Blazing Armor

After returning to the squad, Ren Yi took a few days to rest. The past few days had been relatively quiet, with no complicated emergencies. When something did come up, Gao Ge or the ever-bored Sun Dingyi would lead the team.

There had been some progress on the Wanyuan community case. After conducting interviews with neighbors, investigations, and checking surveillance footage, they had preliminarily ruled out almost every resident on the 22nd floor. Either they had alibis, or they simply didn’t have the means to commit the crime. This forced them to broaden their scope, looking for other residents in the community who might have had conflicts with the victim in apartment 2209. They even had to investigate whether the deceased had made enemies at work.

At the same time, a stranger who appeared on surveillance footage just before the fire broke out had caught their attention. The man wore a hood and sunglasses, kept his head down the entire time, and clearly knew where the cameras were. Yet, no one in the community recognized him.

As for the trash that had been burned in front of apartment 2209, some of it definitely didn’t belong to that apartment. They found the owners of the trash, who lived in nearby buildings. All the buildings shared the same trash bins, located behind the buildings in a common area. It seemed the suspect had randomly grabbed a few bags from there.

There were no surveillance cameras near the trash bins, so they were still searching for eyewitnesses.

After listening to Gong Yingxian’s report, Ren Yi was puzzled. “Did the suspect think there wasn’t enough trash piled up in front of 2209? Afraid the fire wouldn’t be big enough?”

“That’s possible, and he definitely achieved his goal.”

“It was broad daylight when it happened. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a witness, right?”

“The bins are in a secluded area behind the buildings. Not many people go there. We’re still looking.”

Ren Yi sighed. “This started as just a neighborhood dispute, but all because someone wanted to vent their anger, so many people ended up dead. Fucking hell…”

Gong Yingxian sighed lightly as well.

“Oh, by the way, what about Zhou Chuan?”

“His leg burns weren’t that serious at first, but the wounds got infected. He only just made it out of danger yesterday. The doctors aren’t letting us see him yet.”

Ren Yi gritted his teeth. “If it weren’t for the fact that we need his testimony, I’d let him roast a bit longer.” He was just venting. His mission was to protect the lives and property of the people, even if it meant saving a murderous criminal.

“But we’ve taken over his equipment. Thanks to this case, the higher-ups have finally approved an investigation into the *Seraphim* website.”

“That’s great! What about that bastard who ran?”

“Still looking. As long as we have Zhou Chuan in our hands, it’s only a matter of time before we catch him.”

“You’ve been working hard these past few days. Have you been resting?” Ren Yi couldn’t forget the image of Gong Yingxian lying in the hospital bed. Knowing how relentless he was when it came to arson cases, all because of his traumatic childhood, made Ren Yi’s heart ache.

“I’m fine. I just want to find some useful clues quickly. I won’t let any arsonist get away,” Gong Yingxian paused, his voice growing heavy. “No matter how long it takes.”

Ren Yi opened his mouth, almost asking about the hidden truth from eighteen years ago, but after some hesitation, he held back. If he was going to ask, it should be face-to-face. Such a weighty matter seemed too frivolous to discuss over the phone.

To lighten the mood, Ren Yi shared some good news: “Do you remember that little black kitten I saved from the car?”

“Yeah, still alive?” Gong Yingxian asked.

“Haha, it made it!” Ren Yi replied joyfully. “The vet sends me videos every day. It’s eating and drinking now. I’ll be picking it up from the hospital in a couple of days.”

Gong Yingxian chuckled softly. “Such a tiny kitten, but with such strong will to survive.”

“Yeah, narrowly escaping death must mean good fortune ahead.”

After hanging up, Ren Yi felt a bit down. When would they finally be able to interrogate Zhou Chuan? Then he could head back to the precinct.

As he was lost in thought, the squad’s alarm blared. Ren Yi quickly ran downstairs.

“Captain Ren, a shelving collapse just happened at Guosi’s warehouse, four workers are buried.”

Without hesitation, Ren Yi said, “Let’s go. I’ll lead the team.”

Guosi is a well-known domestic e-commerce retailer specializing in cosmetics, with distribution warehouses in major cities across the country. There’s one in both the east and west districts of Tianqi.

On the way, Ren Yi called the reporting party to get more details. Apparently, a warehouse forklift driver had a sudden stroke, causing the forklift to veer out of control and crash into a row of shelves. This triggered a domino effect, toppling six rows of shelving loaded with tons of goods.

Surveillance footage showed four people buried under the debris.

After understanding the height of the warehouse, Ren Yi requested the main team send a medium-sized excavator. Their squad had a fire truck with a digging arm, but its capacity was limited and far inferior to an excavator.

They reached the scene as quickly as possible. The warehouse was a complete mess. Massive shelves had toppled over in rows, and scattered goods were strewn everywhere. Broken bottles of cosmetics created a muddy, sticky floor, releasing an overpowering scent as the liquids mixed.

Guosi had already organized all available staff and forklifts to start moving goods to rescue people, while ambulances stood ready.

Ren Yi called for the person in charge to get more information.

The manager showed him the surveillance footage on the computer: “Look, our four colleagues are in these three locations. We’ve already managed to spot one of them.”

“Tell your people to stop moving things for a moment. Take me to see.”

Following the manager, Ren Yi climbed over a pile of debris. Sure enough, under the cleared collapse, he could faintly see the yellow uniform of a trapped worker.

“Gaoge, come here.”

Gao Ge climbed up.

“You take the first team and handle this person. Sun Dingyi, you take the second team and handle the one over here. The last two people are together. The third team will follow me.”

“Understood,” they replied.

Ren Yi then turned to the warehouse manager and instructed, “From this moment on, your people will follow our commands. No unauthorized actions to avoid secondary collapses or other accidents.”

“Got it, got it,” the manager nodded quickly.

The fire truck equipped with a digging arm helped Gao Ge and Sun Dingyi clear the debris from the east side, where three rows of shelves had collapsed. Meanwhile, the excavator that arrived later assisted Ren Yi’s team in clearing the west side.

They weren’t using the excavator to dig the trapped workers out directly—the arm couldn’t get too close to the injured. Instead, they used it to clear the surrounding debris to prevent further collapses, ensuring the safety of both the injured and the rescuers. In some cases, they might need the excavator to lift the heavy shelving units.

With the coordinated efforts of the squad and the Guosi employees, they rescued the first worker after about half an hour. An ambulance quickly whisked him away to the hospital.

About ten minutes later, Ren Yi’s team also managed to extract another worker. This young employee was incredibly lucky—he had been driving a forklift at the time of the collapse, and the forklift’s frame had shielded him from most of the falling debris. Miraculously, he only sustained minor injuries. As they carried him out, he remained conscious, repeatedly murmuring, “Xiao Wang is under there, Xiao Wang is right next to me…”

Li Sa softly reassured him, “Don’t worry, we’ll get him out.”

Based on the surveillance footage and the young worker’s account, they were able to roughly pinpoint Xiao Wang’s location. The team, drenched in sweat, continued to move the debris tirelessly.

About twenty minutes later, Sun Dingyi’s team found the third worker, but tragically, this worker had suffered severe internal bleeding and had no pulse by the time they pulled him out.

Meanwhile, Ren Yi’s team finally located the last worker. He was buried under a pile of beauty equipment, but the worst part was that both of his legs were trapped under a heavy metal shelf. He lay on the ground, groaning in pain.

“We found Xiao Wang!” one of the Guosi employees cried out in relief. “He’s still alive!”

“Hurry, get him out!” someone else shouted.

“Don’t rush, don’t panic. Clear the debris around him first,” Ren Yi ordered, his brow furrowing as he looked at the pool of blood around the injured worker.

The manager wiped the sweat from his face and said, “Firefighter, this shelf is way too heavy. We need to lift it.”

Ren Yi shook his head. “We need to be careful. The shelf, along with the goods on it, weighs at least five or six tons. If we lift it incorrectly, it could cause even more harm to him. Cui Yisheng, go to the truck and bring all the wooden planks.”

“Got it.”

As the team cleared the debris around Xiao Wang, emergency medic Shi Xiaoqian quickly began administering fluids. Ren Yi, along with his teammates, moved closer to Xiao Wang. He called out to Liu Hui, who was operating the excavator, “Is the rope secured?”

“It’s ready,” Liu Hui confirmed.

All the firefighters holding the wooden planks stood by, waiting for the excavator to slightly lift the shelf. As soon as it was raised, they would slide the planks underneath to support the structure, creating enough space to safely pull the injured worker out.

Ren Yi looked at Xiao Wang, but hesitated to give the order.

The manager, his voice hoarse, urged, “What are you waiting for? He’s barely holding on!”

While administering fluids and placing ice on Xiao Wang’s uncrushed thigh, Shi Xiaoqian explained, “Captain Ren, the victim has been trapped for almost an hour. He might be suffering from *crush syndrome*.”

Ren Yi nodded and removed his rescue jacket. “That’s what I’m worried about. I’ll go in and check.”

“Captain, it’s not safe in there,” someone cautioned.

Meanwhile, the Guosi employees, growing frantic, began shouting anxiously for the team to hurry.

Fastening his helmet, Ren Yi carefully crawled through the gaps in the shelving and made his way to Xiao Wang’s feet. He took out a multi-tool from his pocket and cut open Xiao Wang’s pants, revealing deep subdermal bruising that had already turned dark blue. Ren Yi inhaled sharply. “Shi, I don’t think we can lift this.” He snapped a photo with his phone before crawling back out to show it to Shi Xiaoqian.

She took a look, her expression grave as she nodded. “I’ll call the hospital.”

“What’s going on?!” The manager demanded, trying to rush forward.

Gao Ge held him back, stopping him from acting out of panic. “The victim has *crush syndrome*. If we lift the shelf now, he’ll die instantly.”

Everyone stood in stunned silence.

The manager stared at Gao Ge, disbelief etched across his face. “W-what? Then what do we do?”

Gao Ge’s voice was heavy as he replied, “We have to amputate on the spot.”