Chapter 115

Chapter 115

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.

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.