The next morning, when Ren Yi woke up, he called home. Hearing his father speaking to him in his usual tone put his mind somewhat at ease.
The weather was getting colder and colder. During morning drills, they ran several laps against the dry, cold wind, their faces feeling tight and their lips almost splitting.
After morning training, they gathered in the cafeteria and waited for breakfast. Ren Yi took out a small jar of Vaseline and rubbed some onto his lips, complaining as he did so, “It’s way too dry.”
Cui Yisheng glanced at Ren Yi. “Captain Ren, that pose is way too girly. Are you okay?”
“My lips are cracking. It affects my appetite. Who cares if it looks girly?” Ren Yi had absolutely no psychological burden about it.
“That stuff isn’t very effective,” Sun Dingyi said.
“It works. I always use it when my lips get dry.” Ren Yi rubbed his greasy lips with a finger and frowned.
“Nothing compares to the nourishment of love.” Sun Dingyi puckered his lips and blissfully kissed the air twice.
Gao Ge pretended to hit him.
Sun Dingyi grinned and moved to another seat. “Captain Ren, instead of putting that stuff on, you might as well find someone to kiss.”
Gao Ge pointed at Sun Dingyi. “Drag him outside and hang him from the aerial ladder.”
“I think that’s a good idea!” Several firefighters swarmed over.
Ren Yi snorted through his nose and casually said, “How do you know I don’t have anyone to kiss?”
The room instantly fell silent. Everyone stared eagerly at Ren Yi.
“Wow, Captain Ren, what have you been doing these past couple of days? You’ve been taking leave all the time lately. Did you go off dating someone?”
Ren Yi remembered that secret kiss in the dead of night.
That kiss had been light and soft, without the slightest trace of desire. It was completely different from the kisses he had experienced before, whether seductive or passionate. Compared with those, it was practically plain and bland, yet it had made his heart race and left him savoring it endlessly, leaving an indelible mark in his heart.
If he hadn’t just experienced it himself, he wouldn’t have believed that a simple kiss could leave him so stirred up for several days.
Ren Yi coughed lightly. “I’m busy taking care of you bunch of troublemakers all day. Where would I have time to date?”
Qu Yangbo let out a “Tsk.” “Are you the one taking care of them, or am I?”
“Wow, Captain Ren’s reaction is seriously suspicious.” Sun Dingyi’s eyes lit up as he stared at Ren Yi. “Are you really dating someone? We’re all so close. Come on, tell us the truth.”
“No means no. Since you guys have so much free time, do you want some extra training this afternoon?”
“You always use that to scare us.” Gao Ge was unconvinced. “You’re just avoiding the question.”
“At least you have someone you like, right?” Li Sa, who had been quietly listening from the side, suddenly spoke up.
“Listen to that. Even Sister Sa says so. A woman’s intuition is the most accurate.”
Qu Yangbo gave a meaningful smile.
Gong Yingxian’s face inevitably appeared before Ren Yi’s eyes. Although he felt guilty, he kept his expression under control.
“You guys…”
The alarm suddenly went off.
“Aw, we were just about to eat!” Sun Dingyi wailed.
Although they complained, their feet didn’t slow down. They rushed downstairs as quickly as possible and gathered in the garage.
The emergency call had come from a small wholesale market. They had reported that a battery bank in the equipment room had caught fire. The market was filled with combustible materials, and if the fire wasn’t brought under control quickly, it could develop into a serious accident. They put on their gear as fast as possible, climbed into the truck, and set off.
On the way, they learned that the battery bank had caught fire because it had been operating under an overload. It turned out that, in order to save money, the shopping center had secretly purchased a large number of industrial lithium batteries. They charged them at night and discharged them during the day because electricity was cheaper at night than during the day.
Lithium batteries were extremely troublesome. Once they caught fire, they were very difficult to extinguish. This was also why there were so many restrictions on power banks aboard airplanes. In recent years, fires caused by electric-vehicle lithium batteries had been increasing year by year. What the shopping center was doing was absolutely against fire-safety regulations.
When they arrived at the shopping center, they headed straight for the equipment room.
From a distance, they could see smoke continuously pouring out through the equipment-room door. A group of employees stood far away, holding fire extinguishers, but no one dared to approach.
Even through their protective gear, they could already feel the waves of heat.
“Firefighters! The firefighters are here!”
Ren Yi immediately asked, “Is anyone trapped inside?”
“No.”
“Has the power been cut?”
“Yes.”
“What is the situation inside?” Ren Yi looked in. All he could see was the red glow of the flames. Everything else was hidden in the rolling, thick smoke.
The person in charge wiped his sweat. “One group of batteries caught fire. We tried to put it out ourselves, but… we couldn’t. And it got too hot inside, so we came out.”
Ren Yi glared at him. “There was a fire and you didn’t call 119 immediately? You tried to put it out yourselves? Do you know how difficult a lithium-battery fire is to extinguish?!”
The man was speechless.
Ren Yi had seen far too many cases where people didn’t call the fire department immediately because they were afraid of being punished or held responsible. They tried to put the fire out themselves and ended up missing the best window for rescue. Many minor accidents had turned into major disasters because of this. He knew there was no point blaming the man, but he was still furious.
Ren Yi ordered, “Ding Qing, prepare the water supply. Have headquarters contact the municipal authorities and raise the water pressure in this area.”
“Yes.”
“Liu Hui, get two exhaust fans.”
“Yes.”
“Gao Ge, Sun Dingyi, you’re coming in with me.”
The three of them fully geared up and entered the equipment room.
The equipment room had only one door and one window, nowhere near enough to vent the smoke and heat. The temperature inside was like hell, hot enough to roast a person alive. Even wearing heat-resistant suits, Ren Yi felt as though his skin was about to melt from the heat. In an environment like this, they could last at most one minute.
Ren Yi gritted his teeth and moved toward the fire.
The battery banks were stacked against the wall, five rows by four columns, twenty batteries in total. Each one was about the size of a suitcase and covered in a mess of wires. They burned with terrifying crackling noises. The one that had caught fire first was probably the one in the middle on the left. By now, it had been burned completely red-hot and had ignited the four batteries surrounding it.
The best way to extinguish a lithium-battery fire was to spray it with water—and a great deal of water was required. If there wasn’t enough water, the fire wouldn’t go out. For small lithium batteries, simply throwing them into water was the wisest thing to do. But batteries this large, already burned to this extent, couldn’t be moved safely.
Soon, the three of them couldn’t take the heat anymore and retreated.
Ren Yi removed his mask, his face covered in sweat. He took a breath. “This is troublesome. It’s too hot for anyone to stay inside. How are we supposed to spray water?”
“We can only rotate teams,” Gao Ge said.
Ren Yi thought for a moment. “Ventilate and cool it down at the same time while spraying water. That’s the only way.”
A man who looked like he was part of management walked over to Ren Yi. “Comrade, how are you planning to put out the fire?”
“We’re going to use two exhaust fans, one at the door and one at the window, to vent the smoke outside, and then we’ll spray water.”
The man’s expression changed. “Comrade, think of another way. Whatever you do, don’t spray water. If you spray water, all our batteries will be ruined. Each battery costs more than two hundred thousand yuan.”
Ren Yi narrowed his eyes at him.
“Don’t you have dry powder or something? If that doesn’t work, what about smothering the fire? Cut off the air and won’t the fire go out?”
Ren Yi said coldly, “Dry powder works by smothering the fire, which doesn’t work on lithium batteries. Five batteries are already burning inside. If we cut off the air, before the fire goes out, it could ignite or cause more batteries to explode. The excessive heat could also damage the steel reinforcement in the walls.”
The man grabbed Ren Yi and said urgently, “Think of something else, okay? Just move the burning batteries outside.”
Ren Yi shook his hand off and snapped, “What do you think we’re wearing? If I gave you my suit, would you dare go in there and move them?”
“Y-you—what kind of attitude is that?” the man shouted. “I called the manufacturer. If you pour water on them, all twenty batteries will be destroyed. That’s several million yuan in losses!”
“If you don’t spray water, your batteries will all burn up anyway, and they’ll pose a safety threat to the entire shopping center.” Ren Yi glared at him sharply. “If you interfere with official duties again, you can go spend a few days in the detention center to cool off.”
“You…”
The man was about to say something when a deafening bang suddenly came from inside the room. Everyone’s hearts jolted, and they instinctively ducked and covered their heads.
A lithium battery had definitely exploded. Although a lithium-battery explosion usually wouldn’t cause massive damage, anyone standing nearby would be in serious danger. And after an explosion, it could ignite even more batteries.
The man’s face went deathly pale, and he fell silent.
After the explosion, the temperature inside the equipment room seemed to rise even further. This time, they couldn’t even enter. Just approaching the doorway was enough for the terrifying radiant heat to force them back.
The water hoses were now ready. Ren Yi arranged for two hoses to begin cooling the walls first, then wait for the exhaust fans. If they couldn’t lower the temperature inside, there was no way they could get the water hoses in.
After a while, the exhaust fans arrived as well and began venting air through the window and the door.
They kept ventilating for a full half hour before the temperature finally dropped somewhat, and visibility inside improved slightly.
Ren Yi decided to try going in. He and Gao Ge carried a water hose together and entered the equipment room, aiming it at the battery banks in the distance before opening the valve.
To extinguish the fire as quickly as possible, Ren Yi set the water pressure to twelve. The moment the valve opened, the enormous pressure made the hose thrash and writhe like a live dragon. Ren Yi and Gao Ge clung desperately to it, but they were still both dragged to the ground. The nozzle began whipping wildly, spraying the two of them with water.
Sun Dingyi rushed over and pinned down the hose, finally bringing it under control. They aimed the stream at the burning batteries.
As soon as the water hit, high-temperature steam billowed through the room, making the conditions even more unbearable than the fire alone had been at the beginning. After spraying for a while, they switched with the next team.
The firefighters took turns in teams of three. At first, each team could only stay inside for one minute. As the temperature gradually dropped, they were eventually able to remain inside for several minutes at a time.
Ren Yi, Gao Ge, and Sun Dingyi went in again when it was their turn. By now, most of the thick smoke had been replaced by steam. They still couldn’t see anything clearly, but fortunately, the burning area was obvious enough that they wouldn’t miss their target with the water.
Several minutes later, they withdrew and the next team took over.
Ren Yi was already so exhausted that he could barely lift his arms. Every breath was becoming difficult. This was what happened after wearing an SCBA for too long.
“Let’s go up and get some air. We should change our air cylinders while we’re at it. We’re probably almost out.”
Ren Yi walked out of the shopping center, gasping deeply for fresh air as he headed toward the fire truck. He took three new air cylinders from the truck and handed one to Sun Dingyi. When he went to hand another to Gao Ge, he realized Gao Ge wasn’t behind him.
“Where is he?” Ren Yi asked.
Sun Dingyi was changing his air cylinder. “He didn’t come out. He should still be inside.”
“Take this one in to him, and remind everyone to check how much air they have left. If they don’t have enough, come out and change it immediately. I’ll catch my breath and go back in.”
“Okay.”
Sun Dingyi carried the air cylinder back inside.
Ren Yi wiped away his sweat and tugged at the collar of his protective suit, trying to let a little cold air in. After spending so long in such extreme heat, the sensation of his entire body seeming to burn was almost unbearable. Even a little cool breeze coming in helped considerably.
But he didn’t get to “enjoy” it for long. He soon went back inside.
Before he could even step into the shopping center, Sun Dingyi came rushing out, looking somewhat panicked.
“Gao Ge seems to be missing.”
Ren Yi frowned. “What do you mean, missing?”
“I can’t find him inside, and he isn’t responding on the radio.”
“Could he have… gone to the bathroom?” Ren Yi said it himself, and even he thought it sounded forced.
“He wouldn’t stop responding just because he went to the bathroom.” Sun Dingyi was visibly nervous. “I asked a lot of people, and nobody saw him. I even went into the equipment room to look for him, but I couldn’t find him.”
Ren Yi’s heart tightened. He ran back into the shopping center and headed straight for the equipment room.