Another kick, and the door flew open.
Bang!
Shi Lei spread his shield, covering both of them. To his surprise, the fire here was even fiercer than downstairs.
Without hesitation, he charged inside. Texas clearly had not yet adapted to the Jade Shield and was still carefully surveying the terrain for suitable footing.
"I'm inside. Where are you?"
No matter how fierce the flames were, they could not harm Shi Lei. They could not even set his clothes alight.
Following Old Man's faint response, he twisted the bedroom doorknob, only to find that it had been locked from the inside. Fortunately, the blazing heat had reddened the door, and one kick was enough to break it open.
Shi Lei entered the room and found Old Man unconscious in his Wheelchair. Before refreshing the shield, he specifically checked whether Old Man was infected, lest he accidentally hurt him.
After confirming that he was not, Shi Lei hoisted Old Man onto his back and quickly left the room, handing him over to Texas, who was waiting outside.
When she saw Shi Lei rush back into the fire, Texas's calm expression changed, revealing a trace of worry.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and leave."
"No, I can't leave yet." He stood in the living room, looking around as if searching for something. "Don't you understand? This wasn't an accident. This was murder!"
You Actually Dare to Hit a Woman?
"Murder?"
With time pressing, Shi Lei had no chance to explain everything to Texas. He immediately instructed her.
"Take them downstairs first. I'll catch up as soon as I can. That child is infected, so be careful when you carry her. If you're afraid of getting infected, leave her by the stairwell on the tenth floor. I'll take her with me when I come down."
With that, he refreshed his shield again and charged back into the fire.
After discovering that the child was infected, Shi Lei had guessed that perhaps the Originium energy in her body had erupted or leaked out of control, causing the fire.
But she was completely unharmed, and even her clothes were intact. She had merely fainted from lack of oxygen. Only after examining the layout of the scene did he realize there was more to the fire.
This was an upscale residential complex in Lungmen's Upper City, not some ramshackle straw hut that would ignite at the slightest spark. In terms of intensity alone, the fire on the twelfth floor was much stronger than the one on the eleventh.
In the early stages of a fire, there needed to be combustible materials nearby to feed the flames. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, it could never have developed into this so quickly.
Shi Lei crouched at the bedroom door, fearlessly rummaging through the flames with both hands despite the heat. From the ashes he dug out, he found a corner of a hardcover magazine.
Following the trail of fire outward, he found a blackened wooden cabinet. Beside it stood a sofa reduced to nothing but its metal frame, along with a curled-up shag carpet. The flames had traveled along the curtains and spread to the balcony. The fire was fiercest there, and one corner had even collapsed, falling directly onto the balcony below.
Based on his on-site investigation, he had already pieced together a complete path of combustion. Blocking the fire like this was no different from trying to murder Old Man. The culprit had even intended to use the infected person downstairs as bait to stage an accident.
For Shi Lei, a transmigrator who had watched hundreds of episodes of Detective Conan, this arson-and-frame-the-infected scheme was hardly clever. It had obvious loopholes.
If the fire had been extinguished in time, firefighters could determine the point of origin afterward based on the damage.
Either the culprit was too stupid, or he had overlooked a crucial clue.
Shi Lei refreshed his shield again and inspected the area near the collapsed balcony. To his surprise, amid the blinding flames, he found a scorching piece of Originium the size of a goose egg.
So that was it!
The culprit had piled up a large amount of flammable material on the balcony in order to heat the Originium to the point of explosion. The blast would have been enough to kill Old Man in the nearby bedroom. Then the culprit could pin all the blame on the infected child downstairs.
The culprit probably had not expected that the heat energy generated by an Originium explosion would not be as high as imagined. That was why Shi Lei, enduring the blazing flames, had been able to find the crucial evidence.
Ssshhh...
As he was thinking, a powerful stream of high-pressure water sprayed in from outside. It was the short firefighter from before, riding up on the fire truck's ladder to put out the blaze.
Seeing a man standing right in the middle of the fire shocked her badly. She hurriedly adjusted the high-pressure water cannon and fired continuously at the balcony.
Ssshhh...
Shi Lei saw her as well. Spreading his hands, he refreshed the shield once more and used the Wallace-like spray of high-pressure water to cool down the scorching Originium.
Shortly afterward, he turned and went to the kitchen. He dug out a dark thermos from a cabinet to use as a container for the Originium, then ran out the front door and hurried downstairs.
He finally met up with Texas at the stairwell on the eighth floor. At that moment, she was carrying Old Man, whose lower body was paralyzed, while leaving the lighter child to Shi Lei.
He shook the thermos in his hand and explained.
"There's Originium in here. I'm worried something might happen if I carry her. You carry her instead. Give me Old Man."
Texas said nothing. She transferred Old Man onto Shi Lei's back, then picked up the little girl and wrapped the Originium on the girl's arm with her clothes before heading downstairs together.
When they appeared at the building entrance, waves of astonished cries erupted from the onlookers nearby.
"Oh my god, look! They're out!"
"Wow, that young lady is amazing! She saved another one! I want her to carry me too."
"Quick, quick, get me in the shot with them! I'm posting it on my social media page."
When the middle-aged woman saw her daughter, she broke through the security guards' blockade and hugged her daughter tightly.
Shi Lei returned Old Man to his family, then walked over. Thinking of the child's special circumstances, he knew that sending her to the hospital would expose her infected status, so he kindly reminded her.
"Find somewhere with no one around, undo her collar buttons, and let her get some air. She should be fine."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Roleplay Value gained based on host performance: 5 points Current Roleplay Value: 31
Knowing that this was not a place to linger, the woman wrapped her daughter tightly in her coat and hurried away, intending to find somewhere to let her get some air.
But after only a few steps, she was stopped by a Zalak Ratwoman, whose attitude was exceptionally nasty.
"Where do you think you're running? Damn it, are you feeling guilty because you did something wrong? If it weren't for you, my home wouldn't have caught fire! I'm not letting you off for today's losses!"
The Ratwoman cursed as she reached out to tear off the coat covering the girl. Shi Lei sensed something was wrong and swiftly grabbed her right wrist with his left hand. After failing to break free, she could only shout helplessly.
"Let go! Let go of me!"
Seeing that Shi Lei still had her wrist firmly in his grip, the Ratwoman raised her voice, trying to claim the moral high ground.
"Someone come here! Everyone, look over here and judge for yourselves! The old man was taking a nap in the bedroom today and hadn't turned on any appliances. Then this family's child caused a fire and nearly burned him to death, and now they're trying to run away. This man is with them, and he's even stopping me! Tell me, is there any justice left in this world?"
The onlookers murmured among themselves, but because he was the hero who had rescued people from the fire, none dared gossip openly in front of him.
The Ratwoman kept struggling and even tried to smash him with her high heels. But Shi Lei had the Jade Shield and was completely unafraid.
Out of options, she looked extraordinarily furious and shouted toward Ratman, who was standing not far away with the rescued Old Man.
"Hubby, are you even a man? The arsonist is about to get away, and you're still worrying about that old bastard? Get over here and help me pull him off!"
Ratman wore glasses and looked refined and scholarly. When he walked over, he first sincerely thanked Shi Lei, but he showed no intention of breaking up the fight.
"What are you standing around for? Help me!"
"Enough. Calm down. The fire department will investigate the scene and determine responsibility for the fire. If legal procedures need to be followed, then they'll be followed. There's no need to make things difficult for that mother and daughter right now."
"Oh, so you actually dare speak up for outsiders? Do you know that little girl is infec—"
The moment Shi Lei sensed something was wrong, he slapped her to forcibly cut off the conversation. They had already caught the culprit, and he could provide the evidence once the Lungmen Guard Department arrived.
Before then, he absolutely could not let the girl's infected status be exposed. Otherwise, even if the Ratwoman went to prison, the family downstairs would not be able to keep living here.
"Bastard, you actually dare hit me!"
There Was No Retreat
The Ratwoman covered her reddened cheek and shouted loudly.
"Did everyone see that? This man is shameless! He actually hit a woman, and he's even protecting an infec—"
Slap!
This time, the sound was even crisper.
Shi Lei had no compassion for an arsonist. One slap nearly sent her mouth crooked.
"If you dare say another word, I'll keep hitting you."
"You..."
Slap!
The Ratwoman wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with one hand and was successfully persuaded through physical means. But the murderous look in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Ratman could not stand by any longer and spoke up for her.
"Sir, although I'm grateful that you saved my father, you can't bully people like this, can you?"
"Heh."
Shi Lei laughed. "If you knew she wanted to burn your father to death, you'd come over and bully her too."
"You... what did you say?!"
"She set the fire upstairs. I know you don't believe me, so please wait a moment. Once the Lungmen Guard Department arrives, I'll provide you with concrete evidence."
Upon hearing this, the Ratwoman stared at Shi Lei in shock. Unwilling to sit around and wait for death, she struggled with all her strength.
"You bastard, you're spewing nonsense!"
She was truly panicking, yet there was nothing she could do to the man in front of her. The moment she opened her mouth, she received another slap.
"Is... is what he said true?"
Ratman's expression turned solemn as he asked the question seriously. Shi Lei noticed that his hands were clenched tightly, as if he was not surprised by his wife's motive for killing his father.
The Ratwoman covered her face with one hand and said nothing.
"Hey, officers from the Lungmen Guard Department, over here!"
Shi Lei spotted the familiar uniforms and waved in greeting. When they came over, he suggested.
"To protect the victim's privacy, could we talk somewhere quieter?"
The two officers had just arrived at the residential complex and were somewhat confused. Still, they nodded in agreement and followed him to the area near another building. If they let the Ratwoman keep shouting over there, she would sooner or later expose the infected child.
"Alright, tell us. What happened?"
Shi Lei recounted the rough sequence of events during the rescue, then pulled a dark thermos from his pocket. Ratman recognized it at once and cried out.
"Isn't that from my home?"
"That's right, I took it from your home. Inside this thermos is the Originium your wife used to trigger an explosion. She deliberately placed it on the balcony because she wanted to blow your father apart. Before leaving, she deliberately locked the bedroom door from the inside. She piled magazines near the bedroom to make rescue more difficult. Once the firefighters put out the blaze, the scene investigation will identify her as a suspect. My suggestion is to cuff her first. Once everything is confirmed, you can take her away directly."
The Ratwoman had nowhere to retreat.
"Bullshit! That's complete nonsense! The people downstairs did it! There's an infected child in their home. That brat's Originium-related illness acting up caused the fire!"
Shi Lei sneered and pointed at his head with his right hand.
"Leaving aside the fact that you never saw it happen, yet you insist it was the people downstairs. Use that rat brain of yours and think carefully. If the people downstairs had done it, the explosion would have gone from the bottom up and blown the balcony over. But your balcony exploded from the inside out. The firefighters will know that the moment they see it. It's not exactly difficult."
Unless the Originium explosion was powerful enough to level the entire building, there would be flaws no matter how it was done.
The Ratwoman's face turned pale as she grabbed her husband with one hand. Blinking, she squeezed out a few tears.
"You'd rather believe an outsider than the wife you've spent years with?"
Ratman trembled with rage. He had already basically believed Shi Lei's account and demanded.
"Then tell me, why would he lie to target you when he has no grudge against our family?"
"This... how would I know?"
"You wretched woman! Do you know how hard it was for Father to raise me? I endured it when you called him an old bastard behind his back with your friends. I never thought you would actually dare do it. You're so vicious!"
"No, I didn't..."
Slap!
This time, Shi Lei did not need to do it himself.
Before you continue