Chapter 831 563: Crisis
When Xia Liang left, the firefighters approached the fire truck, uncertain but determined, and grabbed onto the fire hoses, starting to pull them out.
The hoses on the truck were typically only ten meters long, just barely reaching inside the shopping mall.
Yet, after pulling out ten meters, there was still plenty more hose left.
This discovery left all the firefighters with astonished expressions on their faces.
"This, this hose actually got longer, am I seeing things?"
"No mistake, it's actually one meter, two meters, five meters longer, oh my, five meters! And we can keep pulling it out!"
"That magician named Xia Liang is incredible, he actually made the hose truly extend."
"Quick, go rescue people, now's not the time to discuss this!"
The team members all grew excited, pulling the fire hose and running continuously towards the mall.
The crowd of onlookers, witnessing this scene, were also stunned and speechless.
Such magic! The fire hose really extended, maybe the flames inside can truly be extinguished!
Meanwhile, inside the shopping mall.
Liu Tongtong followed Xia Liang inside, surrounded by the blazing fires, the crackling sounds constantly reaching their ears.
The stores inside the mall were made of flammable materials, which burned rapidly once ignited.
Adding to this, the toxic gases released by these materials, along with the high temperature, made the entire mall seem like a blazing furnace, where people couldn't last even five or six minutes before being poisoned and fainting.
Standing beside Xia Liang, Liu Tongtong wasn't in great shape either.
The thick smoke around her made her cough continuously.
But for the sake of this live broadcast, she chose to press on.
"Cough cough, dear viewers, you can see it too, the environment inside the mall is really bad right now, I don't know if those people can survive, I hope they can hold on. We've just entered, but the thick smoke inside is already unbearable."
At this point, Liu Tongtong didn't continue talking, as she didn't want to jinx anything.
However, the audience in the live broadcast understood Liu Tongtong's current feelings.
[Oh no, this is really bad, I didn't expect the environment inside the mall to be so terrible.]
[Yes, it's terrifying, this is the first time I've seen such a scene.]
[I hope those trapped inside can hold on, hope they're lucky enough!]
Xia Liang took a few more steps inside, and his expression couldn't help but turn serious.
He found that there wasn't a safe path forward, the ground and the surroundings of the second floor were engulfed in flames. The flammable materials once ignited, everything ahead seemed like a pit of fire, and going any further would surely spell disaster.
However, this did not stop him.
He brought out an umbrella from his coat, opened it, then took out a cup, poured the water inside onto the umbrella's surface.
Instantly, a miraculous scene unfolded.
Everyone saw the ordinary umbrella suddenly start to pour water madly.
It was as if a flood had been unleashed, countless streams of water cascaded down from the umbrella, drenching the burning ground beneath, extinguishing the flames with a sizzling sound.
Meanwhile, the water on the umbrella did not cease flowing. Instead, it formed a protective layer around Xia Liang and Liu Tongtong.
"Let's go, now it should be a bit cooler."
Xia Liang said calmly.
Liu Tongtong nodded excitedly beside him.
"Mhm, not only is it cooler, but the toxic smoke around us can't approach us anymore."
She was genuinely thrilled, she didn't expect Xia Liang to have such a trick up his sleeve, it completely exceeded her expectations.
Yet, knowing Xia Liang's magic, she realized that such a trick was child's play for him.
With the continuous watering from the umbrella, the temperature around them quickly began to drop,
Meanwhile, in the restroom on the second floor.
At this moment, all the faucets were fully turned on, water flowed constantly.
Inside the restroom, over thirty people huddled together, continuously pouring water from the taps onto themselves.
However, although they were soaking wet, the flames in front of them still frightened them.
Outside, the sound of collapsing structures kept piercing everyone's nerves.
"Daddy, will someone really come to save us?"
A little girl, covered in soot, looked up at her father and asked.
Her father hugged her, comforting her gently.
"Don't worry, the firefighters will definitely come to rescue us. We will definitely get out of here alive."
After saying that, he turned to look at the people around him.
"Everyone hold on, I believe a miracle will happen."
Yet, his words didn't evoke much empathy from those around because they all understood that the man was just deceiving himself, only trying to comfort his daughter.
The fire outside was growing more fierce, countless building materials burned, and wooden debris fell from the ceiling incessantly.
The space they used for shelter was growing smaller and more crowded.
The temperature around was increasingly rising.
At that moment, a woman suddenly pointed at the water pipes and exclaimed.
"Something's wrong, something's wrong. There's no more water."
The others quickly looked over, only to see the water that had been flowing from the tap gradually come to a halt.
Everyone realized the horrifying truth: the pipes had been burnt through by the fire.
Now they were truly in danger!
Previously, the continuous water flow could ease their crisis a bit, it could lower the surrounding temperature.
But now, without water, in this scorching heat, they couldn't hold on for much longer.
They wouldn't even last half an hour.
"I don't want to die, I still have so many things I haven't done."
"I haven't gotten married, I don't have a girlfriend, I don't want to be burnt to death."
"My daughter is only one year old, why is Heaven so cruel to me!"
People kept lamenting, some slumped to the ground, but it was to no avail.
The fire kept growing, the thick smoke started creeping towards them.
Some people had already inhaled too much smoke, starting to suffocate.
The little girl too had fallen into despair.
Ten minutes slipped by quickly.
There was still no glimmer of hope, but by now, the fire was closing in on them, only four or five meters away from their hiding spot.
Many people could already feel the scorching heat, their hair began to ignite and burn.