Chapter 41: Heaven-Sent Water from Nowhere

However, the people there couldn't care less about that; Ren Jie's uniform was simply too conspicuous. The moment he approached, tears began to stream down their faces.

"Are you with the Siyao Bureau? Finally! Someone has finally come to save us. I thought we were done for! Please, I beg you, get us out of here!"

"We’re all going to make it out, right? My wife is waiting for me at home."

"Can you take my daughter down first? She’s still so small, I’m begging you..."

"Waaah! Mommy, I don't want to leave you..."

In an instant, the trapped civilians swarmed around him, gazing at Ren Jie with desperate hope, clutching his uniform as if he were their last lifeline. Responsibility, perhaps, is the weight of countless people pinning their hopes on your next sentence, on every word you utter.

Ren Jie took a deep breath. "Don't worry. No one is going to die. I’ll find a way to get you all out."

Hearing his firm assurance, many of the trapped civilians let out sighs of relief, some even breaking down into sobs.

"Price! Paid..."

Ren Jie’s mouth twitched. He had expected he might need to scare them to squeeze out some "emotional mist," but he hadn't realized it would be this easy.

"But there is one thing: if you want to live, you must follow orders. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded frantically.

"How many people are left at the scene?"

"There are two or three hundred here, and quite a few more in the work areas upstairs..."

Ren Jie frowned. That many? Conventional methods wouldn't be fast enough.

"Send someone to gather everyone from the floors above the fire down to this level. Leave the injured where they are; our team will handle them later. Don't move them."

As he spoke, Ren Jie ran toward the building's load-bearing columns. He found the emergency descent steel cable, smashed the glass, pulled the cable out, and tied it around his waist. He then turned and headed straight for the window.

"Wait, wait! Where are you going? Don't leave! Are you giving up on us? No... you..."

Before they could finish, Ren Jie leaped. He jumped straight off the 80th floor. The cable reel spun wildly, and the steel line paid out continuously.

Down below, Lin Huairen and the others were cheering for "Brother Jie," amazed that he had actually found a way into the building, when they saw him jump down, tethered to a steel cable.

Wei Pingsheng’s eyes lit up suddenly. "Good lad, he really is a product of my training. Rappelling down a steel cable?"

Ren Jie traced a diagonal line through the air, pulling the cable taut as he landed smoothly.

"Men! Anchor it! Use the troop carrier's winch to pull the cable taut and fix it down. Get the air cushions inflated and spread out!"

"There are a lot of people upstairs. Bring more deceleration sliders and five-point safety harnesses! We have injured people up there, someone get up there and handle them!"

There was no time for anything else. The Siyao officers scrambled to work, anchoring the steel cable tight.

Wei Pingsheng called out, "Get the electric ascenders! A squad, come with me!"

Officers equipped with rescue gear used the electric ascenders to climb the steel cable straight toward the 80th floor.

In front of their television screens, the audience in the livestream was in an uproar! They were going up! This steel cable was truly a lifeline spanning life and death, a lifeline Ren Jie had established while risking his own life. The chat was flooded with messages praising "Rocket Ren."

As the Siyao officers entered the building to organize the rescue, search for survivors, and treat the wounded, Ren Jie was already back up, standing by the window with a wide grin, fastening deceleration sliders for the trapped personnel preparing to descend.

(O⁼̴ ꇴ ⁼̴) "I’m the one saving you, so you’re officially an 'Outstanding Maiden' now. Don't forget to mention that I saved you when the Bureau does their tally later, alright?"

"And if you could write a letter of commendation, that would be even better! Of course, no need to thank me too much; it’s just my duty. I, Ren Jie, never leave my name behind when I do good deeds."

The girl was nearly in tears. What kind of nonsense was "Outstanding Maiden"? She was scared out of her wits! Who cared about that? And nobody mentioned this was the way they’d be saved! Sliding down a steel cable from several hundred meters up? This was...

(٥ᵒ̴̶̷̥́﹏ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀) "I... I'm scared. What if I fall? Can you..."

Before she could finish, Ren Jie’s expression hardened. "Sorry, the slider isn't fastened correctly, let me..."

With that, he kicked the girl squarely in the backside.

The girl let out a shriek like a marmot, clutching the safety rope as she slid down the steel cable.

"REN! JIE! YOU SON OF A—!"

Ren Jie, having harvested a fresh wave of emotional mist, chuckled deviously. Two hundred points collected—and he could still get more emotional mist. Was there really a better job in the world than this?

The nearby Siyao officer covered his face. Was he a devil? The victims had already suffered through a magical disaster; did they really need to be mentally tortured by him before being saved?

Ren Jie tilted his head toward the others and grinned.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)✧ "Next! Are you jumping yourself, or do you want me to kick you?"

"Afraid of falling? Better than being burned alive, right? Jump!"

One by one, the trembling, trapped victims stepped forward to fasten their sliders and jumped down like dumplings into a pot. Ren Jie couldn't have been happier.

"Four hundred... eight hundred... twelve hundred... Hehehe... Hehehehe..."

Wei Pingsheng’s face darkened. Could he at least count silently? He was saying the numbers out loud!

Down below, Tian Yu looked up, watching the trapped people slide down the cable, his eyes filled with relief. After all, he had a part in saving these people, didn't he?

Just then, he felt a strange coolness on his face, drops of rain landing on his skin... Tian Yu was confused. It tasted sour, bitter with a hint of sweetness. He wiped his face, bewildered. What was going on? Acid rain? But looking up, the sun was shining brightly—where would rain come from?

Just then, the "Outstanding Maiden" whom Ren Jie had kicked down landed, and a circle of moisture spread across her pants...

Seeing this, Tian Yu’s face went black. (̿▀̿ ̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿‧̣̥̇)̄... This wasn't acid rain. This was "water from the heavens"! The old ancestors were right after all... And he had actually tasted the sweetness—did she have diabetes? He should tell her to get a check-up at the hospital later.

The trapped people were evacuating quickly. In the blink of an eye, hundreds had been sent down, with less than a hundred left waiting.

Suddenly, a massive "BOOM" shook the ground. The already tottering Tianheng Center tilted further, dragging the troop carrier—which served as the cable's anchor—forward by several meters. Many of the trapped people were knocked off their feet.

At the heart of the magical disaster, the Undead Hound sacrificed one of its heads, entering a "Rabid State" and shattering multiple barriers in one go. It split into hundreds of smaller, two-headed puppies, which scrambled like mad toward one location. The Demon Suppressors fought frantically to suppress them, but there were too many; several slipped through, and the situation spiraled out of control.

The two-headed rabid hounds began to scramble up the outer wall of the tilting Tianheng Center, covering dozens of meters with a single leap.

The captain’s urgent voice crackled over the radio: "Old Wei, get your people out of there! Those damn puppies are heading your way!"

Wei Pingsheng frowned, about to reply, when the floor-to-ceiling window behind him shattered with a crash. A two-headed rabid hound, two meters tall, lunged at him with its massive, blood-dripping jaws wide open.

He only had time to raise his arm to block.

A bite, and blood sprayed into the air.