Chapter 8: Saving Someone Along the Way

Thanks to the concentration of rainwater during this period, not only was the plaster on the corner walls damp, but even the wooden beams and chairs in the house emitted a sense of moisture. Lighting a fire at a time like this without enough combustible fuel would make it impossible to get the flames going!

She had a Space, and the most she had in the Space canteen was oil; making a fire start would be no difficulty for her at all. And compared to a sound that might only attract some people, fire was different. Once a fire broke out, let alone the people in this courtyard, even those in the surrounding vicinity would be drawn to it. Taking advantage of the chaos to escape would be far too convenient.

She had already prepared her contingency plan in her heart; she was just waiting for the right timing.

Fearing she might fall asleep and miss the opportunity, Ding Xuewei simply sat leaning against the door to wait.

Heaven does not fail those who seek it. An hour later, she finally heard the sound of falling rain, and as the curtain of night descended, the noisy sounds gradually faded into the pitter-patter of the rain.

After confirming that Pandi would not wake up for a while, she rose gently, bringing both the bed and the person into the Space, and retrieved three jugs of edible oil and a lighter.

Afterward, she carefully moved the window-side table and stools to the original position of the bed, and splashed the three jugs of edible oil brought out from the Space onto the walls, the table and stools, the torn bedding, and the corners of the walls.

With the remaining oil in the bucket, she adjusted the torn bedding, arranging it into a circle to form a barrier.

When the water used to fight the fire is splashed in, this oil will spread, and the fire will burn even more intensely.

Unable to be certain if everyone in the courtyard had already gone to rest, Ding Xuewei patiently waited a bit longer. During this process, she ate two bowls of braised lion's head meatballs and a scoop of rice.

By the time she was full and satisfied, the night was deep, and the rain had lessened significantly.

Calmly putting away her meal tray, Ding Xuewei finally took out the lighter and began to light the fire with slow, deliberate movements.

As the flames slowly licked upward, she turned around and began to beat against the door panel with all her might.

"Fire! Help! Fire! Let me out! Fire~!"

In this second courtyard, everyone locked up was restless. The beatings during the day had left marks on their bodies and minds; although it was late, very few were actually asleep.

When Ding Xuewei's hysterical screams drifted through the cracks in the door, the girls who were awake instinctively pricked up their ears.

The two sisters were locked in a specific position within the western wing, and there were people in the rooms on both sides. This house had no ceiling or partitions, and there was a considerable interconnected space beneath the roof tiles; when the flames rose on Ding Xuewei's side, it could be seen from both sides.

Immediately, the girls on both sides joined Ding Xuewei's plea for help.

Accompanied by increasingly loud cries for help, even the other girls who hadn't seen the flames began to panic, and they followed suit by banging on their doors to call for help.

A single person's voice might be hard to notice, but the cries for help from twenty or so people in the entire courtyard were ear-piercing. Not to mention the front and back courtyards, even the neighbors next door were woken up.

Soon, the madam's seductive yet urgent voice rang out from outside the door: "Where are the keys?"

"Ah, I forgot to take them!" a coarse male voice replied vexatiously.

The madam snapped, "Then hurry up and go get them!"

While the man went to fetch the keys, the madam not only arranged for people to fetch buckets of water but also muttered in confusion about how a fire could have started and how it could be so large.

Given the weather and the conditions in the room, even if Ding Xuewei had entered with a fire starter, the possibility of her being able to burn the house down wasn't very high. The madam's thoughts shifted away from Ding Xuewei after only two seconds.

How could she know that Ding Xuewei had a Space filled with abundant supplies, or that Ding Xuewei was an outsider who showed no mercy when she struck?

"Save my sister! My sister is in the fire, save her~ Ah!"

The moment the room door was pushed open, Ding Xuewei lunged outward quickly.

As if by sheer coincidence, as she popped her head out, she was drenched from head to toe by a bucket of water.

"Get out of the way."

Without even bothering to curse her, a burly man seeing the raging flames inside the room grabbed Ding Xuewei by the arm and tossed her directly into the courtyard.

Enduring the pain, she first scanned the area. Seeing that aside from the madam holding an umbrella, everyone else was frantically fetching water to fight the fire, she hurriedly rushed toward the side corridor.

Once inside the corridor, shielded from the rain, Ding Xuewei did not flee immediately. Instead, she moved slowly to hide behind a pillar. After ensuring that everyone's attention was drawn to the room that was burning more fiercely with every splash of water—and that no one noticed her hiding—she rushed toward the corner gate, hugging the walls and windows.

It seemed everyone had gone to fight the fire; there was no one in the front courtyard at all, and no one stopped her. Soon, Ding Xuewei had run to the main gate.

At this moment, the main gate was being pounded thunderously. After a moment of hesitation, she opened the gate to let the neighbors carrying water buckets and wooden basins enter.

No one noticed who had opened the door, and after running for a distance, Ding Xuewei leisurely turned her head back.

She didn't have the ability to take down human traffickers, but she could at least save a couple of people. The two who had entered with them today should be locked in the front courtyard.

Ding Xuewei turned back and fumbled her way to the instructor's dormitory. Since she couldn't see, she took out a mobile phone from her Space.

The three phones she had touched previously could not be opened due to the auto-lock, but she was much more experienced with this one. After exiting the playback mode, she turned on the flashlight directly.

With her Space, Ding Xuewei was quite bold; she searched thoroughly under the light, but after searching the entire room, she surprisingly still couldn't find the keys.

"They were probably taken inside!"

It wasn't strange that when the madam ordered the keys to be brought to save people, all the keys were taken away.

But without the keys, it would be difficult for her to save anyone!

Covering the light, Ding Xuewei thought for a few seconds, then rushed toward the side courtyard.

When she was looking for the instructor's quarters earlier, she had discovered that there were side courtyards on both sides of the main courtyard. One of these side courtyards was a kitchen, and the other was a stable.

With a light, it wasn't hard to find an axe. Since people had already entered the kitchen, a sudden thought struck her; she transferred all the visible grain and rice into her Space before turning off the flashlight and heading back to the front courtyard with the axe.

"Is anyone there?"

After feeling for the first door lock, she asked in a low voice.

To her surprise, as soon as the words fell, there was no movement from within.

After thinking for two seconds, she swung the axe to hack at the edge of the lock.

Ding Xuewei did not know that in this front courtyard, besides the two young girls who had entered with them today, there were also three others who had entered through the front and back courtyards.

She also didn't know that among these three, one had already been starving for five days, and the other two weren't much better, having been hungry for three days; at this moment, they were in a daze, thinking they were dreaming.

But she knew that these people wouldn't lock the doors if nothing was wrong.

In fact, most of the rooms in this courtyard had their doors wide open.

Therefore, she guessed that the two locked rooms must contain the girls who had been sold into this place.

"Is anyone there?"

After finally managing to push the door open, Ding Xuewei did not enter, but instead called out twice by the door.

A girl, finally certain that she wasn't dreaming, let out a soft moan.

Hearing the voice, Ding Xuewei said, "The courtyard inside is on fire, they are in a hurry to put it out, if you want to run, do it quickly~" After that, she continued to feel her way forward, repeatedly opening doors and informing them.

(End of Chapter)