Chapter 251: The Iron Maiden (1/2)
Xiaotao told us to get in the car and as soon as our backs touched the seats, a loud boom sounded in the distance. Xiaotao drove on without turning back. I radioed an officer to ask what had happened, to which he reported, ”The suspect threw a bomb at us but there are no casualties.”
”Alright, be careful then!” I cautioned.
We sped towards the location where the hostages were held; two hostages were hidden at two different locations, dividing several police cars into two directions at the junction. Xiaotao, Dali and I headed to an old rented house in an urban village within the city. At the scene, I grabbed the wire from my pocket and got to work unlocking the door. A loud wail came from within the house, ”Don't come in! Don't come in!”
Xiaotao’s gaze flicked up to meet mine, fearing that the push of the door would trigger some sort of mechanism. ”We’re the police, here to save you!” I shouted through the door.
The man in the house asked, ”Really? Hurry up, save me! I can't hold on any longer!”
Only after hearing his reply did I open the door. The police filed in, guns in hand. It was a bare house with no furniture and the windows had been nailed with wooden boards. When we arrived at one of the rooms, a strong light blinded my eyes which took a long time to get used to.
The ground was covered with light bulbs, spanning the entire floor of the room. A skinny boy wearing only a pair of underpants lay on top of the light bulbs, his body slick and glossy.
A quick sniff told me that it was gasoline. As it turned out, Storm Punisher drenched the victim’s body with highly flammable unleaded petrol. If even one light bulb was broken, the heat from the filament would immediately ignite a fire and submerge his body in flames.
When the boy saw us break into the room, he burst into tears. ”Help me! I can't hold on any longer!”
”That bastard lied to us!” Xiaotao cursed through gnashed teeth. “He clearly said he would release the hostages yet he did this!”
”Let’s save him first. Get someone to turn off the switch,” I sighed.
As soon as one of the officers set off, a thought suddenly crossed my mind, prompting me to dash into the living room. The officer had just moved a stool under the junction box and stepped on it to flip the switch. ”Don't touch anything!” I immediately stopped him. “Let me have a look!”
I climbed the stool and peered into the junction box. At first glance, everything seemed normal, but I soon noticed a red light flashing in one corner. Although I wasn’t sure what it was, I didn’t cross out the possibility of a bomb!
Without a doubt, I knew that Storm Punisher would never let us off so easily. ”Don't touch the switch yet. Look for a foam extinguisher now!”
The words had just left my lips when heart-rending screams split the quiet house, mingled with the smell of burning flesh. Dali ran out in a fluster, shouting, ”Dude, save him!”
I hurried back into the room and was greeted by the burning body of the victim who rolled and writhed over the light bulbs. No time to think, I removed my clothes and charged into the bright mass of flames, my feet crushing the light bulbs on the floor and issuing crisp crunches along the way.
But dousing the fire with my clothes didn’t work as the gasoline burned hard like an undying flame. The boy hugged my leg in his struggle, setting my pants ablaze. Watching in disorientated horror, Xiaotao suddenly pulled out her gun, wanting to end his pain but I yelled, ”No!”
Fortunately, the officers rushed in with a fire extinguisher, aiming the nozzle at the victim until his entire body was enveloped in white foam and the fire was extinguished.
Now wrapped in a layer of glistening foam, the motionless boy who lay on the ground appeared smaller than before, as if a layer of his flesh had been melted away. I placed my hand under his nose and shallow, intermittent breaths caressed my fingers. He was still alive! I gently picked him up while Xiaotao called for an ambulance.
In truth, our presence was an indirect cause of this. The victim had only managed to maintain a balance on the light bulbs due to his intense desire to survive but when he learned that the police had come to rescue him, his tense mind and body reflexively relaxed and finally broke a light bulb.
When I carried him outside, several policemen had already taken off their clothes and spread them on the ground for the victim. Deep burns covered his entire body, not leaving a single piece of skin intact. his whole body was completely burnt. Severe burns like this would cause an infection that could trigger sepsis, eventually killing the victim. All we could do now was to try to keep him conscious by talking to him.
Xiaotao left the room to pick up a call, but when she came back, her eyes were darkly ferocious, indicative of her current emotions. ”The other hostage didn’t make it!” she said.
A while later, the ambulance arrived to take the victim to the hospital, leaving the rest of us in depressing silence.
Xiaotao assigned a few officers here to wait for the bomb squad to arrive, while the others were to return to the station first. There were several police cars parked outside the public security bureau and a group of policemen waiting for us. As soon as we got off the car, they surrounded us, faces wrought with guilt.
”It was our own dereliction of duty!” they shouted.