Free Web NovelChapter 315: Chapter 250: Con Artist
"Ding." freewёbnoνel.com
The moment the elevator stopped, Fang Huai was stunned for a second.
Damn it, I thought it was the system ringing.
Since his rebirth, apart from that time he went to the mall to buy a watch, it had been a long time since he encountered an elevator that would "ding".
Fang Huai stepped out of the elevator, looked left and right, and immediately located the burning apartment, 1902.
It wasn’t that high-end, just one elevator servicing four apartments.
He took a glance; there were no indoor fire hydrants in the hallway.
These days, actually, the density of indoor fire hydrants usually doesn’t meet the standards.
Pressure doesn’t usually meet it, either.
No matter how upscale the community, they’re all like this: a lot of them are just for show, gambling on luck during fire inspections.
"I bet this fire hydrant here can pump out water."
The opposite apartment had its door still open, the room was empty, Fang Huai peeked inside to assess the layout, it wasn’t very big.
There’s a small entryway as you walk in, you can see the living room is a decent size, with rooms scattered around.
Hmm... the decor isn’t bad, and the TV is pretty big.
He had a rough idea of the apartment’s layout in his mind, took off his gloves, and touched the door of 1902, feeling it carefully.
The door was too thick, with little temperature to it.
With his gear on, activating the empty call, Fang Huai took out the keys and opened the door.
A thick plume of smoke began to slowly pour out, what exactly was burning inside he didn’t know, but judging from the density of the smoke, the burning material was complicated; there must be leather goods involved.
And since the ceiling was just standard height, it compressed the rising black smoke into a rather narrow space.
With his vision, the visibility was surprisingly low.
Fang Huai could only feel his way along the wall, slowly making his way into the room.
"Crackle, pop."
A fire scene has sounds, the louder they are, the more intense the burning usually is.
Upon entering, he could vaguely see flames and burning objects.
The temperature was rising, too.
Continuing deeper inside, the living room was ablaze with the sofa and electronics crackling fiercely; the heatwaves were violently hitting him, and even with his breathing apparatus, Fang Huai found it somewhat difficult to catch his breath.
And his tolerance for heat was already quite high. If it were someone else, they’d probably be sweating profusely and gasping for breath by now.
"Huff... huff..."
"Crackle... crackle..."
Drawing breath from the apparatus was loud; as his breathing grew heavier, the surrounding sounds of burning and snapping grew softer in comparison.
Fang Huai crouched down close to the wall, took out his fire axe, and in duck steps, slowly probed ahead.
This was probably his most by-the-book fire rescue ever.
Based on the layout of the neighboring apartment, the biggest room should be straight ahead. ƒrēewebnovel.com
At this moment, his two-way radio crackled to life.
"Fang Huai, give us a status report."
Fang Huai picked up the two-way radio and said, "I’ve entered the living room!"
"Alright, we’re laying hose lines up there now. I’ve sent Hao Chengbin with two coils of hose to back you up. What’s the situation up there?"
"There’s no indoor fire hydrant on this floor; the fire started in the living room from the furniture; anything beyond that is unclear!"
"The master bedroom, the big—"
A woman’s voice came through, only to be abruptly cut off.
Fang Huai didn’t worry about it and holstered the radio, relying on the limited visibility and the aid of his fire axe, trying his best to avoid the flames as he continued to advance.
It was damn hot.
Just a few minutes in, his entire body was breaking out in sweat, and it felt like his undershirt was becoming damp.
"Huff... huff..."
The moment he touched a door, Fang Huai felt that every cell in his body needed to cool down. Quickly, he raised his hand, felt for the doorknob, pulled open the door, and darted two steps inside the room.
The temperature dropped sharply.
His vision cleared.
Looking around, it seemed to be a guest room, bare except for a wardrobe. He opened it to check but found no one.
However, there was a glass jar with a green plant on the small windowsill.
Fang Huai hurriedly took advantage of the clear visibility, rushed over, removed his helmet, and poured the water from the glass jar over his head.
It was refreshingly cool.
It felt like steam was rising off his head.
He got his second wind.
After yanking around the green plant he had poured on his head, he clumsily stuffed it back into the jar, got up, left the room, closed the door, and continued to explore along the wall.
The second door he felt was to a fairly large room.
It must be the master bedroom that the homeowner mentioned, the door was ajar.
With no door to block it, the temperature at the doorway was even higher than outside.
As he got closer, he could see that there were flames inside, and in several spots. Judging from the likely layout of the room, the burning spots were the curtains, bed, bedside tables, and a closet against the wall.
Some things might have already burned up.
This type of bedroom was filled with flammable materials: sheets, mattresses, clothing, all ready to ignite very easily.
Standing at the doorway, Fang Huai had an intense urge to go back to the room he had just left.
But he still endured the high temperature and pushed on.
Fortunately, there was a decent-sized window inside for ventilation, so the smoke wasn’t as thick as outside.
He quickly used his fire axe to open up the wardrobe, storage cabinets, and bed frame to check, but still, no one was there.
"Huff, suck, huff, suck..."
When he came out, he felt his body was burning up, breathing so hard the mask fogged up non-stop.
Even he couldn’t bear it any longer.
At that moment, Hao Chengbin’s shout came from outside:
"Fang Huai, have you found them?!"
Retracing his steps by memory, Fang Huai rushed to the exit while grabbing his two-way radio, saying, "I’ve found the master bedroom, but there’s no one inside!"
"I’ve checked two rooms, the master bedroom is on fire, it’s too hot, I can’t do it, I need to step out for some air!"
...
Downstairs.
"I’ve checked two rooms, the master bedroom is on fire, it’s too hot, I can’t do it, I need to step out for some air!"
The voice came through Cao Yi’s two-way radio.
