NOVPUBUpon hearing this explosive news, Xu Wenyao’s hands trembled like Parkinson’s, spilling half of the water from his cup.
Quivering, Xu Wenyao asked, "Over two hundred agricultural university students, how could they be trapped in a fire?"
"What exactly happened, tell me in detail!"
Yang Kang, crying, said, "Headmaster, this is all my fault, I didn’t consider it thoroughly enough!"
Yang Kang recounted the whole sequence of events to Xu Wenyao in detail.
The good news, the burning restaurant belonged to the Lu Family, who are also one of the rival school board members.
The bad news, this time not to mention over two hundred students dying, even if just a few perished, he would have to step down as headmaster.
After all, the students were out dining with the instructor’s knowledge. Shouldn’t the school leaders assess the risks of such gatherings?
Xu Wenyao was nearly frantic with worry.
Wu Bin, oh Wu Bin!
I told you to take down the rival school board members, not to take me down with them!
Xu Wenyao felt his heart pain worsening.
It’s too late, it feels like I’m going to have a heart attack out of anxiety.
Xu Wenyao took a fast-acting heart-saving pill from his pocket and placed it in his mouth. Once he caught his breath, he said to Yang Kang, "Quick, set off immediately, we must get to the scene as soon as possible!"
Yang Kang supported Xu Wenyao and hurried toward the parking lot.
...
Restaurant, street side.
As time passed, the flames engulfing the restaurant grew fiercer.
From a distance, Fire Chief Cao Haoyuan could see the sky-reaching flames, sweating profusely from anxiety.
"Hasn’t the road up ahead been cleared yet?"
Two firefighters returned to report.
"Report, chief, we can’t reach the car owners, and nobody is answering their phones."
Cao Haoyuan looked forward and saw that several luxury cars were blocking the only fire service access to the back of the hotel.
The luxury cars were parked arrogantly in the middle of the road, as if completely disregarding the possibility of getting a ticket, parking wherever was convenient.
Seeing the increasingly significant flames at the distant restaurant, Cao Haoyuan said in a stern voice,
"We can’t wait any longer, ram those cars out of the way!"
"Yes, chief!"
The driver immediately followed Cao Haoyuan’s orders, driving the fire engine to ram the luxury cars aside.
The bystanders who witnessed this scene immediately burst into applause, cheering and clapping.
Almost at the same moment the fire engine rammed the luxury cars, the faces of several middle-aged men filming with their phones in the crowd changed dramatically.
"My car! Who gave you permission to hit my car! You have to pay for this!"
Seeing these men suddenly charging out from the crowd, the firefighters were momentarily stunned, then filled with rage.
"Are these your cars?"
The middle-aged men arrogantly said, "Of course they’re ours! You’ve damaged them, you must pay!"
The firefighter was infuriated.
"If they’re your cars, and you were right there, why didn’t you come move them earlier!"
"Do you realize that by doing this, you’re obstructing our rescue operations, that every second’s delay could mean another person dead!"
The middle-aged men waved their hands dismissively.
"You don’t need to tell us that; we didn’t start the fire. How many people die has nothing to do with us!"
"Today you’ve damaged our cars; you have to compensate!"
The surrounding people all started to think these middle-aged men were shameless!
They had been standing by the side early on, but none of them wanted to come forward to move their cars; they just wanted to watch the excitement.
What did they care about how many people died?
They didn’t have any relatives or friends in the restaurant.
There’s a saying that spectators never worry about the chaos of a spectacle, and it perfectly described these men.
The firefighters had no desire to argue with them and simply pushed them aside.
"If you continue to obstruct emergency services, someone will come specifically for you later. Now, move aside immediately, or we’ll call the police to arrest you!"
Cao Haoyuan gestured for two team members to drive several people away, then signaled for the other fire engines to keep moving forward.
However, they hadn’t gone far before they discovered road bollards blocking the way.
This infuriated Cao Haoyuan.
"Hurry up and find the security guard, make them lower the bollards!"
As Cao Haoyuan went to find the security guard, another few minutes passed by.
...
Half an hour had already passed since the fire broke out.
The smoke in the hall was getting thicker and thicker. Viewers in the live stream could no longer see Wu Bin’s face clearly; they could only make out his figure dashing back and forth, tossing one student after another out of the window.
"It’s been nearly half an hour now, why haven’t the fire trucks arrived?"
"The fire trucks at the front entrance have arrived, but the ones at the back can’t get in, it seems like the fire lane is blocked."
"The design of this restaurant is really something. Not having its own firefighting equipment is one thing, but to block the fire lanes too, this is practically suicide!"
"If I were the owner of this hotel, I’d have to kowtow to Brother Wu several times. The way Brother Wu is running back and forth, he must have saved dozens by now, right?"
Before, the netizens had always thought that Wu Bin was frail and sickly, a delicate college student.
But after witnessing Wu Bin’s rescue efforts, they all fell silent.
It’s not just because Wu Bin kept rescuing people amidst the thick smoke as if unaffected by it at all.
It’s his terrifying speed of rescue that left them speechless.
On average, he saved a person every forty seconds; in half an hour, he had rescued over fifty people.
But even with Wu Bin’s strenuous efforts, there were still almost a hundred people lying on the ground.
It seemed that this fire was destined to claim some lives.
By this point, Wu Bin was also reaching his limits.
He felt as if his arms and legs were as heavy as if they were filled with lead.
The only reason he could still move was the determination to save just one more person.
Seeing that flames were licking at the door, Wu Bin knew it would not be long before the door would be burned through.
Just then, a fire ladder was placed against the window.
Cao Haoyuan arrived just in time with more than thirty firefighters!
"Quick! Group one, set up the inflatable cushion. Group two, follow me up to rescue!"
Once the firefighters arrived, Wu Bin could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
There’s a reason they’re the professionals.
Within less than two minutes, they had the inflatable cushion set up.
During those two minutes, more than a dozen firefighters entered the hall via the ladder, each grabbing a person and running toward the window.
They would throw them down, and the people below would catch and immediately drag them away.
The efficiency of the rescue effort increased significantly.
Exhausted, Wu Bin collapsed on the ground, finally letting out a breath of relief.
Cao Haoyuan came over and placed an oxygen mask on him.
"Kid, well done. I’ll take you down."
Wu Bin shook his head.
"I’m fine. Save the others first, they all have carbon monoxide poisoning."
Seeing that Wu Bin was indeed in better shape than the others, Cao Haoyuan motioned for him to sit and rest before immediately going to rescue the others.
Thanks to the relentless efforts of the firefighters, all the unconscious university students, except for Wu Bin, were rescued.
Just as Cao Haoyuan was about to take Wu Bin down, an elderly woman ran to the base of the ladder, crying hysterically.
Cao Haoyuan’s radio crackled to life.
"Captain, we’ve got information from the public. A woman is trapped in the third-floor pantry, she was in contact with this old lady just a minute ago."
Upon hearing this, Cao Haoyuan froze.
The third floor was an inferno, there was absolutely no way to carry out a rescue!
