Blazing Armor

“This one’s for lighting, this one’s for signaling for help. Here’s the rescue rope, and this pocket has small tools for breaking through debris. The first aid kit is over here, and you must keep your helmet on at all times.” Ren Yi fastened the helmet onto Gong Yingxian’s head, adjusting the chin strap for him.

Gong Yingxian watched Ren Yi’s serious expression, feeling quite pleased inside. He couldn’t help but recall the feelings from their argument last night. That overwhelming desire for Ren Yi to only look at him, focus on him, belong to him—made him so restless that he hadn’t slept well. If things could always be like this, with Ren Yi’s pupils reflecting only his face, it would be perfect.

“Is it too tight?” Ren Yi asked.

“Just right,” Gong Yingxian replied with a slight smile. “But the clothes are a bit tight.”

Ren Yi snorted, “Stop acting cocky. Hey, you’re the one who insisted on wearing my underwear, and the clothes too. If you’re so tough, take them off.”

“What, hurt your pride?” Gong Yingxian teased.

Ren Yi yanked at his collar, “Aren’t you a bit too old to still be comparing sizes? You hate it when I say you’re like a schoolboy, huh?”

“I’m not comparing. I’m just stating facts,” Gong Yingxian said, utterly unfazed.

Ren Yi thought back to what happened in the bathroom that day. When he had collapsed onto Gong Yingxian, he had indeed gotten a very clear sense of Gong Yingxian’s intimidating size. Not wanting to continue this topic, he waved it off, “Alright, alright, let’s move.”

Ren Yi gathered Sun Dingyi and Liu Hui, while Wang Meng and Lin Shaoping each took their own team. They carried tools like wooden beams, crowbars, and portable fire extinguishers on their backs.

The remaining soldiers lined up in two columns, working relay-style to remove rubble as quickly as possible from the outside.

Approaching the collapsed building, they found a passage through a gap in the corridor that connected the lobby to the west wing on the first floor. Their headlamps shone inside, but visibility was only a few meters. The interior was pitch black, filled with crumbling stones, which made the scene all the more unsettling.

Wang Meng said, “We’ll go this way. Shaoping, you guys can climb in through the windows at the back.”

“Got it, stay in touch.”

Ren Yi said, “Let’s head to the second floor.”

“The second floor might be on fire. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry.”

The four of them climbed up to the second floor over the rubble. Being the explosion site, the damage on the second floor was as severe as the first. The air was thick with an odd smell.

Gong Yingxian wrinkled his nose, his face showing confusion.

Ren Yi took the lead, carefully walking along the wall, “Is anyone there? Firefighters!” He turned into the nearest patient room, the doorframe already warped. “Anyone here?”

The light followed Ren Yi’s head movements, revealing a room where most of the ceiling had collapsed, crushing the hospital bed underneath. A large pool of blood covered the floor, but there was no one in sight. Ren Yi’s heart sank. Though he held little hope, he still decided to take a closer look.

The closer he got to the outer walls, the more unstable the floor became. Moving cautiously, Ren Yi crept forward, laying on the ground to peer through a gap in the fallen ceiling. “Is anyone here?” When the light moved deeper into the gap, he was suddenly met with the sight of half a shattered skull.

Ren Yi gasped in shock, instinctively scrambling backward.

“Captain Ren, what happened?” Sun Dingyi asked nervously.

“N-Nothing…” Ren Yi couldn’t shake the image of that fractured head and the bulging eyes from his mind. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart, but the overwhelming sense of sorrow gnawed at him. Though he’d only glimpsed it briefly, it was clear that the victim had been a young woman. He said somberly, “There are no survivors in this room.”

Gong Yingxian reached out to help Ren Yi up, but the moment he grasped Ren Yi’s hand, he felt the trembling. So instead, he crouched down, staring at Ren Yi’s pale face in the darkness, his chest tightening like needles were pricking his heart. “Are you okay?”

Ren Yi nodded, unable to speak for a moment. He gripped Gong Yingxian’s hand tightly in return.

In a low voice, Gong Yingxian said, “It’s a chemical bomb, not a conventional explosive.”

“You know what kind of bomb it is?” Ren Yi asked.

“I have a guess, but I’m not certain yet. We need to find more residue.” Gong Yingxian continued, “There’s no smell of gunpowder here, only chemicals. Honestly, I suspected it was a chemical bomb from the beginning, because a conventional bomb large enough to cause this much damage would be too conspicuous in a busy hospital. Especially with police guarding the entrance. But chemicals, even in small quantities, can trigger massive reactions.”

“Could it be poisonous?” Ren Yi asked.

“The people we rescued earlier showed no signs of poisoning, which means the culprit didn’t use toxic chemicals. However, it’s hard to completely avoid any toxicity when chemical reactions occur. As long as the dosage isn’t high, we should be fine,” Gong Yingxian replied.

Suddenly, Liu Hui shouted, “There’s someone here! Still alive!”

Gong Yingxian stood up, pulling Ren Yi to his feet as well.

They followed the voice and found Liu Hui in a corner of another room, where a man had been trapped under debris. A triangular section of the wall had caught part of the fallen rubble, preventing it from fully crushing him.

“Sir, wake up,” Sun Dingyi gently patted the man’s cheek.

The man’s eyes were caked with blood, and though his eyelids fluttered, he could only half-open them, breathing faintly.

“Let’s try lifting the rubble.”

The four of them tried to lift the reinforced concrete slab, but even with all their strength, they could only budge it slightly before having to set it down again.

“It’s not working this way,” Ren Yi said, positioning some wooden blocks by his feet. “Let’s lift from here and wedge the wood underneath.”

“Got it.”

“One, two, three!”

All four of them heaved together, finally raising the rubble enough for Ren Yi to shove the wooden block into the gap with his foot.

With the first block in place, they managed to add several more, gradually relieving the weight that had been crushing the man.

Ren Yi dropped his gear and wriggled into the gap beneath the raised rubble, grabbing the man’s arm. “Pull!” he shouted.

The others grabbed onto Ren Yi’s belt and legs, pulling both him and the man out.

Thankfully, neither Ren Yi nor the man were particularly large, and they managed to drag them both to safety.

The man’s head and face were covered in blood, and his internal organs were likely injured as well, judging by his condition. He was in critical shape.

Ren Yi was so exhausted that he collapsed on the ground, unable to get up immediately. Gong Yingxian rushed over, “Are you hurt?”

Ren Yi smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “Liu Hui, Sun Dingyi, carry him down.” Then, into his radio, he said, “Ding Qing, get someone ready to receive him below.”

“Understood,” Sun Dingyi replied.

After the two left, Ren Yi got up from the ground, futilely brushing off the dust on his clothes. He nodded toward the dark, debris-filled area ahead, “The blast point is at the end of the corridor, three more rooms away, according to the blueprints.”

Gong Yingxian nodded, “The smell of chlorine is getting stronger.”

“What’s that smell?” Ren Yi had noticed the stench growing stronger too.

“Chlorine. I suspect the explosive was nitrogen trichloride. I’m just not sure how it was synthesized or triggered. Nitrogen trichloride is a powerful oxidizer and highly flammable.”

“Looks like there’s definitely a fire inside,” Ren Yi said. “But given the state of the building, I doubt there’s much fuel left to cause a large fire.”

“Even without a large fire, it’s dangerous. The closer we get, the more intense the smell will be. The gas is also corrosive—not strongly so, but enough to irritate exposed skin. The skin covered by clothes should be fine, but your eyes and nasal membranes might struggle.”

Ren Yi spoke into his radio, “Sun Dingyi, when you come back, bring some gas masks.”

“Got it.”

“How does nitrogen trichloride explode, anyway?” Ren Yi asked.

“There are a few ways,” Gong Yingxian explained. “It can explode when pressurized or heated in a sealed container. Mixing it with certain chemicals can also cause a reaction. Even airborne particles, when ignited by a flame or exposed to high temperatures, could trigger a dust explosion. Moisture or heat alone could cause it to combust and react with other volatile substances.”

“Sounds like it’s way too easy to set off.”

“Yeah, chlorine compounds are commonly used in explosives.”

“Common in your chemical world, maybe. I’ve never run into this before.”

“Not encountering it is a good thing,” Gong Yingxian’s voice turned cold. “It means the Red Flame Group either has a chemist or access to one. Chemical weapons are far scarier than just arson.”

Ren Yi felt a chill run down his spine. “You’re right. If they intended to use chemical weapons in a crowded place like this hospital, the casualties could have been unimaginable. It’s terrifying.” The thought of what could have happened, even though it hadn’t, made his back break out in cold sweat.

Sun Dingyi and Liu Hui returned with gas masks. After putting them on, they continued moving deeper into the wreckage.

The closer they got to the explosion site, the more severely the building had collapsed. The path ahead was heavily obstructed, forcing them to crawl through the rubble.

Suddenly, Xu Jin’s voice came over the radio, “Captain, report your status.”

Ren Yi, with Wang Meng and Lin Shaoping still searching for survivors on the first floor, responded, “We’re near the blast site, but the path is almost completely blocked. We… huh? I see fire.”

Amidst the rubble, a flicker of light danced in the darkness like a ghostly flame in the abyss, sending a chill through him.

“Is the fire big? Do you know what caused it?” Chen Xiaofei asked. “We can see it from outside too.”

“It doesn’t look large, but I’m not sure what started it. It might block our way to the blast site.”

“Assess the situation first,” Chen Xiaofei advised. “If there’s no safe way forward, retreat.”

“Yes.”

Ren Yi said, “I’ll go in first and check if the fire has blocked our path.”

“I’ll go with you,” Gong Yingxian replied. “If the fire has blocked the way, that means we’re close to the explosion site. What I’m looking for can only be found nearby.”

Ren Yi looked straight at Gong Yingxian. “Are you sure? That’s fire we’re talking about.”

Gong Yingxian took a deep breath. “I’ve told you, I’m scared but I won’t back down. Besides… you’re here.”

That one sentence, “You’re here,” made Ren Yi’s heart leap. He tried his best to hide the change in his expression and stammered, “A-alright, just follow behind me.”

Sun Dingyi blinked and glanced between the two of them, as if he had noticed something.

Ren Yi added, “Let me warn you first, we’re not wearing fire-resistant suits right now, so we don’t have any heat insulation. It’s going to be extremely, extremely hot near the fire. If you can’t handle it, just get out. Don’t force yourself.”

“I understand. Let’s go.”