Zhou Wang forced himself to walk quickly forward, squatted down to check, and indeed, Nie Xiaoyun was still breathing. It seemed that she had fallen into a coma because the fallen cabinet had hit her.
He didn’t know whether it was because he was exceptionally weak at the moment, or because Nie Xiaoyun seemed slim but was actually very heavy. It took a great deal of effort before Zhou Wang, panting heavily, finally managed to lift Nie Xiaoyun up around the waist.
Boom!
The flames by the door leapt up another level, seemingly intent on adding to his difficulty. The bedspread on his body had already begun to dry out and even started to smoke.
Zhou Wang held Nie Xiaoyun tightly in his arms, wrapped the quilt around her once more, then gritted his teeth and staggered out towards the door.
"Ah!"
This time, Zhou Wang truly felt the burning, the piercing pain cut to the bone, making him wince and almost let out a scream.
Fortunately, the entire process only lasted a couple of seconds. Quickly, Zhou Wang passed through the flames, ran into the thick smoke, and reached the other side of the corridor where the fire hadn’t spread yet, into the room.
The window was wide open, and he could faintly hear shouting from below. The woman he had placed here earlier was already gone, which gave Zhou Wang a sense of relief. He hurriedly tore off the quilt that had started to burn and carried Nie Xiaoyun to the window.
Below, a crowd had already gathered, with more than twenty people holding three or four thick mattresses, striving to cover different corners.
Further along the road, sirens wailed, and he could see fire trucks headed in this direction. Closer by, several Audis had arrived first, with several middle-aged men in suits and ties scrambling out of the cars. Zhou Wang vaguely saw the figure of Ding Yi’s father.
Upon seeing Zhou Wang appear, Ding Yi, standing at the edge of the crowd, waved excitedly at him, shouting, "Quick, Zhou Wang, jump down, they will catch you..."
Zhou Wang, almost completely exhausted, dared not take this in two steps. After quickly assessing the situation, he sat on the windowsill with Nie Xiaoyun in his arms and directly fell headlong downwards.
An intense spinning sensation and a strong feeling of weightlessness followed. As his back sunk, the noise around him became clear, and when Zhou Wang barely managed to open his eyes, he realized he had landed safely on the mattress.
Only then, as his mind began to relax, the nauseous feeling began to assault his brain, and his eyelids started to droop.
For a while, he had been sustained by adrenaline, now he finally became utterly weak, his consciousness turning muddled.
"Where’s the doctor? Quick, get the doctor over here!"
"This young man is holding too tightly, someone come help out, how do we get him to release President Nie..."
"Zhou Wang, you can let go now, it’s okay, they will lift you to the ambulance."
In a daze, Zhou Wang felt someone tugging at him. He heard many faint voices, some familiar, but most were strangers.
He slowly started to relax, and his arms grew empty, the surrounding sounds faded, and after a while, Zhou Wang felt himself being lifted to somewhere, followed by snippets of conversation reaching his ears.
"How could this possibly be an accident?"
"There was no incident before or after, how dare they, how dare they!"
"Secretary Lin, I don’t care what method you use, block the news first until everything is thoroughly investigated..."
A middle-aged man’s voice was initially angry, followed by a gentle sigh.
"Yiyi, is this the classmate you wanted to introduce to dad today, named Zhou Wang? Hmm, brave young man, this time he not only saved your mother’s life, but also..."
"Don’t worry, you don’t need to mention it, dad will compensate him as well, when he wakes up, we’ll talk. You first tell dad all about the whole incident."
What Ding Yi answered afterward, Zhou Wang couldn’t hear clearly, because in his mind, another voice began to echo.
...
Ring!
[Host has completed the corresponding character event, draft round has ended]
[Synchronized rewards have been distributed, as the hidden rating has passed, the Host receives: "Mythical Chessboard·Time-Space Magic Book (Unique)"*1, "Character Card·Little Ding Yi"*1]
...
Ring!
[Detected activation of the first "Character Card", host opens hidden social mechanism: Character-Bonds (details can be viewed on the system interface)]
[85% of success in life comes from correct networking, activate reasonable character bonds, and you will overcome all obstacles, be invincible]
...
Before the countdown to the closing of the round ended, Zhou Wang felt the warm breath on his cheek, followed by a whisper-like inquiry beside his ear.
"Zhou Wang, can I... take the same university entrance test with you?"
"It’s a promise, okay? We’ll pinky swear, and whoever doesn’t keep it is a little dog..."
Just as Zhou Wang was about to respond, everything went completely dark before him, and all sounds faded away.