Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 340 - 223: Please, No (First Update)

Seeing Shi Nian stop in her tracks, Ye He quickly asked, "Boss, what’s up?"

Shi Nian pointed to the large lawn.

The large lawn was a communal garden for this community, like a small park in the middle of the street. Even though it was winter, the lawn had not entirely withered yellow. Among the still lush green grass, golden fallen leaves were scattered, adding a unique charm to the lawn.

Around the lawn were slides and seesaws, making it easy to imagine a children’s paradise.

In the center of the lawn stood a stage’s iron frame, wrapped in colorful lights. At this moment, the lights were already on, brightening the evening and the busy people’s smiling faces.

Right beside the stage, behind the crowd, stood a clown. A black rooster perched on the clown’s shoulder, and he was playing with a bunch of fake flowers that resembled a magician’s prop.

The mesmerizing colorful lights from the stage shone on the clown’s equally mesmerizing colorful face. Like the principle of camouflage, even though one stared closely at him, it felt like his face couldn’t be clearly seen or remembered.

The fake flowers he was playing with in his hands were blood-red. In the deep evening darkness, under the juxtaposition of the colorful lights, they seemed all the more eerie and sinister. Like the strange and alluring blood that would drip from the fangs of a vampire.

The black rooster on his shoulder stood quietly, looking like a fake bird.

As if sensing Shi Nian’s gaze, the clown suddenly turned his head to look at her. His eyes, painted like black cross-stars, emitted an indescribable expression.

As if lonely, as if desolate;

As if leisurely, as if mischievous...

As if nervous, yet as if—proud.

With his head turning over, the black rooster on his shoulder also suddenly turned its eyes over — it was clear this time that it was indeed a living bird.

Then the question arose: How did a live rooster manage to stand so steadily on the clown’s shoulder, motionless like a fake bird?

.

Ye He followed Shi Nian’s gaze and looked over, then laughed, "Boss, are you scared by Rosa’s experience? Not every clown is evil; this is M Country. Clowns appearing at various gatherings is really commonplace. Even at children’s birthday parties or kindergarten ceremonies, clowns will attend."

Ye He looked around and said, "It seems today’s event is a community gathering, so it’s only natural to have a clown to liven things up."

Shi Nian nodded awkwardly, averting her gaze, "Yes, maybe I’m just overthinking."

During this hesitation, more residents had gathered. A tall, robust man, approximately in his fifties, with silver hair, red cheeks, and a big belly — had been standing in the middle of the crowd, laughing heartily — approached Shi Nian and Ye He, handing out flyers, and enthusiastically observing them, "You’re not residents of this area, are you moving here or visiting friends and relatives?"

Shi Nian smiled awkwardly, "Oh, just passing by."

Such a man was destined to be a community leader, full of charisma and influence.

Shi Nian looked down at the flyer in her hand and was surprised to find out that it was a campaign flyer, and the candidate they were supporting was Tang Mingyi!

Ye He also noticed, immediately chuckling gleefully and nudged Shi Nian with her elbow, then smiled at the community leader: "Rest assured, we’ll definitely vote for Lawyer Tang. We’re huge fans!"

Shi Nian felt a bit embarrassed, and the man noticed it, seemed puzzled but still cheerfully extended his hand, "Hey, welcome. I’m Zhang San."

"Zhang San?" Shi Nian raised an eyebrow, and Ye He burst into laughter.

Zhang San shrugged, "Because I support Tang Mingyi, so I gave myself a Chinese name. I asked my friends from China which name is most known there, and they said it’s either ’Zhang San’ or ’Li Si.’ They also mentioned there’s a martial arts master with ’Zhang San’ in his name, so I chose this name."

Shi Nian and Ye He couldn’t help but laugh, exchanging a smile.

Shi Nian took the opportunity to ask, "Will the clown be performing later?"

Zhang San nodded happily, "Yes. The clown’s performance will be wonderful, you must stay to watch it later."

Thinking of Xiong Jie, Shi Nian just nodded and smiled, "Alright, we’ll try."

Zhang San said a few words and then went off to greet other guests.

Shi Nian grabbed Ye He and hurried towards Xiong Jie’s house.

Just as they reached the edge of the lawn, a dazzling light suddenly flashed ahead, like lightning streaking across the sky.

Before they could react, a deafening explosion followed.

Shi Nian stood stunned, looking ahead, only to see the dazzling light forming a gigantic fireball, quickly devouring five adjoining houses.

And Xiong Jie’s house was among those five...

.

The intense flash of light and the enormous explosion happened right in front of our eyes, leaving no time to think.

People on the vast lawn started to exclaim and scream, and some rushed towards the flames.

Shi Nian was stunned for a moment. Although her mind was still blank, her limbs moved on their own, sprinting towards Xiong Jie’s house!

As her legs started moving, it seemed as if her ears finally began to recover. Previously, all she heard was the deafening explosion and people’s screams, but now she could finally hear Ye He shouting nearby: "Captain, don’t go, it’s dangerous!"

Dangerous? Of course, it was. Who knew if there’d be aftershocks following an explosion, but she couldn’t just stand by and watch all of this unfold before her eyes without doing anything!

Yet her forward steps were halted by Zhang San, who anxiously shouted at her, "Miss, please be careful! Aftershocks might still occur. You’re not a professional, and you don’t have protective gear or equipment. You can only stand where you are; you cannot go forward!"

As if to prove Zhang San’s words, a few consecutive explosions sounded next—

Shi Nian, unable to break free from Zhang San, could only desperately shout towards Xiong Jie’s house, "Xiong Jie!"

.

The world was left in ruins.

The fire was extinguished, leaving five houses as nothing but charred ruins. Nothing of value could be salvaged.

Shi Nian sat dazed by the roadside. Her ears were still buzzing from the aftermath, and before her eyes still danced the glaring flash and explosion.

Residents from the community rushed to help, some assisting the injured onto ambulances, others helping the homeowners search the ruins for anything salvageable.

Shi Nian was drenched, soaked by the firefighters’ hoses. She sat shivering in the cold of the winter night, a blanket draped over her shoulders by a caring resident. Ye He worriedly called out to her constantly, as if fearing she had been left stunned by the flash of the explosion.

Xiao Mai also rushed over with the photographer Da Shan, and the two quickly gathered materials from the scene.

The firefighters’ initial judgment was that the fire originated in the house next to Xiong Jie’s, where an elderly person lived alone. It was considered a gas flare-up. It was preliminarily determined that improper use of gas by the elderly person, or forgetting to turn off the gas valve, combined with the closed doors and windows of winter, allowed gas to accumulate indoors. This may have resulted in a flare-up caused by something like a cellular signal or an electric spark.

Shi Nian tightened the blanket around herself, fixing her gaze intently on the ruins of Xiong Jie’s home.

Sure enough, two firefighters approached, carrying a body wrapped in a plastic corpse bag.

Shi Nian sprang to her feet and walked over to intercept them. With trembling hands, she unzipped the bag — the body was burnt beyond recognition. Shi Nian could finally no longer contain herself and sobbed with a hand over her mouth.

Heaven...why did this happen?

Shi Nian was so overwhelmed with sorrow that she could barely stand, and she was soon embraced by a pair of warm arms.

Qingyi’s voice, in this shattered night scene, remained calm and clear: "Please carry it away, thank you."

Shi Nian couldn’t regain her composure, but beside her, Ye He exclaimed joyfully, "Mr. Tang, you’re here!"

Shi Nian turned around in a daze, recognizing the familiar face, and finally broke down into tears, "...Xiong Jie is dead. Why did Xiong Jie have to die?"

.

The hospital room was silent, with only the dim light glowing. Even the humidifier was cautiously quiet, with white mist quietly dissipating into the air.

Shi Nian was dreaming, her eyelids twitching rapidly.

In front of her was still the raging fire, the thunderous explosion.

The night was as dark as ink, and the world was silent, with neither voices nor shadows of cars, not even the endlessly common streets and lights of modern society.

There was nothing, yet out of nowhere, a light exploded brilliantly, roaring loudly enough to deafen.

She stood alone on a hillside, covering her mouth, screaming frantically.

"No—!"

No, dad was still inside, and so was that important person.

She was stubbornly staying here, waiting for dad, waiting for that person to come out safely.

She kept waiting, always waiting. She never left.

So, please, don’t let it happen...

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

[Second post in the morning~]