There was a nest of white mice in the storage room. The children all ran in and fed the mice with food. Xiaoli couldn't resist and held a white mouse in her hand. Guoguo threw food into Xiaoli's palm, and the white mouse pecked at her palm, making the children laugh.

These adorable little mice couldn't be allowed to escape, so the children even built a fence around them using planks from the storage shed, intending to keep them here.

Aunt Chen came in a few times, and occasionally brought the children some snacks or fruit.

The children were so tired from playing that they all fell asleep on the small beds in the storage room.

Aunt Chen couldn't bear to wake them, so she closed the door and quietly slipped out.

It was cooking time, so she went back into the kitchen and didn't come out again.

Seeing that the time was right, Li Chunxiang, who was hiding in the shadows, peeked around and, seeing that no one was around, quickly walked towards the Xiao family's house. She took out the key that Lan Yin had given her, opened the iron gate, and went in to set the house on fire.

She also put the white mice in beforehand, just to lure the children in and then burn them all together.

He took out a small bottle of gasoline and poured it on the wall. The exterior wall was covered in colorful graffiti, but it was made of wood, which was easy to ignite even without gasoline. With this small bottle of gasoline to help it burn, he had to run away as soon as it caught fire.

After Li Chunxiang ran out, she locked the door again, leaving it exactly as it was.

Flames shot into the sky, and the outbuilding was instantly engulfed in flames.

Aunt Chen, who was cooking inside, was completely unaware of anything.

Xie Zhi lost track of Lan Yin.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Xie Zhi discovered that two strangers were following Lan Yin, but they kept circling around, which is why he lost track of them and couldn't catch up with either of them.

Back in the neighborhood, he immediately saw a fire in the direction of the Xiao family's house. He had a bad feeling and ran towards the Xiao family's house as fast as he could.

The wind was strong, and the fire quickly destroyed the wooden house.

The neighbors took a look and found it was just an insignificant wooden house, so they weren't too alarmed. It was just a few unimportant things that had burned down.

Xie Zhi was dressed strangely, and everyone made way for him.

He opened the door and went in, shouting loudly.

"Fire! Fire!"

Aunt Chen heard the screams and ran out, collapsing to the ground in terror. "The children...the children are all inside..."

After hearing what Aunt Chen said, the neighbors who had just thought it was unimportant were too late to put out the fire.

The entire outbuilding had been burned and collapsed.

But everyone still came in to help put out the fire.

Aunt Zhang called Su Xiaonuan and Xiao Moran, but she didn't dare say that the children were inside. She only said that the outbuilding had caught fire.

Upon hearing that the outbuilding was on fire, the two rushed back without hesitation, as Xie Zhi was still living there.

A large crowd had gathered in front of the Xiao family's house, all shaking their heads and sighing.

Xiao Moran and Su Xiaonuan arrived almost one after the other. When they saw Xie Zhi standing safely in the yard, their hearts were relieved. After getting out of the car, they even smiled and greeted the neighbors who were watching.

Aunt Chen was so frightened that she couldn't speak, couldn't even stand up, and couldn't shed tears. She was so scared that she was like a fool, sitting on the ground blankly with her eyes staring at the burned ruins.

"Aunt Chen, what's wrong with you?" Su Xiaonuan stepped forward and shook Aunt Chen.

"Xiao Nuan, you're back?" Aunt Chen immediately kowtowed repeatedly. "I'm so sorry... I didn't take good care of the children, they, they..."

"What happened to them?" Su Xiaonuan froze.

Xiao Moran realized something was wrong and rushed forward, grabbing Aunt Chen and asking anxiously, "Where are they?...?"

"They...they..." Aunt Chen fainted before she could finish speaking. Five children, five lives, all burned to death inside.

With a loud thud, Xiao Moran's tall body collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Su Xiaonuan screamed in anguish, rushing forward and digging through the rubble with her hands. "They're not inside, they're not inside, they must have run outside to play."

She was frantically digging and rummaging, denying that they were inside. At that moment, she really wished that the children had all run away while playing, instead of all being inside.

"Xiaonuan, don't be like this. It's already happened, please accept my condolences!" Aunt Zhang said, wiping away her tears. "When the neighbors and I arrived, the outbuilding had already collapsed. Aunt Chen said the children were playing with the white mice inside, and when they got tired, they fell asleep. She went back inside to cook..."

Aunt Chen choked up and couldn't continue. Five children, five lives lost. She usually liked these children; they were smart and cute, with sweet little mouths, and they always called her grandma whenever they saw her.

Xiao Moran stood up, staggered into the house, and made a phone call. Ten minutes later, more than twenty people arrived. They helped clear the burned ruins and went to hug Xiao Nuan, whose hands were covered in blood from digging. "Honey, please don't do this. If you keep digging, your hands will be ruined. Be good, let them clean it up."

"No." When Su Xiaonuan looked up, her eyes were bloodshot. "The children are alright, I have to save them, they're alright..."

The onlookers said sadly:

"They're burned to this extent, the children are long gone. Please accept my condolences."

"When we arrived after discovering the fire, there was no way to put it out. The gate was tightly closed, and there was no one in the yard. We watched helplessly as the outbuildings burned down."

"Yes, we found that it was just a useless outbuilding that was burning down, so we didn't think much of it. We really didn't know there were children inside. If we had known, we might have been able to save one or two children. Five children! It's so tragic."

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