Chapter III Fire
At this time, I still only had a sense of foreboding, but I still told myself in my heart that it could not be such a coincidence, and the probability of a fire in an old wooden house in this weather was very high, but the sense of foreboding in my heart gradually became so strong that I was a little suffocated.
Running with the child and rushing to the place where the fire was on fire, the closer I got to it, the more bad I felt. When I rushed to the front, I could hardly believe what I was seeing, only to see billowing smoke coming out of the stilted building of the stuffy oil bottle, the fire was so great that the heat was so strong that I couldn't get close at all, and I knew that it was burning beyond help. The hill behind the stilt building was also burning, the bushes were charred black, and the fire was still spreading.
Villagers are rushing to the mountain from all over the world to put out the fire, and we have experienced mountain fires and know that once a mountain fire burns, the terrible consequences are unimaginable. So it's absolutely right to put out the wildfires first.
The source of the fire seemed to be in the mountain, and the stilt building of the stuffy oil bottle was at the foot of the mountain, so it was affected, but I stood there, knowing that it must not be the case.
The fire was so great that it had only been long for us to go to the stream, and even if we were struck by lightning, it would not have burned so quickly. Most obviously, there was a strong smell of kerosene in the air.
There were no fire hydrants, all the firefighting equipment was buckets, but the number of barrels was limited, and they scooped water from the tanks, and by the time the fire was extinguished, the stuffy bottle house must have burned to the ground. I wanted to rush in in a hurry, but the fat man grabbed me, saying that there was no way, it was too dangerous to go in, and I couldn't afford to die here.
My mind was in a state of confusion, and I fell to my knees, when suddenly a figure flashed, and before we could react, we saw the stuffy oil bottle rush over, rush to the fire room, and roll into the space under the stilted building.
The fat man and I were both shocked, knowing that rushing into the fire without protection like this was definitely a severe burn, and there was no emotion to talk about. It's not that you're fine if you don't touch the fire, the temperature in the center of the fire is as high as 1,000 degrees, and you will be cooked in an instant if you stay in it.
The fat horse yells for help! He and I immediately rushed over, five or six meters closer to the house, and the hot wave hit our faces. My hairs were immediately curled, and my eyebrows and hair snapped. I gritted my teeth and endured the burning pain in my skin, rushed to the edge of the house, squatted down, and immediately found that it was impossible to enter, the high temperature inside was like the breath of a fire dragon gushing out, and I could barely see that there was chΓ‘o wet mud underground, and the stuffy oil bottle was wrapped in wet mud and was crawling inside.
It was no longer possible to look closely, we were so burned by the heat that we couldn't open our eyes, so we had to crawl out and quit. The firefighters next to us rushed to stop us.
As soon as he was helped up, he heard a loud sound of things collapsing from the fire, and then the stuffy oil bottle rolled out of the space of the stilt building. He was covered in white smoke, stumbling up and running towards us, and someone next to him poured water on him, and some people said he was crazy.
I rushed over and saw that he was covered in mud from under the house, and I don't know if he had burns, but I could see that there were several places on his left hand that were covered in black ash, and it was obvious that he had taken it out with his hands. I scolded: You don't want to live anymore! The fat man picked him up and asked, "How is it?" β
His face was expressionless, and he only said coldly: "It's all burned out." As he spoke, he looked at the people who were busy putting out the fire, "It smelled of kerosene, and even the floor burned through." β
The meaning of this action is self-evident, and the fat man also looked at the firefighter, and looked at me with an unkind face: "Xiao Wu, it seems that there is something wrong with this village." β
I looked at the sadness of the stuffy oil bottle and didn't have time to think about it, and someone on the side shouted to me: "Take him to the village office to find a doctor, the burns can be big or small, the house is uninhabited, learn how to save people." β
We asked a child to lead the way, and after bringing the stuffy oil bottle to the village office, the child asked me to stay, and he went to call the doctor. I remembered that I was still scared just now, and I couldn't help but complain about the stuffy oil bottle. The fat man told me not to be annoying, and to be careful of being heard. I just shut up, my heart was a little out of breath, and I didn't know what to say.
The stuffy oil bottle didn't seem to care about the wound on his body at all, just in a daze, not knowing what to think, and the atmosphere froze.
I don't want to describe this kind of depression, no one thought that this kind of thing would happen, I knew that I would rather be caught and beaten on the spot than go in to see it first. It's too late to say anything.
It took four hours for the fire to be extinguished, and many people suffered burns, and soon after, a barefoot doctor treated the wounded with herbs. The stuffy oil bottle was fine when it was checked, probably because of the insulation of the underground mud, although his burns were many, they were not serious, only his left hand was a little badly burned. The barefoot doctor seemed to have seen the wind and waves, and he was not nervous, and slowly gave them herbs, saying that as long as they insisted on changing the dressing, they would not leave any scars. Wildfires are frequent here in summer, and the villagers have a lot of experience with burns since ancient times.
None of us spoke, and when I went back to Gui's house to wash, my eyebrows and hair were so burnt that they fell down. It's just miserable.
The stuffy oil bottle fell into complete silence, and the room was filled with the strange smell of burn herbs, which was unpleasant. I blamed the fat man a little bit, and told him that if he hadn't said to come back first, we would have stiffened our scalps and went straight in and took out the photos, and we wouldn't be where we are now.
The fat man was on fire, how could he blame him, since someone set the fire, then we must have been targeted, and it was only a matter of time before something happened. This time it burned an old house, and if we saw the photos, then they probably burned us. And at that time, people would not go in hard, and you would be too bold to climb into someone's room in broad daylight.
I also have a sulking nowhere to go, and I really can't complain about the fat man, but when the fat man said this, I had no name in my stomach, and I resisted the urge to quarrel with him, and hit my head against the wall a few times before it eased up a little.
The fat man snorted and said to me: "I think we just can't help this, I guess the fuck has already designed it, otherwise we wouldn't be so unlucky." The madman who stole the box, I think it may have been installed by someone else, and it was also the arsonist. You think he was so loud when he stole the box, and he deliberately knocked on the floor to get our attention, and he must have lured us out. He paused, "Then his accomplices were outside, and as soon as we went out and saw them, we certainly did not dare to go in again, and as soon as we were gone they set fire to the house...... Damn, that's got to be the case. β
Makes sense, I nodded, in this case, they should have discovered us temporarily, and lured us out in a hurry, if they had known our plan, they should have taken measures a long time ago, and they would not have been so eager and extreme.
If this is the case, it is very likely that the villagers who set the fire were the same villagers who were watching us from the hillside at the time...... Who are they? I've never met them, and they shouldn't know me.
"They definitely don't know what we're looking for, and if they know we're looking for photos, they can just take them away and burn them, they don't need to burn the whole house." The fat man said, "But these people are not smart, and if they show their faces, I don't believe that we have nothing to do with them." Do you remember what they looked like? β
I had a vague impression, but I couldn't recognize it all from such a distance, so it would definitely be a little difficult, so I couldn't help but sigh.
If the stuffy oil bottle hadn't suddenly remembered the box, we would have seen the photo directly, and the situation would not have been the same, but then the box would have been buried under the charred ruins, never to be seen. Mistakes and mistakes, we didn't completely fail, and I feel a little relieved when I think about it. There is no end to it, and as soon as the house burns down, I know one thing: there must be someone in this village who knows something, and it can't be an ordinary thing, anyway, it's a clue.
It's just that I don't know if those people will take action next, whether they will take action against us, the fat man said that he shouldn't come to kill him, otherwise there is no need to burn the house, just kill us. But we still have to be careful, we have to be more mindful in the future.
Even if he thought so, the fat man was still a little relieved, so he went to Agui's yard and took a few sickles back and hid them under the bed to defend himself, and also made a few cups and hung them on the doors and windows, and the doors and windows would fall down and make a noise when they moved.
I always felt uneasy at this time, and I had a premonition that since someone was obstructing us, something would happen to Agui helping us find the old guide. Someone didn't want us to look any further.