Just as Cheng Muyun ran inside, Chen Hede arrived with the fire brigade.
He waited and waited at the pear garden, but Hu Moli never came. He sent someone to inquire and learned that the Cheng mansion had been besieged by a mob and was on fire.
He rushed to the police station to call for help, but the fire brigade was slow to respond. Chen Hede alerted the police chief, Zhu Zhishui, before the fire brigade finally relented.
Zhu Zhishui said that someone above was preventing the fire brigade from being dispatched and had also withdrawn the patrol team near Cheng's mansion to suppress news of the fire, all in order to watch the people in Cheng's mansion burn to death.
His meaning was clear: he didn't want Chen Hede to get involved. But Chen Hede insisted on saving Xu Zhuohua. He had a feeling that Xu Zhuohua seemed to have known about the fire all along, and that he was not perceptive enough to notice Xu Zhuohua's abnormality.
Finally, Zhu Zhishui said, "If you insist on going, even I won't be able to keep your position as deputy director!"
When Chen Hede arrived with a team of police officers, he immediately saw Mrs. Cheng kneeling on the ground, looking distraught, with her hair disheveled and her face covered in tears. Looking at the Western-style house that had been burned down to its skeleton, he could already guess what had happened.
"Deputy Director Chen!" Cheng Yuguang stepped forward, his voice filled with barely concealed anxiety, pointing towards the fire. "Mu Yun just went in! Please find him no matter what, you must rescue him!"
Chen Hede didn't say much. While quickly putting on the fireproof mask and heat-resistant suit handed to him by the police officer next to him, he replied in a deep voice: "Governor Cheng and his wife, rest assured, the fire brigade will not slack off and will do its best to rescue everyone inside."
As soon as he finished speaking, he had already put on his equipment, waved for his team to follow, and then turned and rushed into the still-smoking fire.
Firefighters rushed in, and water trucks drove in one after another, filling the air with hissing steam and the smell of burning.
With everyone's combined efforts, the fire gradually subsided, and the once towering flames turned into scattered sparks. However, the old-fashioned Western-style house had been burned beyond recognition, leaving only the blackened wooden frame, which stood there crookedly, as if it could collapse at any moment.
The courtyard gradually became busy as people carefully carried out several valuable items that had been salvaged from the fire, most of which were blackened by smoke.
Some injured firefighters were carried out by their comrades, their faces and hands bearing red burn marks, wincing in pain.
But as time passed, Cheng Muyun still did not appear.
Even Chen Hede, who was the first to rush in, disappeared without a trace, as if a stone had sunk into the sea.
Madam Cheng remained kneeling in place, the ground beneath her knees already warmed by her body heat, yet she felt no warmth whatsoever.
Amidst the raging fire, a bone-chilling cold and heart-wrenching pain.
Those once charming eyes now held only an empty, unwavering gaze, fixed on the entrance to the fire, as if trying to carve out a person's shadow from the devastation.
After an unknown amount of time, as the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, a deafening explosion suddenly shattered everyone's lingering hope.
The brittle beams could no longer support the weight, and the entire house collapsed with a crash.
The charred wooden beams and broken bricks crashed to the ground with a dull thud, raising clouds of ash and instantly turning the area into ruins.
"Ah—!" Madam Cheng let out a shrill scream that was almost inhuman, as if all her reason had been ripped away. She crawled towards the ruins on all fours, her fingernails carving deep bloody marks into the rubble, repeatedly muttering, "Mu Yun... my Mu Yun..."
The people around stood frozen in place. Some instinctively tried to pull him away, but the despairing scene froze them in place, unable to move.
Just then, the rising sun broke free from the clouds and leaped out from a crimson sunset, its golden rays piercing the morning mist and instantly illuminating the devastated ruins.
In the dead silence, a faint movement suddenly arose beneath the broken beam.
Amidst the black ash mixed with the muddy water left from extinguishing the fire, a small bulge slowly began to wriggle. Then, a hand wearing a leather glove suddenly emerged from the rubble, its five fingers still trembling slightly.
"It's moving! There's movement!" Someone shouted, and everyone snapped out of their daze. They leaped over the ruins like madmen and rushed over to frantically pry away the rubble and pieces of wood that were pressing down on them.
The first thing to be revealed was Chen Hede's face, which was covered in soot and blood was streaming from his forehead. He was already in a semi-conscious state, but he was still desperately protecting the person beneath him with his body.
When everyone moved him away, they could see that the person he was pressing down on was Cheng Muyun.
Cheng Muyun was covered in burns, his military uniform was charred and tattered and stuck to his body, his face was covered in soot and blood, and he had long lost consciousness, but the faint rise and fall of his chest was clearly visible - he was still alive.
"Quick! Bring a stretcher!" someone roared, their voice trembling with relief. The morning light fell on Cheng Muyun's face, revealing his tightly furrowed brows, as if, even in his unconscious state, he was still worried about someone.
When everyone tried to pull Cheng Muyun out, it was as if he was being held back by something, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't move him an inch.
Someone hurriedly bent down and reached out to clear away the pile of charcoal and broken tiles beneath him. As the scalding residue was gradually cleared away, everyone gasped and forgot to breathe.
Cheng Muyun held someone tightly in his arms, his arms wrapped around them so tightly that it was as if he wanted to embed that person into his own bones and blood.
How can they still be called "human"?
He had long since stopped breathing, his entire body burned to a charred outline, the flesh and blood covered in festering sores, the torn fabric of his clothes stuck to his flesh and blood, a tangled mess of red, yellow and black, unrecognizable.
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