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“Hello? Is anyone there??”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Five-year-old Xiao Shiyu was trapped in the lift. He held his little water gun and banged against the door without stopping.
He was heading to the third floor to return the water gun when the lift had suddenly—
Bang!
Got stuck.
Xiao Shiyu pressed the open button as hard as he could, but nothing happened.
Click.
Click.
Xiao Shiyu went on his tiptoes and pressed every single button once, feeling the lift suddenly moving higher and higher.
Sizzle!
The lights in the lift flickered. It had short-circuited.
A charred smell permeated throughout the lift.
Xiao Shiyu instantly knew something was wrong. He banged against the door as hard as he could—
Screech—
The rising lift stopped for a second and…
It started falling!
It was like the drop towers in amusement parks—an instant drop. Xiao Shiyu immediately fell onto the ground, protecting his head. The mirrors on the roof of the lift shook from the pressure, shaking as if it was about to drop—
Bang!
The lift had gotten stuck again, except this time, it was between the third and second floor.
The lights flickered and died, leaving the lift in darkness.
Xiao Shiyu was stuck inside alone. He didn’t dare to bang against the door anymore and could only knock on it every once in a while in hopes that a Xiao Xie walking past would manage to hear him.
Not long later, a sliver of light shone from outside.
Xiao Shiyu thought someone was coming and began knocking on the door harder.
But it didn’t take long for him to notice something was off…
Since when did the door become so hot?
Wisps of smoke came in through the slit of the door.
The light had gotten brighter and brighter, but also redder and redder.
—There’s a fire!
The door began getting hotter and hotter until Xiao Shiyu could no longer knock against it with his hands, so he shot water at it with his water gun.
The sealed lift slowly heated up in the fire, and the metal walls on all four sides quickly started to burn.
Time remaining: 4 minutes
On the second floor…
Click—
Chu Feng used the wrench and pried a small slit in the lift door. He kept it stuck between that slit and pressed—
The fire shot towards him!
Chu Feng dashed out of the way. The fire had only reached out once before retreating backward, still burning. Chu Feng gritted his teeth against the heat and looked inside the lift shaft.
Seeing it, his breath almost stopped.
Majority of the lift shaft was already on fire. The lift was above him, snugly stuck between the second and third floor, burning between the raging fire.
The metal lift was basically a human oven, and Xiao Shiyu was stuck in there right now!
“X-Xie Shiyu?” There was a slight tremble in Chu Feng’s voice.
No reply.
Separating life and death was that raging fire.
Chu Feng immediately took out a crowbar, reaching the top half of his body into the lift shaft—with no regard for the heat—to pry the lift door open.
The lift was currently stuck at approximately floor 2.7. After prying open the lift door, there would be a small slit that would allow Xiao Shiyu to crawl out of the lift. Then, he would carry him and bring him out from the second floor.
—That is, if Xiao Shiyu was still alive.
Chu Feng couldn’t stop his mind from thinking of all the worst scenarios.
If I pried open the lift door and was met face-to-face with a charred corpse…
Chu Feng sucked in a breath.
Don’t think about this. Don’t think about this.
Yet an image of a warning had appeared in his mind.
[If your loved ones died from an accident, do not ever put them into Lucid Dream City. You won’t get any comfort from it. You’ll only see them die. Again and again. Helpless.]
That was from the forum.
Chu Feng’s hands paused for all but two beats before he made his decision, sticking the crowbar in between the opening of the lift door.
He hadn’t seen Xie Shiyu sit on that plane, falling down from thousands of meters up in the air, in reality. The fire on the plane must have swallowed everything, including Xie Shiyu, burning his skin away, inch by inch, until finally, he was nothing but ashes in the Pacific Ocean.
—Perhaps that scene was something he would have to see with his own eyes in Lucid Dream City, completely helpless.
The wound of losing his loved one hadn’t yet healed and was already being torn open again. Even then, Chu Feng didn’t stop, like a never-ending cycle of consuming poison to quench his thirst.
Crack!
Crack!
Chu Feng pressed against the crowbar as hard as he could.
—The lift door won’t open!
The lift was too high up. Standing on the second floor, it was hard for Chu Feng to use much of his strength. Not only that, the lift shaft was burning with fire. It was already difficult to keep his head in there. He would probably die if he went in there.
Chu Feng panted, then used more strength. It didn’t take long for his oxygen tank to run out of air, notifying him.
[Warning: Insufficient oxygen]
[15%…]
[12%…]
After all, he wasn’t a professional firefighter. This was also his first time facing such a large fire.
In reality, the only knowledge Chu Feng has on fires were the handouts he got in Primary School and the fire drills they did in Secondary School. The alarm in their school would go off, and he and Xie Shiyu would talk as they went down the stairs, hugging their heads and squatting down on the field together with the rest of their friends. When the alarm ended, they would have to listen to the principal talk about the importance of fire drills.
He had gone through his 29 years of life very peacefully. He’s never even used a fire extinguisher before.
Time remaining: 3 minutes
“Xie Shiyu!”
There was only 9% left of his oxygen tank when he had managed to make a small opening in the lift door.
“…Chu Feng?”
He finally heard Xiao Shiyu’s weak voice coming from inside.
“Didn’t I tell you to call me ge?” Chu Feng chuckled.
“No way I’m calling you that.”
“Are you okay in there? Stay still, I’m coming to save you….”
The instant the lift door had been pried open, Chu Feng’s voice faded.
The interior of the metal lift had turned red like a furnace. The soles of Xiao Shiyu’s shoes had melted, turning into a glue-like substance, sticking to the floor of the lift. Xiao Shiyu was so scared he didn’t dare to move, lifting up his feet as much as he could so they wouldn’t come into contact with the burning floor.
5-year-old Xiao Shiyu was confined to one spot, worried that Chu Feng was worrying, he reassured, “I’m fine.”
Under the intense flame, the wires holding the lift up, in a place they couldn’t see, gradually began loosening.
The heat was so unbearable Chu Feng could hardly keep his eyes open. He took another step forward, poking his entire upper body into the shaft and reaching a hand out for Xiao Shiyu.
“I’ll catch you!”
Xiao Shiyu could tell that Chu Feng was risking his life in order to save him. Even if he was wearing protective clothing, it was still incredibly dangerous.
“Take a few steps back.”
Xiao Shiyu bore with the pain, wearing his melted shoes and taking a few steps forward, and kneeling down. This way, Chu Feng wouldn’t have to work so hard to save him.
Xiao Shiyu reached out his small hand through the gap of the lift.
Just a bit more.
Time remaining: 2 minutes
Chu Feng disregarded the boiling temperature, holding onto the metal frame of the lift, going on his tiptoes, and reaching his hand out further…
He caught him!
Chu Feng’s hand brushed past Xiao Shiyu’s.
Yet, the second those hands managed to touch each other, right before they could hold on—
Snap!
The wires holding the lift up snapped!
Crash!
In an instant, both the lift and the person inside had fallen down! Down and down, into the burning sea of flames.
Xiao Shiyu fell!
Chu Feng’s mind was filled with white noise—
In the next instant, he had already followed after him, jumping into the burning pit!
—Chu Feng fell straight down the lift shaft, everything flashing past his eyes. There was only 1% of his oxygen tank left, and thick wisps of smoke clogged his nostrils.
Chu Feng thought, I wonder which will kill me first, the smoke, fire, or gravity?
When he was six feet under, he could ask Xie Shiyu to guess with him.
—Down, down.
Yet the sharp, stinging pain he anticipated never came.
I guess death wasn’t actually that painful after all. He thought. Did Xie Shiyu feel like this when his plane crashed too? It doesn’t seem to be too bad…
The eternal darkness he anticipated never came either.
—…Have I died or not?
Chu Feng felt as if he was floating. There was a hand hooked under his knees, supporting him, letting him rest against a warm chest.
—Do all the grim reapers reap souls like this?
Chu Feng opened his eyes.
“Don’t move.”
A hoarse voice sounded next to his ear.
The man carrying him was very tall. He wore a metallic gray coat and his silver gun shot out extinguishing fluid from his back. It was as if winter had descended, calming the raging flames.
…X?
As the last spark of flame flickered out of existence, amber eyes turned to look at him.
“I’m not late, am I?” X smiled.
Chu Feng stared at X. They were at the lift shaft on level one, the fire that once surrounded them had all been extinguished by X and quickly cooled down, snowflake-like foam floated around them. X was currently holding up the extinguished lift with one arm, so easily it felt like he was holding a small cake on a plate instead. Xiao Shiyu, who had been fished out of the lift, was currently on X’s back with a face of displeasure.
“…Chu Feng!” Five-year-old Xiao Shiyu climbed onto X’s shoulders and jumped into Chu Feng’s embrace, wrapping his hand around his neck, asking for a hug.
“It’s fine, we’re fine now.”
Chu Feng held tightly onto the Xie Shiyu in his embrace, patting his back gently. There was no telling whether he had been comforting himself, or Xie Shiyu.
The ashes left behind from the fire were like dust particles, floating about in the air, landing softly onto Chu Feng’s eyelash. X watched as the person in his embrace held the child tightly, his eyes closed but without tears. The only telltale sign of his worry was his slightly trembling shoulders.
So this is what he looks like in danger, X had a sudden thought.
Despite having a bomb tied to his body, the beauty had still managed to calmly act out an entire scene in front of him. Yet, after almost losing the kid, he had been so close to despair that he had mindlessly jumped into a lift shaft—which was no different from committing suicide.
X felt a little emotional. He looked at 5-year-old Xiao Shiyu and asked, “Is this your child?”
“…”
“He doesn’t look like you.”
“…………….”
Xiao Shiyu reached out a hand and smacked X.
“Don’t touch him!”
“His leg’s injured.” X helplessly blinked his eyes.
Xiao Shiyu lowered his head and saw a huge cut on Chu Feng’s thigh, still dripping with blood. He was probably cut by the deformed metal near the lift door.
Xiao Shiyu’s face crinkled and Chu Feng immediately held him tighter.
“I’m fine, it’s just a surface wound.”
X carried Chu Feng and his “child”, stepping on dirt charred black, and walked out of the entrance on the first floor.
The fire on the second and third floor was still raging on, painting their background bright red, smoke reaching into the sky.
On the flat land in front of the kindergarten stood seventy high-pressure water guns.
X walked past it, the wind blowing his coat upwards. With a wave of his hand—
Sizzle!
All seventy high-pressure water guns began shooting at the burning kindergarten, water raining down like a storm.
Three Xiao Shiyus stood in a small forest 500 meters away from the kindergarten, anxiously waiting and waiting, waiting and waiting…
Until they saw a stranger carrying Chu Feng out of the fire, walking towards them!
—And it was a princess carry!!
Beep—
[Xiao Xie Manual] notified him:
[Red Hat Xiao Xie]
[Squeaky Shoes Xiao Xie]
[Popsicle Xiao Xie]
[Happiness -4]
Chu Feng: …
When they finally stepped foot into the small forest, 5-year-old Xiao Shiyus ran towards him. Chu Feng got out of X’s embrace, knelt down, and opened his arms. Xiao Shiyus ran with their small legs, jumping into Chu Feng’s embrace one by one.
“Chu Feng! Chu Feng! Chu Feng!”
“Call me ge.”
“No!” All four of them answered at the same time.
“Scoot over!” Xiao Xie with the water gun pushed Squeaky Shoes Xiao Xie. “You’re squeezing me!”
“You should scoot over! Chu Feng already hugged you just now, I bet his arms are all sore!”
“Alright, alright.” Chu Feng laughed and hugged all four of them. Five-year-old Xiao Shiyu was cute. Their small hands and faces were soft and they stood beside him, alive and kicking. The happiness it brought him could rival heaven.
X stood behind Chu Feng and couldn’t stop himself from asking, tone a little incredulous, “You… gave birth to 4 kids?”
“……”
Chu Feng had already rolled his eyes in his mind, too lazy to explain.
Red Hat Xiao Xie hmph-ed, burrowing his head into the crook of Chu Feng’s neck, asking, “Who is this weird uncle?”