Blazing Armor

Gong Feilan’s words sent a chill down the spines of the two men in the room.

Gong Yingxian immediately felt his face heat up, while Ren Yi turned his head away, rolling his eyes at Qu Yangbo, who was struggling to hold back his laughter.

Gong Yingxian kept a straight face. “Don’t shout in the hospital.”

“Ge, how are you?”

“Why are you even at the hospital? Don’t you have school?”

“I came after school.” Gong Feilan looked at Gong Yingxian with concern. “Where are you hurt? They said you were poisoned.” Then she turned to Ren Yi. “Captain Ren, were you poisoned too?”

Ren Yi coughed lightly. “It’s the same as last time, inhaled some carbon monoxide. I’ll be fine in a few days.”

Gong Feilan breathed a sigh of relief. “I saw it online, no one told me anything. When I saw it was at Hongwu Hospital, I knew it had to be you guys.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing.”

Gong Feilan scrutinized Gong Yingxian closely and whispered, “You didn’t even tell me you were in the hospital. I was really worried about you.”

Gong Yingxian’s tone softened a bit. “Telling you wouldn’t change anything, and it would just distract you from your studies.”

Gong Feilan pouted, clearly not satisfied. She then walked over to Ren Yi’s bedside. “Captain Ren, when will you get better?”

Sheng Bo poured a glass of water for Gong Yingxian. “Young master, should we buy one of those oxygen chambers and treat you at home? I think they have single-person ones.”

As Gong Yingxian lowered his head to drink water, he shot Ren Yi a sneaky glance. “No need, by the time it arrives, I’ll probably be discharged.”

“We’ll do our best to get it here quickly.”

“Forget it, let’s not bother.”

Sheng Bo was surprised. In the past, Gong Yingxian would avoid hospitals at all costs. If he had to go, he’d leave as soon as possible. This time, he was set to stay for at least a week, yet he seemed to accept it?

Ren Yi smiled at Gong Feilan. “I won’t need to stay for a whole week, it’s nothing serious.”

“I heard you two were almost buried alive.” Gong Feilan clutched her chest. “I saw the explosion online, it scared me to death.”

“Well, we were rescued in time.”

“Rescued in time but still needed CPR?” Gong Feilan exclaimed. “It must have been really dangerous, right? Wasn’t it, brother? Captain Ren was in serious danger, wasn’t he?”

Ren Yi discreetly gripped the bed sheets, wishing he could throw the girl out.

Gong Yingxian also felt incredibly awkward and responded with a vague “Mm.”

“Our school did first aid training recently too, but we used dummies for CPR.” Gong Feilan’s eyes lit up, and she flashed a mischievous grin. “Brother, I’m so jealous of you. I haven’t even kissed Captain Ren yet.”

Gong Yingxian reprimanded her, “Stop talking nonsense.”

Sheng Bo stifled a laugh.

Ren Yi desperately shot glances at Qu Yangbo, signaling for help, but Qu Yangbo pretended not to understand and instead enjoyed the reactions on their faces.

“Instructor, did you see it?” Gong Feilan said excitedly. “I want to see two handsome guys doing CPR too!”

Qu Yangbo laughed. “Yeah, I saw it.”

“Wow! Did you take any pictures or record it—”

“Feilan!” Gong Yingxian barked, “If you keep acting up, you’re going home.”

Gong Feilan immediately quieted down, then ran over to Gong Yingxian’s side and pouted, “Don’t be mad.” At the same time, she secretly turned back and mouthed to Qu Yangbo: Send it to me.

Ren Yi took the opportunity to glance at Gong Yingxian, noticing his stiff expression and sharp gaze—he was genuinely angry. Ren Yi sighed inwardly. For Gong Yingxian, it was clearly an embarrassing memory, and the best approach was to pretend it never happened and not mention it.

Sheng Bo prepared dinner made by the head chef, and they all ate together.

After dinner, the nurse came to administer an IV, Qu Yangbo returned to the squad, and Sheng Bo took Gong Feilan back home.

Once the two of them were alone in the hospital room, the inevitable awkwardness settled in.

Ren Yi was the first to break the silence, casually asking, “How’s your shoulder injury?” He noticed Gong Yingxian had been leaning slightly to one side, clearly uncomfortable.

“Fractured bone. My right arm’s going to be less functional for a while, but it’ll be fine in two or three months.”

“Haha, lucky you’re left-handed.”

Gong Yingxian shot him a glance. “And you? How are you feeling?”

“Just a headache, a bit dizzy, but I’ll manage.” Ren Yi lay on the bed, watching the IV drip down, one drop at a time. “Being alive is already a blessing.”

“At that time… you were really in danger,” Gong Yingxian said quietly. “If they’d rescued you any later, you might have gone into shock.”

“I know,” Ren Yi smiled. “Oh, I haven’t even thanked you yet. Thanks for saving me.”

Gong Yingxian was silent for a moment. “You’re welcome.”

Ren Yi racked his brain, trying to think of something to talk about next, but he really had no idea how to ease the awkwardness.

Ever since what happened under the rubble, the atmosphere between them hadn’t been as relaxed as before. He didn’t know what Gong Yingxian was thinking—was he suspicious, upset, or maybe even disgusted? Ren Yi desperately wanted to know what was going on in his head, yet at the same time, he was terrified to find out.

Maybe it wasn’t as serious as he thought. They were both men, with the same bodies. Surely, Gong Yingxian could understand that sometimes, physical reactions caused by accidental contact were uncontrollable and didn’t have to mean anything. That would be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Yes, as long as he acted naturally, everything should be fine. Gong Yingxian probably intended to pretend nothing had happened either.

Gong Yingxian sneaked another glance at Ren Yi, as if wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

Suddenly, Ren Yi said, “Hey, how about we watch a movie? Yangbo brought me a projector. We’re pros at being in the hospital now, got all the equipment we need.”

Gong Yingxian replied, “No, I need to analyze the evidence.” He picked up the laptop from the bedside table and began working.

Ren Yi sighed. “You’re injured, can’t you rest for a bit?”

“This is the best time to catch the culprit. The longer we wait, the more likely he’ll go into hiding or escape,” Gong Yingxian said. “Aren’t you the one with a headache? Why watch a movie—go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep.” Ren Yi lay on his side, silently admiring Gong Yingxian’s flawless profile. “Why don’t you tell me about the case instead?”

Gong Yingxian kept his eyes on the screen. “Based on the evidence we recovered, and the things we keep digging up, I’ve already figured out the explosives and the reaction method used by the culprit.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“In simple terms, the main material for the bomb was extracted from household disinfectant. The explosion reaction was completed in two stages. First, the culprit added a disintegrant to sodium dichloroisocyanurate and sealed it in a plastic bottle to serve as the detonator, giving him time to leave the building. The second part involved a further chemical reaction that produced highly flammable nitrogen trichloride. Nitrogen trichloride is very volatile, and when the plastic bottle detonator explodes, it triggers the nitrogen trichloride. However, chlorine gas is released during the reaction—it smells bad and is easily noticeable. So the time between the bomber placing the device and leaving the building would have been short, no more than a few minutes.”

Ren Yi was a bit confused but mostly understood. “So, that’s how the bomber made a time-delay bomb, right?”

“Exactly. The method is risky, though. Chemical reactions are influenced by many factors. If the bomb had gone off early, he wouldn’t have had time to escape. This guy is extremely confident in his abilities.”

“Did you calculate how many minutes the reaction would take?”

“At most, no more than five minutes. The smell of chlorine gas spreads quickly; Zhou Chuan would’ve noticed it.”

“So, this method could easily fail.”

“This was still the most successful method in such a short time,” Gong Yingxian said gravely. “There were police guards at the door, and they checked the ID and belongings of everyone entering. The culprit couldn’t bring anything suspicious inside. The materials I mentioned could all be disguised as cleaning agents—their smell and appearance were similar to normal disinfectants and cleaners.”

Ren Yi took a sharp breath. “That’s terrifying—the culprit managed to sneak all that in right under the police’s noses!”

“The person who made this bomb had deep knowledge of chemistry. Everything he used was extracted from common household items.”

“All of these materials can be extracted from household items?”

“Yes, laundry detergent, disinfectant, cleaning agents, effervescent tablets.” Gong Yingxian squinted slightly. “He knew that purchasing chemical raw materials required an ID registration, making it easy to trace. That’s why initially, tracking down chemical raw materials led nowhere. This morning, when I woke up and finished my analysis, I had them track down the effervescent tablets. To create an explosion of this scale, it would take at least a whole barrel of chemicals, which would consume a large amount of raw materials.”

“Have you found any suspicious individuals?”

“Do you remember the three-circle theory of geographic profiling that I mentioned to you?”

“Yeah, I remember. What about it?”

“It’s a bit complex to explain, but essentially, we’ve already identified Red Flame’s area of operation. Earlier today, the unit deployed a large number of officers to visit 167 pharmacies and supermarkets within that area. We found out that a few days ago, someone visited over thirty stores and bought several kilograms of effervescent tablets.”

“Did they catch him on camera?”

“They did. Even though he was wearing a hat and a mask, his build matches that of the janitor seen hurriedly leaving the hospital on the surveillance footage just before the explosion.”

Ren Yi took a sharp breath, impressed. “You guys work fast.”

Gong Yingxian gritted his teeth, a flash of ferocity in his eyes. “He’s taunting us. Taunting the police. Taunting the law. If we don’t catch him, how can we wear this badge with any pride?”