Under the dazzling sunlight, Rong Hui slowly opened her eyes.
In the very first second after regaining consciousness, she sprang upright like a fish flopping out of water.
“Ow!”
She had not expected that she was still lying on a soft bed. Because her movement was too sudden, she tumbled off it. Rong Hui bared her teeth and rubbed her aching waist.
She stood up and looked around. Where was this place? Had she been trafficked?
The more she looked at the room, the more it resembled a hotel. It was quite spacious. Just inside the door on the left stood a large full length mirror and a wardrobe that held only a few empty hangers. Further inside was the large bed she had just woken up from. The small room on the right should be the bathroom. She looked toward the bedside table. On it sat a small sign labeled “Qing Shu Hotel,” along with a room card. The room number written on it was 1501.
Rong Hui recalled the content of the train broadcast. Was this the “beginner instance”?
Too many things that science could not explain had happened today. Rong Hui felt as if her mind had already gone numb.
Suddenly, just as the word “system” surfaced in her thoughts, a transparent panel popped up.
[Survivor Rong Hui,
Please begin your beginner instance: Survive the High Rise Fire.
System backpack is ready.
Good luck.]
A high rise fire?
Rong Hui froze for a moment. She picked up the room card. Did 1501 mean she was on the fifteenth floor?
At that moment, a burnt smell drifted into her nose. Rong Hui heard screams and cries for help coming from outside the window. Her expression turned serious as she looked outside. A column of black smoke shot straight into the sky.
There was no time to think further.
Rong Hui rushed to the hotel balcony window and leaned out to look. She had to determine where the fire had started. Thinking about the word “high rise” mentioned by the system, an uneasy feeling rose in her heart.
When she looked down, it was exactly as she had feared.
The fire had started below her. Judging visually, it seemed to be on the fifth floor. The fire had clearly been burning for some time already. Flames had spread across that entire level. As far as the eye could see, the entire fifth floor had fallen into a sea of fire.
Listening to the heart rending cries beside her ears, Rong Hui’s face grew increasingly pale. This was the first time she had ever experienced such a human tragedy.
Watching the flames climb upward floor by floor, she knew she could not waste any more time.
Whether for the sake of this so called beginner instance or for her own life, she had to survive.
Rong Hui calmed herself and rushed to the door in a few quick steps. When she grabbed the doorknob, it burned her hand. This meant the flames or smoke had already entered the upper floors. Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her hand in her sweater and twisted the handle.
The moment the door opened, a thick cloud of smoke rushed in eagerly. Rong Hui was hit in the face by the smoke, coughing as tears almost streamed down from the choking irritation. She quickly slammed the door shut. It seemed escaping through the stairwell was already impossible.
She was only an ordinary office worker who had graduated half a year ago. Usually she only liked eating, drinking, and traveling. The biggest scene she had ever experienced was being pushed onto a stage during a school admission celebration to give a thank you speech. She had never encountered anything like the situation before her.
However, she had always believed that people should remain vigilant. She often browsed survivalist forums, watched survival themed movies, and even joined several enthusiast groups to discuss such topics together. Her family and friends always teased her, saying she had a “persecution complex.”
At this moment, Rong Hui felt extremely grateful for that hobby.
She had seen posts on the forums about how to survive a fire.
Carefully recalling what those posts had said, she remembered that during a fire, if the doorknob was already scorching hot or thick smoke poured in when the door was opened, then it was no longer the best time to run outside. She had to find a way to hold out inside the room longer. Only then could she look for another escape route or wait for rescue.
Rong Hui quickly steadied herself and rushed into the bathroom. She turned on the faucet, and at the same time she turned on the bathtub tap as well.
Inside the bathroom were bath towels and hand towels folded neatly into squares. Rong Hui threw them all into the sink to soak them with water. The bath towels were too thick and absorbed water very slowly. Watching the seconds tick away, Rong Hui’s hands began trembling slightly.
Smoke from outside the door had already begun creeping through the door cracks into the room, like a ferocious beast watching its prey, roaring as it prepared to devour life.
Finally, the bath towels were fully soaked.
Rong Hui dragged them to the door and used two wet bath towels to seal the edges around the door, stuffing the cracks tightly. The black smoke finally stopped pouring in so fiercely.
However, when Rong Hui touched the door, she could clearly feel that it had become even hotter than when she first touched it earlier. The fire was spreading far too quickly.
After searching through the hotel room, Rong Hui did not find any usable containers. Suddenly she remembered the two bottles of water in her system backpack. She silently called “system” in her mind, and the transparent panel appeared. Rong Hui quickly selected the two bottles of water from the system backpack. The moment she took them out, she twisted open the caps and splashed the water onto the door.
Stuffing wet towels into the cracks could only reduce smoke entering the room, but the hotel door was wooden. Rong Hui was still worried that the door itself might burn through.
Soon the two bottles of water were used up. The moment the water touched the scorching door, it sizzled and turned into steam. Rong Hui continued pouring water onto it, then ran back to the bathroom to refill the bottles again. At last she managed to soak the entire door thoroughly.
The most critical measure was complete.
Rong Hui turned and ran to the balcony. She needed to close the balcony window facing the fire first. This could prevent air convection and delay the spread of the flames.
Afterward, she returned to the bathroom. She first covered her mouth and nose with a damp towel. When she had opened the door earlier, too much smoke had rushed in. She was already starting to feel slightly dizzy.
After steadying herself for a few seconds, Rong Hui went to the bed and dragged the blanket into the bathtub. The tub was already half filled with water, which was enough to soak the blanket thoroughly.
She closed the bathroom door and used the wet blanket to block the gap at the bottom.
Curling up in a corner, Rong Hui continuously poured water onto the door with the bottle. If the door to the main room burned through, then the bathroom door would become the final line of defense.
As Rong Hui kept splashing water almost mechanically, she could not help thinking that she had only ever studied such situations in theory. She had never actually experienced a real fire.
Should she rush out the door and search for the stairwell?
Should she try climbing down from the window?
Was sitting here waiting really the right choice?
Would she die…
She did not know how much time had passed.
Growing more and more pessimistic, Rong Hui suddenly remembered the Polaroid photo box inside her system backpack. She took it out and held it in her hands, gently rubbing it back and forth.
Inside the palm sized box were hundreds of Polaroid photos, recording all the beautiful memories she had experienced since adulthood.
Even if she was going to die, she might as well look at something beautiful before the end.
She opened the box.
The top photo showed her wearing a light blue dress, holding a plate of glossy braised pork knuckle rice while smiling brightly at the camera.
This photo had been taken during her trip to Chaoshan this summer. That day she and her friend had specifically gone to Longjiang just to eat authentic pork knuckle rice. The final result had not disappointed them.
Authentic Longjiang pork knuckle rice did not require many side dishes. The pork knuckle meat was tender and soft in the mouth, and the pork skin was gelatinous and smooth, melting directly on the tongue. Neither Rong Hui nor her friend had liked eating pork knuckle before, but that day they ended up eating piece after piece.
Looking at her happy self in the photograph, Rong Hui did not know if she would ever experience that happiness again.
The heat in the air continued rising.
The crackling sounds of burning and explosions were already close at hand.
Rong Hui’s fingers tightly gripped the photo.
[Ding.
Congratulations, Survivor Rong Hui.
You have triggered a permanent item: Magical Memory Box.
Beautiful memories are proof that you have lived in this world.
Please continue to keep that brilliant smile forever.]