Drama Queen Reborn as a Top Student!-Chapter 686 - 288

Those strong arms picked him up.

Behind him, the fire rose to the sky, blocking all exits.

Shen Li made a quick decision to rush to the balcony, placing him in the corner, then leapt up and kicked the burglar-proof window.

In the corner, Rong Xianning began to cough violently.

After three kicks, the rusty burglar-proof window was on the verge of collapse.

Shen Li used his hands to forcibly pull open a hole, not large, just big enough for a child to crawl through.

"Old Jiang, northwest direction on the second floor...."

Only then did he realize the communication equipment was already damaged.

He immediately took a strong flashlight from the tool bag at his waist, turned on the switch, and the strong light penetrated the smoke and darkness, attracting the attention of everyone outside.

"There’s a situation on the second floor, it might be Ali, go have a look quickly." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The commander directed the ladder operator to move and check.

Shen Li returned, bent down, and picked up Rong Xianning.

The child in his arms was suffering from extensive burns, weak and dying, yet stubbornly holding on to his sleeve, "Grand... Grandmother."

Shen Li had long been accustomed to life and death and thought his heart was as hard as iron, yet at this moment, he couldn’t help but feel heartache.

This child looked about the same age as his daughter; as a father, he couldn’t bear to see children suffering.

He looked back, the fire was getting closer, and the child’s grandmother had already fallen in the blaze.

He held the child tightly and was about to say something to comfort him when he suddenly smelled an extremely faint scent. Instantly, every hair on his body stood up. He decisively turned around, took off his helmet, and shouted out the window, "Hurry, there’s no time."

His colleagues on the ladder were ready to catch.

He handed the child over to them, and the child suddenly grabbed his hand.

He opened his weak eyes, and through the smoke, those eyes seemed untouched by the smoke and fire, clean and clear as the stars in a summer night.

"Uncle...."

Shen Li smiled and touched his face, "Live well."

With those words, he immediately shouted to his colleagues, "Retreat to a safe distance immediately."

"Captain...."

"Shen Li...."

The mutation occurred in an instant.

In the rapidly retreating view, Rong Xianning saw the man’s firm and handsome face with a gentle, relieved smile.

However, he soon frowned, and his jet-black eyes were filled with regret, as if unable to fulfill a promise to someone.

His smile was forever frozen in that night, extinguished along with the sudden explosion.

Rong Xianning’s dark pupils reflected the raging flames in the sky.

The shock he felt at this moment he would never forget.

The firefighter shielded him from the impact of the explosion with his own body.

The paramedics carried him down from the ladder, and seeing his severe burns, the kind-hearted female doctor immediately had red eyes.

While treating the burns, he just lay there dazed, motionless, not even crying out in pain, as if he were a soulless puppet.

"This child is so pitiful, with such extensive burns yet not crying out in pain, it shows how terrified he is. He’ll need psychological intervention afterward."

He was sent to the hospital and underwent surgery that evening, his entire body wrapped like a mummy.

The next day, the parents he yearned for day and night arrived, took one look at him, and went out to demand compensation from the city officials, their greedy, callous nature fully revealed.

He stayed in the hospital for a month, and his mother said that since the government was paying for the medical bills, he might as well stay there.

His burns healed, but he was left with terrifying, ugly scars all over.

On the day of his discharge, the government announced the cause of the fire.

The residents had illegally charged electric bikes, overloading already aging wiring and causing the fire. This family should bear the main responsibility. However, the entire family perished in the fire. The building had no property management, so responsibility was pushed upon the street office and the housing management bureau, leading to mutual shirk of responsibility between the two departments.

The fire resulted in thirty-six injuries and twelve deaths, including two firefighters.

No entity dared to take this responsibility.

He learned the name of the firefighter who saved him and sacrificed his life from the doctor who treated him.

Shen Li.

Today was his funeral ceremony.

Rong Xianning escaped from the hospital and secretly ran to the martyr’s cemetery.

Shen Li had saved nine lives in the fire and was posthumously recognized as a martyr, awarded first-class merit.

His funeral ceremony was grand and solemn in its atmosphere.

Rong Xianning hid behind a tree, tears slowly welling up in his eyes.

He saw a girl standing at the front, about his age, wearing a black dress with a small white flower pinned to her chest, long hair draping over her shoulders, her skin was fair and translucent as porcelain in the sunlight, as exquisite as a doll in a mall display.

She cried very sadly.

Tears fell like broken pearls, evoking pity.

He thought of the regret in the firefighter uncle’s eyes at the end.

Was he thinking of his daughter?

After the funeral, Rong Xianning secretly followed the little girl home.

He saw those uncles in firefighter uniforms come to comfort the little girl, gently calling her An’an, but she just bowed her head, looking silent and quiet.

From then on, whenever an anniversary came, he would always see the same figure in the martyr’s cemetery.

She grew taller, matured, and became even more beautiful.

Sometimes she would sit there for the whole day, talking non-stop to her father about the trivialities of life.

The cemetery was peculiarly quiet on summer nights, with only the noisy cries of insects highlighting the night’s silence even more.

He leaned against the big tree, listening to the girl’s endless chatter, as if his barren heart found the courage to continue living.

The grace of saving a life is beyond repayment; may I, with my humble existence, guard over your daughter, wishing her peace and happiness, free from worry and disaster henceforth.