Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 430 Jumping off a building

The fire scene was on the balcony of room 402!
The little boy's increasingly piercing cries and constant writhing movements irritated Chen Shu. He loosened his arms, lifted the little boy up in front of him, and said firmly, "Don't cry! I'm here to save you!"

The little boy paused, glanced at the still raging fire behind Chen Shu, and then started kicking his legs and making a fuss again.

Suddenly, a huge flame shot out from the balcony window of the house next door. Chen Shu, who was holding the little boy, was startled and lost his grip, causing the little boy to fall to the ground.

In that critical moment, Chen Shu instinctively lunged to the edge of the balcony and grabbed the little boy's arm tightly. At the same time, his own arm was slashed severely by a piece of broken glass that appeared out of nowhere.

Intense pain instantly assaulted Chen Shu's brain. He could only grit his teeth and endure the initial sharp pain before pulling the little boy back into his arms.

Feeling guilty, Chen Shu quietly comforted the child in her arms.

The little boy, who had been terrified, quieted down, clutching Chen Shu's clothes tightly with his small hands, his blank eyes fixed on the bright red bloodstains on the arm that was holding him: "Firefighter... Uncle, I'm scared."

"I'm scared too," Chen Shu thought to himself, but he still forced a smile and continued to reassure her.

"Team Leader Chen! Team Leader Chen! The fire truck can't come! The fire truck can't come! Were you standing on the balcony just now? Why are you hiding on the balcony? Can't you get out of the house?" Xu Mingliang's rapid-fire answers and questions came through the walkie-talkie.

With his face covered in soot, Chen Shu held the little boy in his left arm, rested his injured right hand on the balcony railing, and leaned half his body out to look downstairs.

Xu Mingliang and his special police officers stood in a circle on the road directly below the balcony of Room 402. The crowd of onlookers gathered in layers, all looking up at him.

At this moment, the balcony of room 402 had become the focus of everyone's attention.

Only two people survived the fire.

A member of the public looked up and asked hesitantly, "Why is the policeman on the balcony? How are they going to get down?"

Standing to the side, an older middle-aged man said with certainty, "They must have been blocked by the fire and couldn't escape, so they could only hide on the balcony."

The crowd pointed anxiously to the balcony where the police were standing, saying, "Look, that balcony over there is on fire! This balcony probably won't last much longer!"

The middle-aged man shook his head regretfully: "The fire truck hasn't arrived yet. It seems the police are in trouble!"

"What should we do! My grandson is still upstairs! Where can we escape to? We should escape inside next!" An elderly man, who was also standing on the main road looking up at his own balcony, had clearly seen the police and his grandson in his arms. Fear and despair filled his eyes.

At this point, Chen Shu, who was standing on the balcony, was indeed in an extremely dangerous situation.

"Zizzizizi!"

The sound of burning behind him grew louder and louder. Chen Shu turned around and glanced at the fire that had already spread into the living room. Faced with the rapidly encroaching flames, he felt an urge to jump off the balcony.

He gritted his teeth, pressed the talk button on the walkie-talkie, and roared into the room, "Xu Mingliang! Drive the troop carrier downstairs! Now!"

Property management office.

Zhang Yang and his team, who were interviewing community staff, were also carrying out preparations for recording a news program in an orderly manner.

Before the show started airing, Zhang Yang casually grabbed a portable dry powder fire extinguisher from a corner of the office and carefully examined it, finding that the pressure valve was pointing to the red zone. He picked up another one and discovered that not only was the pressure valve in the red zone, but the hose was also worn out; a large piece broke off with a gentle touch.

Zhang Yang glanced at the property manager standing in front of her, who was constantly wiping his forehead with a silk scarf, and said with a frosty smile, "Are you planning to use these fire extinguishers that can't even spray anything to put out a fire? Are you planning to use them to break through the windows and jump out? Are you going to pocket all the fees collected by the property management company?"

The chubby property manager was also surprised that the young and beautiful woman in front of him knew so much about fire safety. He dared not speak carelessly, for fear that she would find a loophole in his statement.

But the fact that he couldn't even collect 300 yuan in property management fees from each household in a year is really not his fault.

This neighborhood consists of old buildings in an urban village. Because the rent is cheap, the residents are a diverse group with extremely high turnover. Some are migrant workers who come for a few days, only to leave without earning any money. Others claim they've paid the landlord's property management fees and are being told to contact the landlord, but the landlord won't even answer the phone. Some long-time residents even get angry when the topic of property management fees comes up, saying they've lived in this house for half their lives and have never heard of such a thing. These are things that this beautiful reporter, who is on a government paycheck and lives in an upscale residential area, is probably completely unaware of.

The property manager could only force a smile.

"Sister Yang, you can start filming now!" Xiao Zhao, carrying a video camera, called out.

"Okay, let's get started."

With her impeccable makeup restored, Zhang Yang regained her composure, took the microphone, walked to the camera, coughed, and quickly adopted the demeanor of a popular reporter: "We have now arrived at the property management office of this residential community. In a moment, Manager Hu from the property management company will provide us with further explanations."

"Ahem." The large-statured property manager, Manager Hu, coughed a few times guiltily, pondering how to reasonably explain the accident and shift as much of the property company's responsibility as possible.

Just then, a shout came from outside, relieving Manager Hu from his predicament.

"Manager! Manager! A policeman is about to jump off a building! He looks like he's holding a child!" A security guard with a panicked expression stumbled into the office, pointing with one hand towards the building outside that was billowing thick smoke, and shouted urgently to Manager Hu.

Zhang Yang, who had just relaxed and started his interview, was startled by the security guard who suddenly barged in. His body trembled involuntarily, and he lost all strength. The microphone he was holding fell to the ground with a "bang".

A very ominous premonition arose in her heart: "Could it be Brother Shu?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Hu was somewhat relieved that the incident had occurred so suddenly that he could legitimately decline the interview. However, he was already somewhat worried that the cause of the fire would ultimately be attributed to their property management company, which made him even more alarmed.

He stretched out his chubby arms and pulled the group of TV crew interviewing him aside. He then hoisted them out, shouting, "Ah Cai, what are you standing there for! Call someone! Call someone over here! Oh, and go to the dorm and get all the blankets! As many as you can! Hurry up!"

At this moment, Manager Hu, with an agility far exceeding his own weight, was the first to rush out of the office and head towards the fire in full view of everyone.

Knowing that Zhang Yang had lost interest in the interview, photographer Xiao Zhao leaned closer and persuaded, "Sister Yang, let's go take a look too!"

Zhang Yang nodded with trembling lips, his previous arrogant and composed demeanor completely gone.

Not far from the fire.

Wearing a white police shirt, Deputy Director Wang of the Municipal Public Security Bureau stepped out of a black Santana sedan. Pointing to the crowd gathered not far away, he said, "You know, we ordinary people really have nothing better to do! The building is burning like this, and we still have the mood to stand downstairs and watch the show! Sigh! We're just making things worse!"

The special police detachment leader, Lao Gao, who got out of the car with Director Wang, nodded in agreement: "Yes. This is an urban village, with a large population and low levels of education. They've always lived like this in a mess. Director Wang, we should just accept it. By the way, I'll contact Chen Shu right now and see where they are."

As Lao Gao was speaking, a dark figure in a SWAT uniform suddenly darted past him. Without thinking, Lao Gao grabbed the man and scolded, "Xu Mingliang! What's with all the rushing? Can you run around like that in a police uniform? If the public sees this, they'll think something terrible has happened! You've been a policeman for so many years, how can you still be so reckless when something's going on!"

The SWAT officer who was pulled back was Xu Mingliang, who had been ordered by Chen Shu to drive the troop transport vehicle downstairs. During his ten-plus years as a bomb disposal expert in the SWAT team, he had become quite familiar with the team leader, Lao Gao.

At this moment, he was pulled back by the detachment leader, Lao Gao, and then he saw a man in a white shirt standing next to him. He felt extremely depressed.

Xu Mingliang was anxious. He shook off Lao Gao's grip on his right hand, pointed at the building from which thick smoke was billowing, and said urgently, "Team Leader Chen is trapped on the balcony. The fire is getting bigger and bigger. He's going to jump off the building with the child!"

"Jump!" Xu Mingliang repeated, panting and with wide eyes.

Director Wang, who had been standing silently to the side, was quite shocked by Xu Mingliang's words: "What! He's going to jump off the building! This is the fourth floor! And he's with a child?"

"Yes, there's also a child! I'll go get the troop carrier now! Jumping onto the roof will give us some cushioning!"

Director Wang paused for a moment, glanced around at the bustling crowd and the congested alley, and made a decisive decision: "Let's go, we'll go with you! You drive, we'll clear the road!"

(End of this chapter)