Chapter 33 On Fire
Amidst the flames, the cars were coming from the third level of the basement, one after the other. These cars dashed for seven, eight, or further than ten meters. They became a natural shelter leading to the second level of the basement.
Buck kept on firing at these cars, but it did not work. Zhou Qingfeng did not appear at all; all his bullets went to waste. The worst thing was, although the petrol they poured was consuming the oxygen in the third level of the basement very quickly, its heat waves blew into the second level of the basement.
“Fuck, this is different from what we expected!” Buck swore and left the obstacle he had set up. The heat waves curled his hair and eyebrows. If this continued, instead of finding out whether Zhou Qingfeng was still alive, he would be burnt to death.
“Fall back. It’s fine as long as we’ve blocked the exit of the curve,” Buck had no choice but to fall back while two of his men continued blocking Zhou Qingfeng’s way.
Zhou Qingfeng, who was on the third level of the basement, was not feeling good, too. As the ventilation was getting worse and the fire grew, he clearly felt difficulty breathing. He thought that that was enough cars. He quickly took the rifle and a fire extinguisher, and rushed towards the curve.
There were no bullets being shot, however, the flames were even more deadly. Zhou Qingfeng quickly turned on the fire extinguisher and sprayed at the fire. It was a race against time. He had to put out the fire before oxygen ran out.
A bottle of foam fire extinguisher could only last ten seconds. He had to replace it with another bottle once it was empty. As Zhou Qingfeng was putting out the fire with haste, a car suddenly sped out from the curve from the second level of the basement. It knocked the cars that were part of the original obstacle out of the way. It fell in the direction of Zhou Qingfeng.
The falling car had a great and unrivaled potential energy, Zhou Qingfeng quickly huddled up and rolled himself to the back of another car to avoid it. The crash of the falling car could be heard. It smashed, and as if it was a toy car, it broke into pieces. Zhou Qingfeng was in great danger.
Buck, who led the kidnappers on the second level of the basement, was driving a car towards the curve and ready to roll. He shouted to two of his men, “Use the cars to smash it. Crash it. We’re gonna completely block this exit. Let him stay in there forever and burn to death.”
One after another, cars were dumped by Buck’s men. The cars soon completely blocked the exit at the curve. Some of the cars were petrol-powered. Their damaged petrol tanks were ignited by the fire and the fire turned worse.
“Hahaha…. that’s it. That’s it! I don’t believe that the cop could still survive!” the arrogant Buck held a pistol and walked closer to the curve to see whether Zhou Qingfeng was crashed or burnt.
Thick, black smoke poured out of the second level of the basement. The irresistible heat could be felt within even a few meters. Watching the scene, Buck heaved a sigh of relief and laughed. He even put his pistol down.
In this deadly condition with such high temperatures, no one would think that Zhou Qingfeng could survive. Buck held the intercom and spoke to his boss, “Boss Locke, that cop is dead. He was burned to death.”
“Burned to death, great!” The intercom immediately emitted this insane laughter that came from Locke. He shook his head at the CNN reporter, laughed, and shouted, “That cop is dead! Burned to death! I told you it was going to work. No one could survive that; no one!”
Lena Fox was in the next room. She had slowly and elegantly finished her dinner. She was waiting for a miracle to happen. However, when she heard the noisy uproar from Locke, her heart sank and she felt depressed.
Is that officer dead? Is there no hope for me to survive?
It was not only Miss Fox. The entire New York, the United states, and even the people around the world, who paid attention to this kidnapping case, felt depressed.
CNN live was reporting the latest situation of the kidnapping. The host spoke to the camera with a heavy tone, “According to the latest news from the Lower Manhattan Hospital kidnapping case, the young man who fought against the kidnappers may have died.”
“According to the kidnapper, this young man was stuck in the car park of the third level of the basement and they burned him to death. It was truly, a painful fact. Let’s have a moment of silence for this young man.”
Looking at the host’s sad expression, many people in front of the TV started to cry. After all, people normally empathize with the weak. Zhou Qingfeng’s fight against so many kidnappers was truly solemn and stirring.
This included Angie, who was at Katrina’s place. This little girl was forced by her father to return. She was holding a phone and watched the news through the internet. When social media announced that Zhou Qingfeng was dead, she felt a pang in her heart.
“Just cry if you want to. He saved you and it’s okay to cry for him,” Katrina was the one talking. This tough lady stood beside Angie, unaware of when it happened.
“But, my father really hates him now. How dare he take a photo of my mom, naked?” Angie was mad at Zhou Qingfeng, too, when she spoke. Of all people, he took a photo of her mother. Even if it were Angie’s photograph, her father would not be this angry.
Katrina did not take this seriously and laughed, “He was a boy in puberty. It was completely normal for him to like sexy and mature women. Your mother was attractive enough for those kids who didn’t know a thing.”
Angie’s lips curled and she wanted to laugh, but she could not. She wanted to cry, yet, she had no idea what for. She could only enter a trance. When she was in the trance, her phone that was playing live footage on social media emitted exclaimed voices.
The reporter of CNN was rapidly reporting, “It seems like something special is happening on-site. The reporter on-site said that the kidnappers’ boss, Locke, is enraged, all of a sudden. Suddenly, he became furious, and yet, we have no idea what’s going on.”
“Locke is smashing things. He is smashing things. Oh gosh, our reporter on-site was also a target of his violence. Everyone can hear this howling noise. It was from the site and, it sounds like Locke is really infuriated.”
“What made him so mad? What made him lose control? What made him so irritable? Please don’t change the channel. We are looking forward to the news from the reporter on-site.”
As the reporter from CNN seemed like he was shouting during his report, the people from all over the world who followed the case started to worry again. What actually happened on-site?
In the meantime, at the exit of the curve of the car park of the second level of the basement, Buck stopped laughing and heard a roar from the flames at the curve exit. A shadow of what seems like a man engulfed in fire appeared. It was wild and murderous, like the invasion of fire. It was like a devil had fallen onto Earth!