Chapter One: Crimson Twilight
1
When Zhao Yan peeled off his heavy fireproof suit, he looked like he'd been pulled from the water, beads of sweat sliding down his spine.
The five o'clock sun slanted into the fire station's second-floor changing room, dust swirling in the beams of light. Leaning against a metal locker, he slowly unbuttoned his sweat-soaked blue training uniform. Every movement sent a stabbing ache through his muscles—he'd just endured a twenty-four-hour chemical plant fire rescue. All he wanted now was to collapse into bed and sleep until the world turned upside down.
"Brother Yan, aren't you leaving?" His colleague Xiao Wang peered in, his face still smudged with soot.
"Just taking a smoke break." Zhao Yan pulled a crumpled Hongshuangxi cigarette from the cabinet, holding it between his lips without lighting it. "That kid today..."
"He's out. He's out. The doctor said it's nothing serious," Xiao Wang's voice trailed off. "Thanks to you jumping straight from the third floor. You risked your life."
Zhao Yan didn't respond, just waved his hand dismissively. The fire had broken out in an old residential neighborhood. Fire trucks couldn't squeeze through the narrow alleys, so they had to carry the hoses in on their backs.The child was trapped in the attic, the staircase already sealed by thick smoke. He remembered smashing open the skylight, feeling for that soft little hand amidst the searing heat, and then leaping from the third-floor window with the child in his arms—the fire rescue airbag hadn't been deployed yet, so he could only cling desperately to the child.
The impact on his back sent a terrifying crack through his bones.
Thankfully, the child was unharmed. That was enough.
"I'll cover your shift tomorrow. You rest easy," Xiao Wang said before quietly closing the door.
Silence settled over the changing room. Zhao Yan finally lit a cigarette, drawing a deep drag. The nicotine finally dulled the aching in his entire body. Outside the window came the city's bustle: the roar of evening rush-hour traffic, the distant blaring of shopping mall promotions, and the sizzle of someone frying food in an unknown kitchen. Ordinary, noisy, yet pulsing with life.
This was the everyday life he was fighting so hard to protect.