"You, stand against the wall, put your hands behind your back."

Toad Toynbee stood up obediently, pressing his face and body against the cold walls of the prison.

This prison has a mysterious power that can suppress mutant abilities, and he is now unable to secrete poison juice or bounce like before, but due to the disappearance of the toad's ability, his body shape has also changed somewhat, becoming more like a normal human.

The guards tightly clamped his hands behind his back, and then two large hands like iron tongs inserted into his armpits and lifted him up.

"Someone wants to see you, come with us."

Toynbee was terrified, not knowing where the men were going to take him, and when he was dizzy, he was pushed into the interrogation room, and the iron door slammed behind him.

A middle-aged man sat on a chair at the interrogation table, looking through the stack of materials. When the man saw Toynbee come in, he motioned for him to sit down across from him, and then threw the top document over. Toynbee glanced down, it was his own life history, and the authenticity and accuracy were very high, and many rather secret things were recorded on it.

“Mortimer Toynbee。” The man called out Toynbee's full name, "As a full member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, you illegally invaded Huaxia and caused extremely heavy damage to our city. The facts are clear, the evidence is credible and sufficient, and we have decided to put you on trial, what do you want to appeal? ”

The man's voice was as cold as a poisonous snake, and the words he uttered were like venom flowing from his fangs, slowly seeping into Toynbee's bones, making his soul shudder. Toynbee's brain was buzzing like the poor kid he had been decades ago, wandering alone in the cold midnight, the dark intersections like the open jaws of an abyssal beast, ready to eat him alive.

"No... No, you cannot judge me. I didn't do anything, I really... I didn't—" Toynbee went limp, slid down the back of his chair like a noodle to the floor, curled up in a ball. But the cold concrete floor didn't give him the slightest sense of security, and the fear of death slowly grabbed his neck and squeezed the air out of his lungs little by little.

The man rose from his chair, the incandescent light from the ceiling glowing a white glow behind him, and the man's shadow magnified indefinitely, enveloping Toynbee in complete shadow. Toynbee watched as the man's eyes slowly shone with a blood-red glow, and a cruel smile appeared under the whiskers of the two squirrels...

"Jingle Bell Bell ——!!!"

The piercing electric bell exploded overhead, and Toynbee jumped up from the bed like an electric shock, and before he had time to wipe the tears on his face, he quickly lifted the quilt and jumped off the top bunk. The quiet dormitory was instantly noisy, and seven or eight young men dressed up at a rapid pace and ran out of the room.

"Old soup, hurry up, hurry up!" At last the young man who went out turned around and shouted, and quickly ran away.

Toynbee didn't have time to think about the mess in his dreams, and the results of the days of training began to show up on him, and he tightened his shoelaces, rushed out of the room, and ran after the young man to the equipment room.

By the time Toynbee had put on all his fireproof gear and slid off the slide bar to the parking lot, the fire engine had already started. He hurried a few steps, and with the help of several young men, he managed to jump into the car.

It wasn't until he sat down in his seat that he had time to catch a few breaths, and now his physical fitness was really incomparable to before.

The scene from the dream still haunted him, and the man's voice still ringed in his ears.

"I know what you got arrested for, whatever your mindset is, you saved that child's life, so I'm going to give you another chance now." The man stretched out his hand, and if there was a substantial blood-red energy wrapped around Toynbee's body, he was suspended in the air, "I will cast a spell to suppress your X gene, and you will not be able to use the mutant ability like you were in prison, but you will also remain human." ”

The man chanted a spell in Chinese, and blood-colored characters floated out of his mouth, imprinted on Toynbee's spine one by one, and the pain of burning flesh made him scream loudly.

Toynbee couldn't help but touch his back, which didn't hurt anymore, but the man's curse was still fresh in his memory.

"I was asked to save 15,000 lives to make up for my mistakes, and now I only ask you to save 1,500 people, which is not much. The spell mark on your body will tell me your results, don't try to run away, even if you reach the ends of the earth, I can find you with the spell mark, and then you will definitely regret coming to this world. ”

Toynbee was thus sent to the fire squadron, where he underwent two months of recruit training before officially enlisting in the army.

He is of Mexican descent, with black hair and black eyes, except for a slightly darker skin, which is not very different from the Chinese. The Special Group Office gave Tang Ynbian a new identity, called Tang Huaien, an ethnic minority, so he could not speak Chinese, and this group of solid-eyed soldiers did not doubt it.

The daily training of firefighters is very large, from weight-bearing runs to 100-meter obstacle boards to waterwheel drills, which is enough to torture the recruits at the end of the day, not to mention that Toynbee looks almost 40. Originally, a group of young people were still ready to watch jokes, but they didn't expect him to stick to everything, and his physical fitness was even better than most people, and he admired this "old" recruit for a month.

For Tang Huaien, daily training is not particularly difficult, after all, although his X gene has been suppressed, it is not completely ineffective, and his physical functions are still stronger than ordinary people. What really bothered him was the evening of political study (which he couldn't understand), and the fear of the flames.

His trait is actually that of a toad, and his animal instinct makes him want to turn and run away when he sees fire. Even if there is a special psychological counseling class in the brigade, the effect is not very obvious.

Tang Huaien was thinking about things, and the young man next to him patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Old Tang, why is your face so ugly?" The first time you fight, you stay away, and you will slowly get used to it in the future! ”

This young man is the squad leader of their fire squad, named Zhang Hao, a post-90s guy with a narrow personality and a love of jokes, except for Tang Huaien in this class, he is the oldest.

Tang Huaien looked back and smiled, and said in non-standard Chinese: "Man, don't be afraid!" ”

A carload of boys burst out laughing.

But when they got to the fire, they couldn't laugh.

The fire started in a two-story brick and concrete factory in an urban village on the outskirts of Qiantang City. Originally, it was just a fire in one room of the factory, but this factory was engaged in textile processing, and the inventory of goods was ignited by flying sparks, and the fire spread instantly, and now the entire factory is on fire, and the flames that soar to the sky stain the sky north of the city red.

When their two fire trucks arrived at the fire point, they were stunned by the hellish scene of flames in front of them, and with their two cars and five water cannons, it was useless. Zhang Hao immediately contacted the fire brigade and asked for additional reinforcements from surrounding squadrons.

This is the biggest fire Tang Huaien has ever seen since he was born, he feels that he is about to melt, the fierce heat wave is rushing towards him in waves, his face under the helmet is covered with beads of sweat, the heavy protective clothing is like a steamer on his body, and the crotch of his pants is wet, and he doesn't know if it is sweat or urine. He was already so frightened that he didn't dare to move while holding the carriage, and what he regretted most now was agreeing to the man's request, knowing that it would be better to give himself a good time at that time.

"Hurry, hurry! Water Gun Ready! ”

Zhang Hao roared, the team members moved in an orderly manner, the water cannon was quickly put in place, the fire hydrant on the side of the street began to supply water, and five thick white water columns shot into the flames.

Tang Huaien was in a hurry to help on the side, but it was basically a waste operation, he had lost his mind at this time, and he was just relying on his usual training to support. But no one blames him, whoever encounters such a serious fire on the fire ground for the first time will behave like this.

The red flag on the fire truck moved, and then writhed wildly.

"Grass!" Zhang Hao scolded, smashed his fist on the car, and yelled at the two nearest firefighters, "Lingyun, Liu Jie, go and evacuate the surrounding people!" With such a big fire, as soon as the wind blows, all the surrounding houses are lit! ”

The two young men answered, dropped what they were in their hands and ran.

Tang Huaien punched his face, and the corners of his mouth immediately flowed blood, now is not the time to be nervous and afraid, there is such a pain that he has calmed down a lot. At this moment of life and death, his blood was aroused instead, and his movements were much sharper. In fact, there is no need for him to be so active, whether the Huaxia people die or not has nothing to do with him at all, but in the past few months, he has been training with this group of people every day, and some things have become a natural reaction, he doesn't need to think too much about it, so he acts with the team. In the past, in the brotherhood, no one really took him seriously, and no one really considered his ideas, but in this distant country, this group of young people really regarded him as a member, which made Tang Huaien very moved, and he did not exclude being with them.

Tang Huaien gritted his teeth and decided to fight today, no matter what nationality, race, friend or foe it is, he doesn't want to live up to this group of men who treat him as a brother!

The wind is getting stronger and stronger, and the trees around the factory have long been dried by the heat wave, and now the sparks are blown everywhere by the wind, and finally the dry trees are lit and turned into huge torches. Inevitably, the surrounding houses burst into flames.

Tang Huaien was secretly anxious in his heart, if reinforcements didn't come, all the houses in this area would burn down, and when the fire was completely uncontrollable, what a disaster it would cause. There was a heart-rending cry in his ears, Tang Huaien looked for a reputation, only to see a few neighbors holding down a woman who was crazy and wanted to rush into the fire, he hurriedly ran over to ask.

It turned out that it was time to evacuate the crowd, but because it was too chaotic, the woman and her daughter were separated, and they may still be trapped in the house and have not come out. As soon as Tang Huaien heard the word "child", his eyes immediately turned red, and he didn't know where he got the courage to rush into the house that was already on fire without hesitation.

Tang Huaien misses his superpowers so much now!

The house was filled with smoke and darkness, and he turned on his flashlight and shouted the child's name: "Xiaomi, Xiaomi!" He searched room by room, from the first floor to the second floor, and finally found the little girl in the shower room of the bathroom, who had already inhaled carbon monoxide and was about to fall into a coma due to lack of oxygen.

Tang Huaien took off his helmet vigorously, buckled it on the child's head, picked her up sideways, and ran out quickly. Time is very urgent, he has heard the ceiling above his head make a "creak, squeak" sound, this kind of old house many structures are wooden, the probability of collapse after a fire is very high, if you don't leave, I'm afraid you really can't leave.

It was so hot, the scorching air was sucked into his lungs, his nostrils and trachea were in severe pain, his face was burned painfully, and his eyes were so smoky that he only shed tears, but he didn't dare to blink at all, and ran down the stairs as fast as he could, towards the door.

"Boom ——!"

The whole house shook, the roof collapsed and smashed on the floor of the second floor, and the burning log rolled down the stairs and hit Tang Huaien's back heavily, and the wooden thorns dug deep into the flesh.

Tang Huaien spurted out a mouthful of blood with a "poof", and he stumbled under his feet and almost fell. He gritted his teeth, straightened up stiffly, and moved towards the door with all his might. Blood squeezed out between his teeth and ran all over his jaw, why was the doorknob so far away, he felt the strength in his body disappearing.

Looks like I'm going to die here...

He felt a little gloomy in his heart, but more of a relieved relief, maybe this part of his life could have ended a long time ago.

In a trance, I saw a dazzling white light in front of my eyes, and it turned out that the door of the house had been kicked open. Two firefighters rushed in, one holding the girl and the other holding him tightly, and carried them away from the burning house.

The outside world suddenly opened up, more than a dozen fire trucks were parked near their class car, dozens of water columns and foam sprayed towards the burning fire, more than 100 firefighters were running and busy, and the surrounding people spontaneously came to help, some carrying buckets with basins, and some brought steamed buns. This kind of scene was something Tang Huaien had never seen before, his eyes gradually cleared, and a smile bloomed on his face.

The firefighters who rescued him laughed and patted him on the shoulder, loudly praising his bravery. The girl's mother thanked her for taking her daughter away, and quickly returned to the scene to help Tang Huaien to a nearby resting place. Tang Huaien was hit hard by the beam, and the whole back was already bloody and blurred, and the woman held back her tears and picked wooden thorns for him one by one.

Tang Huaien sat on a chair, motionless and let the woman do it, the pain was already a minor problem for him. He is very tired now, and he really wants to have a drink and sleep with his head covered all day, but his spirit is extremely excited, and when he sees the busy firefighters everywhere, the more he looks at it, the more he likes it, and he is reluctant to blink his eyes.

Now Tang Huaien has begun to understand the "comradeship" mentioned in the political study class, and he has also begun to feel that the life of the fire squadron does not seem to be so boring, and even the fire is not so terrible.

After more than ten hours of all-out fighting by rescuers, the fire was brought under control at 16:22 and completely extinguished at 16:41. Qiantang News Channel focused on reporting on the fire accident, and media platforms such as the 19th floor also praised the quick response and tacit cooperation of the fire squadrons in this major fire, but the heroic deeds of the firefighter who was injured for the sake of the child were only circulated in a small area, but they were not made public.