Free Web NovelChapter 285: Chapter 225: The End of a Dangerous Journey
In the building, a heartwarming scene was unfolding.
Zhou Yong slightly bent over, his face gently pressing against a little girl’s chubby and tender cheek as he wrapped his damp camouflage uniform around her tiny body with a gentle touch.
Then he placed the two-way radio mask up to her face, letting her take a few breaths through it.
After laying the girl on the bed, he picked up another, slightly older girl and enveloped her in the same manner, allowing her to breathe through the mask as well.
But since this girl was a bit taller, Zhou Yong could only try his best to protect her head with the clothing.
"You two, you’ve been saved by me," he said.
As Zhou Yong spoke, he turned his head to look at the children’s mother.
"I’m sorry, I can’t save you, but if Fang Huai comes up, maybe he’ll have a way..."
With that, he bowed deeply.
Feeling that something was wrong, he stood up straight and saluted instead.
Without further delay, he donned his mask, fastened his helmet, lifted the two girls encased in wet clothes, and walked toward the single rail ladder propped against the stairwell.
The moment his foot touched the ladder, he stepped slightly off the spot he had used to come up.
"Clang!"
The entire ladder, having lost the support of its lowest rung, toppled like dominoes, disintegrating as it crashed onto the ground fifteen meters below.
Zhou Yong quickly fell backward with a loud thud, hitting a beam on the third floor, causing the whole third floor made of planks to shake slightly.
His spine was harshly struck by the air tank on his back.
After several seconds, Zhou Yong finally came to his senses and slowly propped himself up from the ground to sit.
His back hurt terribly from the impact.
"Little Black! Little Black! What’s the situation?! Are you alright?"
A voice came from the two-way radio in his fire-fighting pack.
Zhou Yong faintly heard the voice but couldn’t make out what was said, so he took out the radio, held it to his helmet, and said:
"Instructor, there are people alive upstairs! It’s two little girls!"
After speaking, Zhou Yong put down the radio and with difficulty stood up from the ground, rubbing his aching back, stretching his neck, and taking a glance below.
The path was gone.
And with that, a blaze of firelight rushed up with the disintegrating staircase through the now-open shaft, rapidly reaching the second floor, scorching everything in its wake as the smoldering items on that floor burst into flames.
The entire building was ablaze with firelight.
The temperature around him soared dramatically.
Staying on this windowless floor was a death trap.
Jumping down meant a slim chance of survival.
Swinging from the edge of the staircase might allow him to reach the second floor.
Zhou Yong thought this over, hesitated no more, and tightly tied the bodies of the two girls to his chest with two pieces of clothing, then scrambled sideways toward the edge.
Dangling his feet slowly in mid-air, Zhou Yong tightly pressed his hands against the edge of the third floor and lowered his body.
The firelight, mingled with black smoke, flickered erratically around him.
Fortunately, the powerful exterior lighting was very bright, illuminating the interior of the window clearly.
The moment he saw the second floor, he kicked forward and leaped down inside.
After landing, he stumbled heavily, unable to secure his footing, and quickly turned around, once more dropping onto his back to protect the two little girls.
The floor shuddered beneath them.
The moment his back collided with the air tank’s frame, he felt as if a bone had snapped.
It hurt.
Zhou Yong no longer had the strength, and the pain in his spine pinned him to the ground, unable to move.
But at that moment, the small girl in his arms began to stir.
Furthermore, she started to struggle violently and cry.
It was then Zhou Yong remembered the fire all around them; the girl in his embrace must be suffering from the unbearable heat, and as the damp clothes began to dry, they would only get hotter.
"Ahh!!"
Zhou Yong braced himself on the ground and forced himself to stand.
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"Clang!"
A piece of board at the edge of the second floor could no longer withstand the intense heat and fell down, crashing to the floor below.
Zhou Yong’s radio, left behind on the third floor, was still transmitting loud calls.
"Little Black..."
"Zhou Yong..."
Zhou Yong heard someone calling his name through a daze, stumbling toward the window.
"I’m not tied..."
He managed to vocalize, feeling as if his entire spine was about to break, his body drained of strength.
Whether it was the floorboards being shaken by the intense fire on the second floor and the mezzanine, or if it was his own unsteadiness, he felt that he might not make it back.
The crying of the child in his arms became more feeble. He quickly checked his surroundings with his helmet on to protect the child from the insufferable heat they were enduring.
The building’s design, which included a mezzanine, was irregular; near the wall, there was a large floor-to-ceiling pane of glass.
This should be where a window was.
Zhou Yong quickly drew his fireman’s axe from his waist, took a few staggering steps toward the glass, and swung his arm down to smash it.
"Crash!"
The whole pane of glass on the wall shattered to the ground, and oxygen rushed in quickly.
Zhou Yong used his axe to grind down the sharp edges of the glass, and with great effort, he placed the two girls down by the window to get some air and cool down.
He then used his body to shield them from the surging flames behind.
But fire isn’t solid, and with its high temperature, as more oxygen flooded in, the fire grew even more ferocious.
The cries of the girls grew weaker still.
Zhou Yong suddenly noticed that the clothes wrapping the two girls were no longer as wet. He hastily removed his gloves.
Instantly, he felt the intense heat surrounding him.
This sensation was like an adrenaline shot to him. He hurriedly picked up the girls, opened the buttons on their fire-fighting coats, and embraced them tightly within, wrapping them with the fire-fighting suit.
As the fire-fighting suit provided some space, the heat from the surroundings invaded the undershirt.
Scorching.
And the temperature of the camouflage uniform draped over the two girls in his arms was also extremely high.
Today, it seemed difficult to make it out safely.
However, I refuse to be the next victim, awaiting rescue.
Gazing at the empty world outside the window, Zhou Yong sighed.
"Uncle will take you out," he said.
With all his might, he removed the mask, unplugged the air hose, and took off the air tank from inside his clothes, not wanting this thing to harm his body anymore.
Taking a couple of steps back, Zhou Yong charged forward furiously.
"Clang!"
White light.
In the second he leapt into the sky, Zhou Yong instinctively turned his body to the side.
This way, the harm to himself would be the least.
But at that moment, the foot of the larger girl he was holding dropped onto the outer side of Zhou Yong’s thigh.
The very side that was about to crash into the ground.
He used all his strength, twisting his body to lay his back flat.
Uncle doesn’t want to die, but uncle is heavy, and falling onto your leg will leave you without legs.
"Little Black!"
He heard a loud shout.
He also heard the sound of his bones breaking.
Pain.
In this instant, time seemed to slow down.
People were talking around him.
"Little Black, Little Black."
His soul felt lighter and lighter, and his body less and less under his control.
The person beside him, like Aladdin’s lamp, kept promising him wishes.
"Little Black, don’t worry, I’ll take care of your family from now on."
"These two girls, they were saved with your life. I will make sure they grow up well."
"Little White will become my brother from now on."
Those words calmed his soul.
Good.
He struggled to curl his lips into one last smile.
...
"Bang!"
A firefighter, tightly embracing two young girls, used his body as a cushion as he fell from over ten meters high.
"Little Black!"
Fang Huai desperately wanted to rush forward to catch him, but in the blink of an eye, the short distance became insurmountable.
When he arrived where Little Black had fallen, all he saw was his half-closed eyes and blood foaming at the mouth.
"Little Black! Little Black!!"
The people around him rushed forward, shouting, but none dared to touch him, afraid that any movement would cause him to spit out more blood.
Fang Huai saw his eyes losing focus and knew that it was already too late.
Fang Huai’s heart was in chaos.
Tears gathered in his eyes, and a vein on his forehead bulged.
"Little Black, don’t sleep! Don’t sleep!"
"Drip, drip."
Tears fell onto Little Black’s face.
"Hello, is this 120? B Cloud Hardware Market! We’re from firefighting, a brother fell from a building while saving others! Hurry over! Come quick! ...And two kids too! Hurry!" Cao Yi’s voice echoed around.
Cries began to rise among the crowd.
Fang Huai sobbed as he tried to shake him gently, noticing that his gaze seemed to flicker.
"Little Black, do you have any last words?!"
Fang Huai shouted, quickly bending down to his mouth.
He heard nothing.
But Little Black must have heard.
"Little Black, rest assured! I’ll take care of your family from now on!"
"These two girls, they were saved with your life! I will definitely raise them!"
"Little White, from now on, you’re my brother!"
Fang Huai kept making promises, and the crying around subdued, everyone wanting Little Black to hear them clearly.
Ye Jiahong, who had just arrived and been frightened into sitting on the ground, also mustered some strength to shout, "Right! Your matters, all the brothers of our squadron will make sure they’re taken care of!"
Another bubble of blood escaped from Little Black’s mouth, and his lips slowly lifted into a smile.
His eyes gently closed a bit more, stopping at one-fifth open, and froze there.
A dangerous journey had ended.
Zhou Yong would no longer face any of the dangers a firefighter faces.
Fang Huai felt as though a string in his heart had snapped. He struggled to lift the corners of his mouth in a smile just like his, raised his hand, and gently closed his eyes.
"Instructor, Captain... Little Black, he’s gone, he’s gone."
As he spoke, tears streamed down copiously.
Cao Yi stood behind, his eyes red, but then he straightened up, slowly raised his hand, and saluted.
The surrounding comrades stood up and saluted together.
A few seconds of silence followed, and then, they wept uncontrollably.
They had lost that voice from Guangxi forever.
...
Twenty minutes later, the place was crowded with people.
The ambulance from 120 had taken the two orphaned girls onto the vehicle, ready for rescue.
They checked Zhou Yong’s body temperature, pulse, heartbeat, respiration - a full examination - only to shake their heads.
The Detachment’s Full Attendance Command arrived belatedly.
It was the middle of the night, and it took time for the Detachment’s leadership to assemble the team. By the time they arrived, the whole building was alight with flames.
They kept calling Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong en route, asking about the situation.
When the Detachment’s vehicles reached the scene, they were unusually quiet, as if not wanting to disturb the hero’s ascent to heaven.
Each leader got out of the vehicle, surveyed the scene, and sighed deeply.
Half of the Second Squadron was tightly clustered around Little Black.
The other half of the Second Squadron was frantically unleashing water on every window of the building.
Be it oil, electrical appliances, explosions, or collapses, there was nothing left inside worth being cautious about.
One main battle vehicle, one supply truck, and three dividers laid on the ground - eight hoses in total.
Cao Yi also knew that if they didn’t bring down the building, the Squadron soldiers wouldn’t leave.
They even wanted to level the place with an excavator, to flatten this site of sorrow.
Zhang Zhongting passed by, without a word, went straight to Little Black’s side, crouched down like the soldiers, gently touched Zhou Yong’s face, and murmured:
"Hero, go gently."
