Chapter 66: Li Gang's Life-and-Death Tribulation

What Li Yi did not know was that while he and his wife were affectionately sharing sweet moments and deepening their bond, Li Gang was living through a life-or-death catastrophe.

After bidding farewell to Li Yi that afternoon, a lingering sense of unease had settled in the back of Li Gang's mind.

Although he was not a superstitious person and had previously scoffed at fortune-tellers and physiognomists, dismissing them as charlatans playing tricks, Li Yi was simply too uncanny—so extraordinary that it made him question the very education he had received.

Every time he recalled Li Yi's warning that he was destined for a premature death, a trace of anxiety would creep into his heart.

He came from a very respectable family; both of his parents were civil servants holding significant positions.

At the same time, he had a fine career. Although the work in the criminal police detachment was grueling and exhausting, it was about protecting the local peace and earning people's respect.

Moreover, he was a deputy squad leader with a boundless future.

Most importantly, he was only twenty-six years old, unmarried, and had not yet left behind any descendants to carry on the family line. He certainly did not want to die young!

Mindful of Li Yi's admonition, Li Gang made a silent resolution: in the future, he must stay far away from fire.

To this end, he had even resolved to quit smoking!

Today happened to be his mother's birthday, so Li Gang decided to stop by the supply and marketing cooperative after work to buy a dress for her as a birthday gift, and then treat his parents to a nice meal at the state-run restaurant to fulfill his filial duty.

However, as he pedaled his bicycle past a residential compound, he suddenly noticed billows of thick smoke pouring out from within, accompanied by continuous cries of alarm and shouts of "Fire!"

Driven by the sense of justice instilled in a public security officer, Li Gang immediately tossed his bicycle aside and rushed straight into the compound.

This was a fairly large traditional courtyard residence. Upon dashing in, Li Gang headed straight for the main room, as that was where the cries were coming from.

Enduring the agonizing sensation of suffocation, Li Gang spotted an elderly person collapsed on the floor. Without hesitation, he picked the old man up, intending to carry him to safety.

However, the old man, mustering his remaining sliver of consciousness, pointed weakly toward the inner room and rasped, "Save... save the children first..."

Li Gang instantly realized there were others inside, and without a second thought, he rushed into the inner room.

At that moment, huddled in the corner of a bed in the inner room, two children around three or four years old were tightly embracing each other and weeping. The younger of the two appeared to have already lost consciousness.

Without overthinking, Li Gang grabbed one under each arm and carried them out of the room.

As he passed the elderly man, Li Gang clenched his teeth, set the children down momentarily to hoist the old man onto his shoulder, and then scooped the children back up under his arms as he bolted toward the courtyard gate.

By this time, the courtyard was a sea of flames, the ferocious tongues of fire casting a glowing red pall over the surroundings.

The oxygen in the fire zone was rapidly depleting. With every step Li Gang took, his chest felt as if it were burning, and his throat felt gripped by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.

Fortunately, quite a few onlookers outside had brought buckets of water to help fight the blaze. Spotting Li Gang, they splashed water in his direction.

Finally, with the help of the crowd, Li Gang burst out of the fire zone.

After placing the elderly man and the children in a safe area, Li Gang prepared to plunge back into the inferno. Just moments earlier, he had vaguely heard cries for help coming from the western wing room.

As a guardian of the people, he could never stand idly by and watch anyone burn to death before his eyes.

Yet, just as he was about to step back into the flames, Li Yi's words suddenly flashed through his mind: "Stay far away from fire!"

At that thought, Li Gang hesitated, his forward-moving foot involuntarily halting.

Yet, the very moment he hesitated, the wooden gateway of the courtyard suddenly collapsed.

A cloud of dust and smoke billowed up instantly, startling Li Gang and the surrounding townspeople into scrambling backward.

Even more unexpectedly, just as they retreated several dozen meters, the blazing courtyard erupted into a violent explosion.

The thunderous series of explosions lasted for over a dozen seconds, scattering burning debris and stones across the area and striking several bystanders.

When the explosions finally subsided, the onlookers gazed in horror to find that the entire compound had been completely flattened, as though targeted by a direct artillery strike.

Witnessing this, Li Gang broke out in a cold sweat!

Had he hesitated for even a fraction of a second less, he likely would have been blown to smithereens, leaving not even a bone behind.

No one could have survived such a ferocious blast, not even someone wearing a body armor vest.

Add to that the raging inferno, and anyone trapped inside would have been reduced to charcoal even if the blast hadn't killed them.

In truth, that split-second hesitation of his had directly saved his life.

The only reason he hadn't recklessly charged back in as he usually would have was because he remembered Li Yi's warning. In other words, Li Yi had effectively saved his life.

Thinking of this, Li Gang felt a powerful urge to drop to his knees and kowtow in gratitude to Li Yi!

While Li Gang was still reeling from the shock of escaping death, the local fire brigade arrived.

Li Gang did not stop to greet his colleagues; instead, he silently pushed his bicycle away.

He bypassed the supply and marketing cooperative, skipped going home, and rode straight back to his precinct.

...

Back at the county bureau's criminal police detachment, Wang Anguo was organizing case files!

Though his eyes were bloodshot and his expression weary, his gaze burned with excitement.

Prompted by Li Yi's hint, he had dug deeply into the backgrounds of those human traffickers, and his efforts had indeed uncovered multiple major cases.

Among the traffickers who had been arrested, the homicide cases alone involved four deaths, with victims numbering as many as eleven.

Two of these cases were major felonies long supervised by the Ministry of Public Security. Moreover, a full seven years had passed since those two major crimes were first committed, yet authorities had never found a single clue—they had remained lingering, unsolved mysteries.

Who could have imagined that such critical cases would be cracked by their own small county-level public security bureau?

Therefore, once the case was reported to the higher authorities, Beijing responded immediately, ordering that a special task force be dispatched personally to take over the case and merge it with several other major investigations.

The higher-ups instructed the Qingshan County Criminal Police Detachment to immediately seal all case files and await the arrival of the special task force from above.

Although they no longer needed to investigate the remainder of the case, Wang Anguo knew it was still a tremendous achievement for them.

The county bureau leadership had already announced that day that they were submitting a commendation to the higher authorities on their behalf. Conservatively estimated, it would be at least a collective second-class merit citation, and a first-class merit was even possible.

Furthermore, the personnel who contributed to the success would receive individual awards, especially Wang Anguo. Not only had he accepted the mission in the face of danger and voluntarily signed a military-style pledge, but he had ultimately succeeded in solving the case.

Not only had he rescued over a dozen abducted children, but he had also unearthed numerous major cases. An individual second-class merit was virtually guaranteed.

Consequently, even though he had been worked to exhaustion over the past few days, Wang Anguo was still brimming with excitement.

Just as Wang Anguo was about to affix the final seal to the last case file, the office door was pushed wide open!