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墨書 Inktalez
As the fire blazed, I nearly lost my life, and it was no surprise that others perished in the flames as well. However, reflecting on the scene from earlier still sends a chill down my spine.
The officials quickly shifted into their public servant mode, glancing at me to confirm that I was unharmed before turning and rushing to the scene.
"Calm down, Meilan! It's alright now. Let's go help," I seized the moment to pry the woman off me.
"Okay..." Han Meilan was still sobbing uncontrollably, as if I had already met my end.
Oh, right, I forgot to explain how we ended up here.
We were currently staying at an inn in the northern outskirts of the county town. A few days ago, I had approached Luo Dachun with some ideas for constructing irrigation channels to address the drought issue. They indeed compiled the information and reported it to the Water Department. Perhaps it was luck or something else, but the Water Department showed great interest in my proposal and sent an engineer for an on-site survey.
The engineer from the Water Department had the surname Shi; I didn’t remember his full name, only that he was known for being eccentric and lacking social skills—truly a tech-savvy introvert. When he wasn't working, he would stay home daydreaming and jotting down his various ideas. Each time he presented them to his colleagues, they would laugh at him, deeming his thoughts absurd and akin to daydreaming. Thus, this engineer earned the nickname "Stone Dream."
I found the title "Engineer" quite endearing, and after spending some time with him, it became clear that he possessed a remarkable expertise in water management. Indeed, the saying "tech geeks save the world" holds true across ages!
We had been accompanying the engineer in surveying river terrain in the northern outskirts. Due to long working hours and inconvenience returning to the county office, we found this inn in the northern part of town as a temporary resting place. Little did we expect unforeseen events; tonight, this seemingly safe inn experienced a water disaster.
It was all Luo Dachun's fault; during dinner, he insisted on discussing Buddhism and Daoism along with tales of past lives and the Crimson Lotus Flame. And now look what happened—a raging inferno nearly turned me to ashes!
Fortunately, the engineer from the Water Department was a typical science-and-tech type who threw himself into work when faced with problems. The location we surveyed sparked his imagination; he became obsessed with staying at a local villager's home and insisted on returning early in the morning to continue his observations. The villager's home was too poor for him to stay there comfortably, so we had no choice but to assign him a guard while the four of us returned to the inn. If the engineer had been here during this disaster and something unfortunate happened to him, we would have had a lot of explaining to do.
As Han Meilan and I approached the fire scene, we found that the flames had significantly subsided. Two men were present—one directing firefighting efforts while the other stood before a man who had been wailing moments ago.
"I am County Constable Nie Qiuyuan. What is causing you such distress?" I heard Nie Qiuyuan ask.
The man knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face: "County Constable, my elder brother has perished in there! It’s all because of my cowardice; in a moment of crisis, I abandoned my brother and fled alone..."
It turned out that this man was named Zhang Erlang, the second son of the prominent Zhang Clan in our county. He had come out with his elder brother—the eldest son of Zhang Clan—to conduct business. After concluding their deal late in the evening, they decided to stay at this inn for the night, unaware that they would encounter such a tragic fire.
Unfortunately, the two of them were staying at the east end of the inn, and the fire had started right there.
"When I discovered the fire, I hurried to my brother's room, only to find that it was already ablaze. My brother was lying on the ground, his legs pinned under a fallen cabinet, struggling desperately. His body..." At this point, Zhang Erlang took a deep breath, as if recalling an extremely horrifying event. "My brother's entire body was already charred black!"
"Did you ever go in to save him?" Nie Qiuyuan raised an eyebrow and asked.
"I... did not..." Tears streamed down Zhang Erlang's face. "At that time, the fire was already raging inside. My brother was trapped and couldn't move, screaming in agony. The sight of him in such pain was unbearable. I had been weak and frail since childhood, and I thought I wouldn't be able to lift that heavy object. Terrified, I... I left my brother behind and ran for my life."
At this point, Zhang Erlang covered his face with his hands, sobbing uncontrollably. "Now that I think about it, I regret it deeply! Thinking of my brother suffering in that raging fire... If only I had steeled myself and died alongside him, it would have been better..."
This man wept bitterly, his words filled with profound sorrow. Yet his words did not move me; instead, they made my ironclad heart furrow its brow.
In the midst of our conversation, the fire had been extinguished. Zhang Erlang rushed into the crumbling house, and we followed him inside. He led the way, maneuvering around the broken pillars until we reached a half-collapsed room on the east side of the first floor. Indeed, there lay a cabinet burned in patches, with a charred corpse trapped beneath it.
Upon seeing the body, Zhang Erlang fell apart, letting out a heart-wrenching scream: "Brother!" He began to sway unsteadily. Nie Qiuyuan stepped forward and with a surge of strength lifted the cabinet with one hand. The legs of the corpse pinned beneath it were not burned; just as Zhang Erlang had said, he had been trapped by the cabinet.
At that moment, Luo Dachun also entered and was pulled aside by me as soon as he stepped in.
I leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Brother Luo, something is off with this Zhang Erlang. Find a way to take him to the county office; don’t let him escape!"
Luo Dachun looked quite surprised. Reluctantly, I quietly explained the situation to him.
"This Zhang Erlang is lying. Brother Luo, in the past, I took care of a brother who had suffered severe burns, so I know a bit about it. If what he says is true—his brother's body has turned black from burning—then at that stage there would be no sensation of pain anymore. So if his brother was screaming in agony all this time, something doesn’t add up. Perhaps he never even saw his dying brother!"
Burns are terrifying; we typically classify them into four degrees. First-degree burns affect only the epidermis and cause redness and swelling—this is not too serious. Second-degree burns are much worse; they create large blisters and cause cell death in the epidermal layer—this can heal but comes with excruciating pain. Third-degree burns result in full-thickness tissue necrosis; it's essentially like being "cooked." And fourth-degree burns refer to charring—essentially being burnt to a crisp.
Due to how brutal burns are, there is some compassion given to burn victims: starting from third-degree burns onward, individuals no longer feel pain because their skin's sensory tissues have been completely destroyed.
According to Zhang Erlang's account, if his brother was half-burned and his skin charred, then he would have long ceased to feel any pain.
Of course, I didn't say any of that. I was crafting a story for Luo Dachun, detailing how I took care of the patient and discovered he wasn't in pain at all. But Luo Dachun's thoughts veered off course, and he asked in surprise, "Have you regained your memory?"
I was momentarily taken aback and could only stammer, "Sometimes, fragments of the past appear in my mind..."
While I was internally conflicted, I pondered how to steer Luo Dachun's thoughts back on track. At that moment, Nie Qiuyuan, who had been crouching down examining the corpse, suddenly stood up and turned to me. "This young man, please accompany us back to the county office. Since you discovered the fire early, we have some questions we would like to ask you."
Qiu's voice was gentle and calm, but there was a flicker of something unusual in his eyes. I began to recognize that look; he must have found something different about the corpse.
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