Blazing Armor

As they climbed to the seventh or eighth floor, everyone began panting. Ren Yi could feel sweat running down his chest, stinging as it trickled.

At that moment, Xu Jin’s voice came through the radio, “Ren Yi, what floor are you on?”

“Tenth floor.”

“I just got word, there might be people trapped in the elevator on the thirteenth floor.”

“Got it, I’ll send two people over.” Ren Yi instructed Wang Meng’s squad leader to take two people to check the elevator while the rest continued climbing.

This apartment had two stairwells on the east and west sides. The fire had broken out near the west, so they were ascending through the eastern stairwell. After the grueling climb to the 21st floor, everyone was gasping for breath, and their legs felt like jelly.

The 21st floor was filled with smoke, but there wasn’t much visible fire. Most of it was likely burning in the ceiling. Ren Yi leaned against the wall, crouching down as he panted, “Rest for 20 seconds.”

Ren Yi counted to 20 in his head, then commanded, “Wang Meng, have them start connecting the hoses. Liu Hui, come with me to check ahead.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ren Yi and Liu Hui donned their masks and climbed to the 22nd floor. The hallway was thick with smoke, and the fire was raging. Ren Yi cautiously opened the door to the stairwell, and a wave of intense heat hit him, making his skin prickle. From the stairwell, he could tell the east side was barely accessible, but the west side was an inferno, wrapped in a hellish combination of red-black flames and smoke. No one knew what the situation was inside.

Ren Yi told Liu Hui to stay on the 22nd floor while he continued up to the 23rd. Although the 23rd floor wasn’t the one on fire, it was hardly in better shape than the 22nd. As he descended, he asked, “Wang Meng, are the hoses connected?”

Through static, Wang Meng’s voice came through, “Yes, they’re ready.”

“We’ll split into two groups. You search the 23rd floor, and I’ll search the 22nd. Everyone, set your breathing apparatus alarm for 15 minutes. Once it goes off, you must immediately evacuate the fire. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ren Yi left two men behind to operate the fire hydrant valves, then grabbed the hose and charged into the inferno.

The temperature inside was unbearable. Even wearing the fire suit, Ren Yi felt like his skin was going to melt, every pore screaming in pain. Each step forward required immense willpower. Gritting his teeth, he yelled, “Water!”

When the water surged through the hose, the pressure almost knocked Ren Yi off his feet. Fortunately, Cui Yisheng was there to help him hold the hose steady. They blasted the fire along the hallway, managing to suppress it and cool the area down. Then they started searching each apartment door by door.

On the east side, there were six units, all fitted with outward-opening security doors, impossible to kick open. The team banged on the doors with all their might, shouting, “Anyone inside? Firefighters!”

“Someone’s on the ground!” Ding Qing’s thermal imaging picked up a figure lying prone.

They rushed over and found two people in the hallway, their backs and arms burned, but they still had a pulse.

At that moment, a faint voice for help came from inside one of the apartments. They quickly used tools to break the door open.

Liu Hui led a firefighter into the apartment, where they found a father and son in the bathroom. The father was still conscious.

They carried the rescued individuals down the stairs.

The remaining apartments showed no signs of life. One by one, they forced the doors open. Two of them were empty, and the occupants of the other two had already perished. The unit furthest west, being closest to the fire’s origin, had absorbed so much heat that the security door had warped. Even with two men working on it, they couldn’t pry it open.

Ren Yi made a decisive call, “Saw it open.”

They swapped to a chainsaw and cut a hole just large enough for an adult to squeeze through.

Once the hole was cut, Ren Yi kicked open the wooden door behind it. Inside was an inferno; visibility was nearly zero.

They extended the hose into the apartment and doused the flames. Once the fire was somewhat controlled, Ren Yi crawled through the hole, shouting, “Firefighters! Is anyone here? Is anyone here?”

“Captain Ren, hurry, we can’t hold the fire much longer!”

Ren Yi searched the three-bedroom apartment. When he reached the master bedroom, he knelt down and looked under the bed, where he found two children hiding.

In residential fires, certain areas often bear the most traces of escape or hiding—windows, doorways, bathrooms, and under beds. These were their primary focus in searches, especially since children often hide under beds.

Ren Yi carried the two unconscious children, one under each arm, and rushed towards the living room.

“Cover him, quick, cover!” Liu Hui shouted as he and another firefighter aimed the hose around Ren Yi, spraying water to shield him.

Ren Yi reached the doorway and passed the two children out through the hole. Then, he crawled out himself.

The firefighters began carrying the injured down the stairs, one by one.

Panting heavily, Ren Yi said, “Let’s push towards the west side, as far as we can go.”

They continued to suppress the flames with the hose, attempting to carve out a path through the blaze. However, the steam generated when water hit the flames made the situation even worse. They managed to reach another apartment, but after forcing their way in, they found it empty.

“Captain Ren, the fire’s origin should be just ahead… It’s too hot. We can’t get through,” Ding Qing said, extending his thermometer as far as he could without getting too close. “Even at this distance, it’s over 700 degrees. Further in, it must be over a thousand. The doors have melted.”

The sound of glass shattering filled the air, followed by the creaking of the ceiling above. Ren Yi shouted, “Retreat!”

They all turned and ran, but the flaming ceiling collapsed onto Ding Qing.

They immediately doused him with water, while others dragged him out from under the debris. Ding Qing waved his hand, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Wang Meng’s voice came through the radio, “Ren Yi, I need support here. Abandon the 22nd floor.”

Looking at the hellish inferno before him, Ren Yi knew it was impossible to go any further. He said, “Ding Qing, your suit’s burned through. Head downstairs.”

Ding Qing stood up and inspected the damage, “It’s just a small hole.”

“Go downstairs.”

“Captain!” Ding Qing protested, “It hasn’t burned all the way through, it’s just the outer layer. I’m really fine!”

Ren Yi locked eyes with Ding Qing, seeing the fire reflected in his determined, bright eyes. In a low voice, he said, “Come on, we’re going to assist Captain Wang.”

The situation on the 23rd floor was slightly better than the 22nd. Wang Meng’s two squads had already rescued several people. However, the ceiling and wall debris kept falling, turning the floor into a dangerous trap.

At this point, only six firefighters remained on the scene, and their breathing apparatus alarms began sounding, signaling their air supplies were running low. Racing against time, they worked together to force open the last two apartment doors, finally completing the search of the entire floor.

Ren Yi gave the order, “Retreat.”

They began descending, but just one floor down, Xu Jin’s voice came through the radio, “Ren Yi, Qian Yue found a family of eight on the 24th floor. They need backup.”

Ren Yi glanced at the timer on his air supply—it had less than five minutes left. “On my way.”

“Captain…”

Ren Yi quickly responded, “There’s no fire below the 20th floor. You six leave two air tanks as spares, and the rest give your tanks to me and Captain Wang.”

The firefighters looked at each other, hesitating.

“Hurry up!” Wang Meng urged.

Four of the firefighters detached their air tanks and handed them over to Ren Yi and Wang Meng.

“Get downstairs now!” Ren Yi ordered.

He and Wang Meng each grabbed two tanks and rushed to the 24th floor.

Switching channels on his radio, Ren Yi said, “Qian Yue, this is Ren Yi. Which side are you on?”

“We’re in the middle! Hurry, this family has too many people—four of them are elderly.”

After climbing up, they navigated through the thick smoke, following the sound of voices until they finally reached Qian Yue and the others.

Qian Yue was directing the firefighters to carry people downstairs, but they were short on hands. He shouted to Ren Yi, “Two of the elderly can’t walk. You’ll have to carry them!”

Ren Yi quickly swapped his air tank. “Let’s go.”

Inside, a voice shouted, “Auntie, stop grabbing things! Let’s go! Leave it behind!”

A young firefighter was forcibly dragging a middle-aged woman out of the house, as she frantically tried to gather her belongings.

Wang Meng watched the waves of fire rolling overhead like a tide. “It’s going to flash over—we have to evacuate now!”

Ren Yi hoisted an elderly person onto his back, his legs trembling under the heavy weight as he gritted his teeth and headed for the stairwell.

“My bracelet! My bracelet!” the woman screamed, her voice breaking with desperation.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Forget it and move!”

“Someone stop her—”

Suddenly, the floor beneath them trembled violently. Before Ren Yi could react, there was a deafening crash. Both he and Wang Meng were thrown off balance, stumbling at the stairwell entrance.

Ren Yi scrambled to his feet, his face pale. He and Wang Meng, almost crawling in their haste, rushed back to see what had happened. What they saw froze them in their tracks.

The floor had collapsed.

The 24th-floor slab, which was the ceiling of the 23rd floor, had fallen through, taking the 22nd-floor ceiling down with it. In front of them was now a massive pit spanning two floors.

The people who had fallen were buried in the debris and smoke, completely out of sight.

Qian Yue let out a heart-wrenching scream, and the other firefighters seemed on the brink of madness, shouting the names of their comrades as they yanked at their ropes, desperate to descend and rescue those trapped.

Ren Yi grabbed Qian Yue tightly. “Qian Yue, calm down! You can’t go down there—it’s not safe!”

“Let go of me! Xiao Zhou is down there!” Qian Yue shoved Ren Yi away.

“Go down from the 23rd floor! It’s too far from here!” Ren Yi shouted, “Qian Yue!”

Qian Yue ripped off his mask, wiping his tears with a trembling hand, and said shakily, “Down… down the stairs.”

Ren Yi grabbed his radio, “Command, 23rd floor requesting urgent support. The floor has collapsed, a firefighter is trapped, we need assistance!”

“Copy that.”

Choking back sobs, Qian Yue said, “Ren Yi, get the injured out. I’m going to save my people.”

Ren Yi replied firmly, “Qian Yue, don’t act rashly. Wait for backup.”

Qian Yue didn’t answer and quickly descended the stairs with two other firefighters.

Ren Yi and the remaining team members lifted the injured onto their backs and began the difficult descent.

By the time they reached the ground and handed the injured over to the medics, Ren Yi’s legs gave out. He collapsed to the ground, unable to get up for a long while.

Some of his teammates rushed over to help him up.

Ren Yi removed his mask and waved them off, “Let me sit for a bit. How’s Captain Qian?”

Cui Yisheng shook his head. “No idea. What happened up there?”

“The floor collapsed. A young firefighter… he…” Ren Yi’s voice quivered, trailing off as he struggled to continue.

The group fell silent.

“Ren Yi.” A calm, clear voice sounded in Ren Yi’s ear, like a sudden cool breeze in the scorching heat, offering brief but welcome relief from the pain.

Ren Yi looked up to see Gong Yingxian standing before him. Bent slightly at the waist, the golden light of the setting sun outlined his figure, casting his handsome face in shifting shadows. Ren Yi couldn’t tell whether the concern and heaviness on Gong Yingxian’s face came from the interplay of light or something deeper.

Staring at him, Ren Yi felt a sudden warmth in his eyes, an unexpected urge to cry. He desperately wanted to. He had just witnessed a young firefighter buried under the rubble, his fate uncertain. As the commanding officer, Ren Yi couldn’t allow himself to cry. But now, facing Gong Yingxian, the urge was almost overpowering.

What’s wrong with me?

Gong Yingxian crouched down, offering him a bottle of water. His voice was soft, “Are you okay?”

Ren Yi nodded, taking the bottle and drinking deeply. He emptied it in one go and, after tossing the empty bottle aside, shook his head. “Not okay.”

Gong Yingxian glanced up at the towering building. “I know what’s in there.”

“…”

“I’ve been in there.”

Ren Yi understood what Gong Yingxian meant. He opened his mouth but found he didn’t know what to say. The image of the two children he had just rescued came to mind. Was the Gong Yingxian of the past like them, once hiding helpless and terrified under a bed?

Why? Why do these human tragedies have to happen over and over again?!

Gong Yingxian extended his hand to Ren Yi. “Get up. Whoever’s responsible, I will find the truth.”

Ren Yi hesitated for a moment, then grasped Gong Yingxian’s hand, allowing him to pull him to his feet. He felt the strength radiating from Gong Yingxian’s grip—solid, reassuring. It made him feel a sliver of peace.

Gong Yingxian looked intently into Ren Yi’s eyes. “We will find the truth together.”