng's coat for his wallet, counting the cash. "What noodles, Teacher Jian? Beef?"
Jian Jing found the siblings amusing. She smiled. "Anything is fine."
Ji Yunyun perked up. "The shop's right downstairs. I'll be right back." She trotted off, footsteps like a frolicking fawn.
"Geez, this girl, reckless as always," Ji Feng complained, then grew serious again. "You two look like you just came out of a fire."
The singed hair and ash-covered shoes did seem bad.
Jian Jing sighed. "Because we did just come from a fire."
She briefly recounted what happened, also feeling doubtful. "I just wonder if it was arson."
Ji Feng's expression turned thoughtful.
Jian Jing: "Hm?"
"Actually, there have been quite a few cases of arson recently..." Ji Feng said tentatively as he considered what he could and couldn't say. "A few are definitely abnormal."
Jian Jing's interest was piqued. "How so?"
"In the past half month, there have been six fires in the city. Four were accidental. But two of them," Ji Feng said meaningfully, "were suspicious."
Jian Jing had just narrowly escaped death today. Both her mind and body were extremely weary. She had no patience for guessing games. "Hmm?"
Ji Feng was rather adept at reading people's expressions. Otherwise, how could he interrogate criminals? Hearing her tone, he knew she was somewhat unhappy that he was speaking cryptically.
But hey, whether she was unhappy or not, he was happy.
"It's been reported in the news. Does Teacher Jian want to take a guess at what was suspicious about them?" He said with a smile, eagerly anticipating her response.
Jian Jing took a deep breath.
But before she could speak, Ji Yunyun had already exploded. She charged in carrying three lunch boxes and fiercely stomped her elder brother's foot twice, grinding it in.
Ji Feng yelped in pain. "Ji Yunyun, are you crazy?"
"You're the crazy one!" Ji Yunyun yelled. "We just narrowly escaped death. Who's in the mood to play guessing games?"
Being scolded like this by his little sister, Ji Feng was finally a bit embarrassed. However, he had extremely thick skin. He immediately said, "The noodles are here! Let's eat, let's eat."
Ji Yunyun's retaliation wasn't over yet. She slapped his hand away and flipped open the lunch boxes. Inside were three steaming hot bowls of beef noodle soup.
She broke apart a pair of chopsticks and transferred all of the beef from one bowl into another. She gave the noodles without meat to Ji Feng and the double portion of beef to Jian Jing. She was especially apologetic, "Teacher Jian, my brother is a workaholic who thinks everyone else can't get tired either. Don't mind him, just eat the noodles. This noodle shop's beef noodles are especially delicious."
"Thank you," Jian Jing was also quite hungry now. She accepted it and took a bite. The noodles were chewy and the broth was rich and flavorful. It was indeed very tasty.
Ji Feng just rolled his eyes at his sister and said, "I just wanted to hear Teacher Jian's thoughts. I was worried my description might bias her. Did you have to stomp so hard?"
When Jian Jing heard this, her interest was indeed piqued once more.
Cases that could make Ji Feng uncertain were rare. It seemed there were some very strange aspects to this.
Even Ji Yunyun looked thoughtful as she rolled her eyes around before tentatively asking, "What case is it?"
"It's related to you?" Ji Feng's face darkened. "Hurry up and eat, then go to sleep. A high schooler coming home so late, how unruly."
Now it was Ji Yunyun's turn to be shameless. "I'm a victim too. Don't I have the right to listen?"
Ji Feng: "What's your test score?"
Ji Yunyun: "......"
Ji Feng: "You'll be a third year next semester!"
Ji Yunyun: K.O.
