Chapter 698: Mommy Won’t Leave
Rainy held her mother’s neck tightly and was frightened.
Inside the mall, there were frequent screams, cries, curses, and calls for help from people. The smoke got increasingly bigger, and there was even a stampede.
Xia Ruoxin used her hand to cover her daughter’s mouth and nose while she coughed nonstop. She did not dare run towards the crowd as she was afraid that they would squeeze them.
Everyone ran towards a single emergency exit as perhaps the employees had forgotten, but the emergency exits on one side were all closed. Even the elevator stopped operating while the other end was filled with smoke. The fire followed the route and burned over. The mall was filled with flammable clothes so the fire became bigger and bigger and out of control.
Xia Ruoxin was worried to the point where she was pale. She followed the crowd and ran towards the central escalator. Before she even reached there, the escalator was filled with people. Bang! Someone cried out loud. The people getting down… perhaps they ran too fast or were pushed by the people behind, but they all rolled down.
Today was already a weekend and including the mass sales that the mall was having, there were many people in the mall. Additionally, the fire happened too suddenly so everyone started panicking and were vying to rush out for their lives.
Xia Ruoxin kept coughing and pressed her daughter’s face against her chest.
“It’s okay, don’t be scared. Mommy is powerful; I will bring you out.”
Rainy held tightly onto her mother’s clothes. She was not like the other children who would cry out loud, but her face was scared pale white. That was because she knew that her mother was the most powerful, most amazing one.
The stairwell was filled with people, and the smoke was choking people up. There seemed to be the siren of the fire brigade from the outside which made Xia Ruoxin happy.
They were saved. Everyone ran for their lives to the window, and so she followed.
Piak! It was the sound of the glass window breaking. When she turned around, she was scared witless. It was not because the firemen had broken the glass; it was because of the fire that all the glass in the mall broke.
There were frequent shrills, cries, and curses.
Instinctively, she ran forward and was still hugging her daughter tight. She followed the others and squatted next to the window, awaiting the arrival of the firemen. At first, they wanted to go down; but upon seeing the people below running down frantically, she knew that the fire below was worse than their floor’s. They could almost smell their hair burning.
Someone broke the glass again, and fresh air entered the mall. The smoke had almost surrounded them. Xia Ruoxin did not know if people would directly jump down from the window because it was a dire situation so one could do anything. However, this was the sixth floor. They could be burned to death if they stayed put, but if they jumped down, they would lose their limbs even if they saved their lives.
No matter which outcome, she did not want either of them.
“Mommy…” Rainy pulled Xia Ruoxin’s sleeves.
“It’s okay; don’t talk. There’s no need to be scared.” Xia Ruoxin hugged the child tightly. Just then, her phone rang. She took a look at it; it was actually Chu Lui.
She placed the phone beside her ear, and the voice on the other end was very hoarse.
“Ruoxin, where are you?” The man on the other end was on the verge of losing his senses.
Once Chu Lui heard the noise from Xia Ruoxin’s side, it was as if a bucket of cold water was splashed on him. His two hands held the steering wheel tightly, and his joints were about to burst.
“Are you in the shopping center?”
He was afraid it would be like this. Yet, it turned out to be true.
Xia Ruoxin was choked to the point where she kept coughing. There was endless crying from her surroundings. Suddenly, someone shouted that the fire brigade was coming.
Suddenly, Xia Ruoxin thought of something. She held her daughter tightly. When she experienced this life-and-death situation, she suddenly thought through and understood whatever she did not before.
“Chu Lui,” she held her phone tight.
“I forgive you, really.”
When she wanted to continue, someone knocked her phone to the floor; and someone else squeezed in and stepped on it. She could only hug her daughter and hide away from the crowd that had gone nuts. In the end, she was squeezed to the back because she had to protect her daughter. The window not faraway was finally broken in, and people kept coming down from above. There were shouts everywhere, but the death aura coming from the inside was thickening. People were becoming more anxious about their desire to survive. The anxiety to be saved and survive.
She almost could not squeeze to the front, and the fire behind was about to reach them. The smoke was hurting their throats, and the people in front were rapidly decreasing. Xia Ruoxin looked at the shattered phone not far away, and there was a complicated gaze in her eyes.
She did not know if he heard what she said, and she did not know if she could say it again. However, she did not know if she had the courage to say it again if it happened.
It took a lot of courage to apologize… but even more to forgive.
When it was her turn, the firemen looked into her eyes; and his were filled with pity and apologies. The human structure on the ambulance was filled with people, and there was no space for another one.
“Boss, there’s one more, but we’re at maximum capacity,” one of the firefighters said over his walkie-talkie.
“What do we do now? I’m not sure if we can take the extra load.”
“I understand. I’ll explain it to her,” The firefighter said as he looked towards Xia Ruoxin with pity.
“I’m sorry, please don’t worry.” They finally said, “We’ll be right back. You’ll be fine.”
Xia Ruoxin eyed the ever-increasing flames behind her. She hugged her daughter tightly; the discomfort in her nose was more unbearable than the pain in her throat.
“Don’t worry, I’m sorry.”
How could they apologize? How could they not worry when their mortality was concerned?
She lowered her head and looked at Rainy who was unhurt.
Then, she passed her daughter forward. “My daughter’s still young. Please bring her down. She’s really light. She doesn’t weigh much.”
The firefighter instinctively reached out and took her child over.
“Mommy…” Rainy suddenly refused to let go of her mother’s clothes as if she had sensed something. She then began to cry out loud.
“Mommy, not leaving. Mommy, don’t leave.”
Xia Ruoxin resolved herself as she pried her daughter’s hands away and turned without looking back.