Chapter 168 - 123: Is This a Sudden Task?!_2

No arrangements?

At this moment, on the fifth floor, Fang Huai quickly observed his surroundings, grabbed the two-way radio, and pressed the talk button before a bewildered Hu Hongzhi could:

"Commander, commander, power has been cut, all personnel on the fifth floor have evacuated, no risk of collapse, no obvious explosives, 502 is being breached, and no other trapped individuals. The branch hose line has been laid to the stairwell!"

Fang Huai’s words were broadcasted through the two-way radios throughout the building.

The people on the fifth floor turned around abruptly to see someone at the stairwell speaking into a two-way radio.

In front of him lay two rolls of hose line. Having finished speaking, he stowed the radio and carried the rolls of hose up to the door of 502, tossing a remark to the waiting Hu Hongzhi:

"Squad leader, your delivery has arrived!"

After saying that, he turned and went upstairs amidst a sea of astonished stares.

Watching the retreating figure, Hu Hongzhi couldn’t help but let out a chuckle: "Hey, this kid, he’s got a good head on his shoulders."

Xiong Jie from the breaching team also glanced back at Fang Huai and laughed: "His brain works in ways you can’t even imagine!"

Through the two-way radio, the inquiry from below quickly resumed:

"Good! Firefighting squad, report the investigation status on the fourth floor!"

"Reporting to the commander, evacuation on the fourth floor is complete... no risk of collapse, no obvious explosives, all is normal."

The people on the fourth floor echoed Fang Huai’s earlier report with their response.

These phrases are usually issued before an exercise, indicating which floor, who should report, in coordination with the scenario on-site.

This time, of course, there was no prior arrangement for the reporters, and if Fang Huai hadn’t ad-libbed, everyone could only have replied with "all is normal."

After the reports were done, another voice came through the radio:

"The indoor fire hydrant on the sixth floor is functioning, fire in 604 is under control."

This reminder prompted everyone to report their actions in turn.

"Report to the commander, third floor all normal, main hose line deployment complete, three branch lines connected! Car 1 may begin supplying water!"

"Car 1 is now supplying water!"

"Fifth floor, fifth floor, water supply truck awaits connection with line 4!"

"Fifth floor! 502 breached successfully! Arranging for trapped individuals to evacuate, line 4 being deployed shortly!"

"Line 4 has been connected and secured! Water supply can be initiated!"

Report after report of actions finally brought order to the exercise scene.

Cao Yi’s palms were sweating below.

Just as personnel started going upstairs, he realized the issue, standing below, with the actions upstairs seemingly silent. He stood with Old Teacher He and after more than three minutes, they hadn’t heard a single report.

The drill was arranged so suddenly that everyone treated it as an actual combat situation.

In real combat, as long as there are no issues requiring consultation, naturally, the radio channel would not be occupied.

The smooth progress led to nothing but the alarm sounding below - not another sound to be heard.

It was after that report that everyone seemed to get the hang of it.

At a real fire scene, the two-way radio might be silent, but not during an exercise.

Watching silently up to now, the instructor finally let out a chuckle: "Heh, I thought the radio was broken when they went upstairs without arranging it first!"

Cao Yi, without saying a word, knew his arrangements had issues.

Ye Jiahong shamelessly laughed awkwardly: "Instructor, there’s no need for special arrangements, in our squadron, this is standard operation, we report upon reaching position!"

Hao Chengbin, who had been beside the driver of the ladder truck observing the extension arm, also chuckled when he heard the radio: "This kid..."

Even he had forgotten to arrange for the report.

Although Hao Chengbin had extensive experience in police dispatch, he had only ever been a squad leader and had never felt what it’s like to be below.

Helping to improve the rescue scene was fulfilling his duty.

...

In the stairwell of the fifth floor, a scream erupted.

"Squad leader, I can walk! I can walk on my own!"

Clutching the stair railing’s rebar, Han Yong refused to sit on the stretcher.

Han Yong had been placed on the multifunctional stretcher by everyone, and due to limited manpower, only one non-commissioned officer from the rescue team, Lian Qing, was in charge of his rescue.

Unable to handle it alone, Lian Qing thought of a devious idea and prepared to drag the stretcher down the stairs, sliding all the way.

The firefighting multifunctional stretcher was not rigid; it involved wrapping a person in a protection pad, which made the bottom quite slippery, allowing one person to drag it along. If put on the stairs, the person could slide all the way to the bottom.

Sliding down from the fifth to the first floor on that stretcher would surely cause Han Yong to lose a couple of pounds, wouldn’t it?

That’s when Lian Qing relaxed the stretcher and laughed:

"You asked for this yourself! Don’t complain later on once we get down. Get up, take the stretcher, and follow me downstairs!"

The trapped individual, Han Yong, pitifully got up, picked up the stretcher, and obediently followed the rescuer downstairs.

...

Five minutes later.

A drill simulating actual combat did not cause much alarm, as everyone executed their tasks methodically according to instructions.

"All three branch lines from Car 1 are delivering water!"

"One branch line from Car 3 is delivering water!"

"Rescue of trapped individuals is complete!"

One by one, reports of task completion came through the two-way radio.

Upstairs, several water hoses extruding from the windows signaled that each branch line had been properly laid and water was successfully passing through the main and branch lines to the upper floors.

Cao Yi’s hands finally relaxed a bit, and he chuckled resignedly: "Instructor, we’ve completed it, right?"

But Old Teacher He just chuckled: "Completed what? I told you, I’m from the brigade command center, there may be other emergency scenarios happening!"

With that, he picked up his two-way radio: "All units, be advised, the brigade command center has just received a new alarm! There are numerous unconscious individuals trapped on the rooftop, everyone, after completing your tasks, proceed to the rooftop immediately for rescue!"

The squadron leaders were stunned:

"Instructor... we don’t have enough hands to play the trapped individuals upstairs!"

Yet the instructor chuckled: "Do I need you to arrange that? Manager Zhang has already taken care of it!"

...

On the sixth floor, Fang Huai heard the message on the two-way radio and was the first to rush to the eighth floor. Finding no trapped individuals there, he continued to the end of the corridor and opened the only big door on the eighth floor.

Upon opening it, he was met with a large rooftop.

Then, he saw two dozen pairs of eyes staring at him.

Tall, short, fat, thin, male, female employees, about twenty in total.

They were gathered together chatting when he opened the door, and as soon as they saw him, they collapsed dramatically to the ground, beginning to groan:

"Save me... save me..."

They acted as if they had been bitten by zombies, clearly well-rehearsed.

Fang Huai’s eyes widened.

This is the surprise task? Is this an exercise? It’s clearly physical training, isn’t it?!

Han Yong was just the appetizer; the rooftop was the finishing move!

Fang Huai was somewhat stunned as he picked up the two-way radio:

"8th floor, rooftop, need a large number of stretchers... there’s big work, big work!"