Chapter 196: 198: Saving People

About twenty minutes later, Tang Yuxin and Sisi arrived at a residential building. Most of the houses around were allocated by units, and Chen Lidong’s home was in this building.

The building was relatively new, mainly consisting of small two-bedroom apartments. It had five floors, with Chen Lidong’s house on the third floor – considered the golden level in the future.

Tang Yuxin held Sisi’s little hand, leading her upstairs. They had been here before, so they know exactly where Chen Lidong’s home was – they could find it even with their eyes closed.

Sisi had already hopped to Chen Lidong’s door where the New Year’s couplets peeled off, hinting they would likely stick new ones up soon.

The air seemed to have a fresh smell of sulphur, perhaps because someone had just set off firecrackers.

The air quality was good at that time, smog-free, making it possible to set off fireworks, hence, the strong festive atmosphere.

Sisi stretched out her little hand and knocked on the door.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Brother, it’s me, Sisi. I came to see you.”

She moved her small hand behind her and leaned her tiny body forward like a little dolphin, her round face showing its innate cuteness.

“Brother, I’m Sisi.” Sisi waited for a while, but seeing no one, she knocked on the door again.

But still, no one came to open the door.

Sisi hung her head, turned around, seeming quite aggrieved.

“Sister, he’s not home.”

Yes, he’s not home.

Of course, he was not home. Otherwise, he would surely have opened the door for her.

“If he’s not here, let’s go to sister Miaomiao’s place and come back later.”

Tang Yuxin took hold of Sisi’s small hand, preparing to lead her to Xu Miaomiao’s place, not too far away. She hoped that Miaomiao was at home; otherwise, they might have to wander the streets as Sisi would definitely not want to go back home at this time.

“Okay,” Sisi ran over, took hold of Tang Yuxin’s hand. They were returning later anyhow, so she was still pretty happy.

Tang Yuxin had just taken a step forward when she abruptly stopped.

She closed her eyes, smelling the air.

Sulphur?

No, that wasn’t it.

What was that smell?

Why did it seem so familiar and similar to sulphur?

However, it wasn’t sulphur. She had initially assumed what she smelled was sulphur, but when she took a step forward, she realized that the scent was only around Chen Lidong’s doorway and not outside; this seemed illogical. There was no reason why the smell would only be in that spot. Furthermore, if it were truly there, she should smell it all over the place; the scent should have been even stronger towards the stairway. But there was no scent at the stairway, only the usual city air.

So, the question was,

Where did this smell resembling sulphur come from? Did it possibly waft out from the room?

From inside the room?

Tang Yuxin let go of Sisi’s hand and instructed her to stand still. She went up to Chen Lidong’s door, pressed her face against it, sniffing through the door gap.

After a moment, she walked to the window and touched the glass – it was tightly closed.

This smell was like that of carbon monoxide.

She turned around, knocked on the door of a neighboring house, but after a long while, no one answered. Only then did she remember that most people were not home at this time; the workers were still at work, not yet off duty. Even if there were people home, they were likely out buying New Year goods.

She continued to scour the ground until she found a brick. She walked over and picked it up.

Sisi stood aside, tilting her head to observe Tang Yuxin with bewilderment.

Tang Yuxin turned around, put her hand on Sisi’s shoulder and pushed her towards the corridor, “Sisi, stand here and don’t move, no matter what happens, don’t run around, okay?”

“Okay,” Sisi vigorously nodded her little head.

“Sister, Sisi understands.”

Only then did Tang Yuxin walked back to the door, bit her lip, and directly smashed the window with the brick. In an instant, the glass shattered, and the odor from the room quickly dispersed.

It was indeed the smell of a stove burning.

The sound of the shattering glass startled Sisi, causing her to bite her sleeve and shiver in a corner, but she didn’t move.

She knew that breaking a window was wrong, not a good thing.

However, Sisi sincerely admired Tang Yuxin. She felt that everything her sister did was right, even if it meant smashing someone’s whole house, not just a window.

After demolishing the window, Tang Yuxin went back to the door and vehemently smashed the lock with the brick. In the process, her fingers were grazed by the brick, drawing blood, but she continued smashing. Soon, she was breaking into a cold sweat.

Then she remembered something that happened in her previous life. From the second day of the Chinese New Year, she hadn’t seen Chen Lidong. She didn’t know the reason, as she wasn’t familiar with any other classmates. Apparently, he had transferred schools.

Could it be that he didn’t transfer schools, but…

Just then, with a “click” sound, the lock was damaged, and so was the wooden door. No matter how sturdy, with such force, it was bound to break.

Tang Yuxin immediately threw away the brick and opened the door.

She turned around and shouted at Sisi, “Stay outside and don’t move.”

Sisi, who had just moved a step forward retracted her foot and obeyed, standing at her spot. She was so frightened that she began breathing carefully.

Tang Yuxin covered her nose and ran into the house. She saw Chen Lidong sprawled on the table in the living room, one hand hanging from it. She quickly dragged Chen Lidong out. At this moment, she was grateful for her trips to the mountain to collect medicinal herbs over the past few years as they had built up her leg and arm strength, which came in handy at the moment. If she had still been her frail self from her previous life, how could she have moved a big boy.

She left Chen Lidong at the door, rushed back inside and with a “bang”, opened another door. Chen Lidong’s mother was inside, seemingly in a deep sleep. She furiously pulled her from the bed and dragged her out.

By the time she got Chen’s mother outside, she was panting heavily. She dashed back into the house to see if there was anyone else – thankfully, it was just the two of them in the Chen family. The living room still had a heater on for warmth. Likely, due to issues with the chimney, they suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.