Chapter 194

Ling Yue stared at her intently: "You."

These words were deep and obscure; people, having just found time to search, Ling Yue's two people were doubtful; in an instant, the door — suddenly recalling the information found — a chill rose from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head.

"We? What's wrong with us?" she said, her teeth slightly chattering; hearing this, Ling Yue pressed her lips, saw the two's nervous expressions, and gently said: "Have you noticed anything abnormal around you lately?"

Li Ting was about to shake her head, then her eyes widened: "The heating pipe in the room seems broken; we're waiting for the landlord to contact a repairman."

By a strange coincidence, she voiced her plan. They are both outsiders; daily they just work and study; actually they don't know Jing Shi well, so subconsciously they thought to ask the landlord for help.

Ling Yue's eyes flickered; suddenly she recalled after the incident, the latter's wailing cries; they even until death never waited for the other to be repaired.

If it weren't for her carelessness and desire to save trouble, this matter should have been discovered long ago.

Tonight is their deadly calamity.

Ling Yue remained silent too long; her obscure gaze made the two feel increasingly uneasy; Ke Ke and her best friend were different — cautious by nature — she intuitively sensed Ling Yue was hiding something, and couldn't help but speak up.

"What's wrong? Is there something off about this?" she said, nervously clenching her fingers.

Ling Yue: "You will die."

This sentence was like a thunderclap; the two instantly — the door shook — looked at her in terror, wondering what would die?

Tang Tang squeaked anxiously, raising its tiny paw pleadingly at Ling Yue; it was instinctively sharp, but no matter how, it was just a small animal, unable to communicate with the two, and didn't know what would happen.

However, Ling Yue saw everything clearly.

She glanced at the doubtful two: "I'm not lying to you; there is a huge safety hazard in this door-room; if you don't listen to me, you will die tonight."

Her offhand remark made the two's faces turn deathly pale, not knowing what they were thinking.

At that moment, the water in the small electric pot bubbled gurglingly, big bubbles nearly lifting the lid; the dull sound in the room-door was especially loud, and Ke Ke hurriedly unplugged it.

Only then did they summon courage, looking at Ling Yue: "How can we believe you?"

She couldn't dispel the doubt; a person with only a passing acquaintance suddenly showed up, saying they would surely die today — this was even more far-fetched than a street-corner swindler fortune-teller, at least the latter would only say: "I see your Hall of Impression dark; there will be bloodshed."

She came straight out with death; hearing it made people's hearts tremble with lingering fear.

Ling Yue had long anticipated this question; her eyes drooped slightly, landing on Tang Tang in Li Ting's palm: "You weren't trying to get me to save them, were you? You accidentally guessed right — the hot water pipes have aged, causing pressure to increase, but tonight they will burst."

Tang Tang heard this and slowly widened its mouse eyes.

Ling Yue's words continued; this time she glanced at the two: "You just said you were looking for a repairman, thinking it was the heating pipe, but it's actually the hot water pipe; because it's aged, the hot water inside often lingers here for a long time, unable to reach the upper floors, thus raising the temperature in this room-door."

"Think back — hasn't it been hotter lately?" she said, her gaze on the heating pipe; the valve was shut tight, yet there wasn't a hint of cold in the room.

This is, after all, a basement — gloomy and damp.

Li Ting visibly panicked, because every word Ling Yue spoke hit the mark; at the time she was still surprised, it was Ke Ke who suggested contacting the landlord.

Having heard the whole account, the person was already panicking beyond control, half-believing; her words felt as if witnessed firsthand; moreover, because of Ling Yue's description, fear rose uncontrollably.

"What, what should we do now?"

Ling Yue lightly uttered two words: "Call the police!"

If there's difficulty finding the police, moreover, this disaster isn't caused by special factors; it's the landlord's illegal renovation, altering the house to rent to individuals, lacking regular maintenance facilities, causing this outcome!

During this waiting time, the door — the two had no mind to eat; they grabbed their suitcases and packed; staying here, their ears were about to hallucinate.

It felt as if a second hand was stuck in their ears, ticking nonstop; each minute and second was agony, a countdown to their own death!

"No, we can't stay in this house!"

"Gurgle——"

The two dashed, pulling their belongings outward, not forgetting to slam the door shut; only when they heard the wailing sirens did they suddenly realize.

Their clasped hands were cold as ice stone.

Police arrived quickly; the phrases "shared rental," "illegal renovation," "aged hot water pipes" combined, transmitted to the ears, making eyelids twitch wildly.

It was simply a deadly buff stacked infinitely!

When the landlord was called out, still dazed, upon seeing the police, his heart jumped: "Officer, what's going on?"

The police handled it impartially, attitude stern: "We received a report; you here have privately renovated the shared rental, and the aging pipes aren't maintained?"

Upon hearing, the landlord's heart turned half-cold; moments later she let out a pig-slaughtering howl: "Impossible! Officer, I abide by the law; I could never do such illegal acts!"

Before the male officer could speak, the youthful, vigorous young officer beside him snorted: "If so, we can investigate with peace of mind."

Having said that, not only the police, but also the repair workers contacted by the police, came together to the basement.

Seeing the situation turn bad, the landlord rushed over; seeing a crowd inspecting the hot water pipe, the privately partitioned door was examined, and he felt his heart jump, hands and feet turning icy.

After the repairman inspected, he suddenly sucked in a cold breath: "Hiss——"

He had never seen such a broken pipe; how many years since it was replaced? The aged pipe, when touched, was even scalding; he nervously placed his ear to it, his face flushing red.

Moments later, the repair master retreated several steps with a thudding sound.

Shaking his head angrily, he said: "Everyone stay back; this pipe has aged beyond repair, and there's pressure inside — my goodness, it'll burst either today or tomorrow, anyway within these few days, this water pipe will definitely explode!"

"The inside is scalding boiling water!" Once a pipe as thick as a person's thigh bursts, tons of scalding hot water will erupt……

He was terrified, giving a violent shudder.

Beside them, hearing this, the two trembled with fear, having fully believed Ling Yue's words; if it were as she said, the scalding hot water poured on their bodies, the young girls clinging together would be frightened to tears.

This was also their first true realization of the dangers of cheap shared rentals.

Following the original course, because of two lives lost, the incident hit the online hot search that day; Jing Shi began a strict crackdown on shared rentals and renovated buildings; yet the lost lives could never be reclaimed.

The two girls' identities were half-public; upon hearing the news, their families were struck as by thunder, traveling thousands of miles from their hometowns, only to see the children's corpses.

The corpses boiled by scalding hot water were even more horrifying to behold.

Ling Yue heard the wailing sobs; the reporting girls leaned on each other, phoning home, eye sockets red, tears dropping patter-patter, like frightened rabbits.

After the dust settled, they were utterly powerless, sitting on their suitcases.

A draft swept through the hallway, pouring layers of cold sweat on their backs; blown by the wind, the chill felt like it stabbed into the seams of their bones.

Suddenly, Ling Yue jerked her head; the giggling sound suddenly amplified, like rapid drumbeats, and the repairman's face changed on the spot.

"Hurry up and go!"

He slammed the door shut, his face turning white with tension: "It seems because of the previous action, the hot water pipe is about to explode!"

The police officer froze for a moment, then reacted instantly, shouting at the tenants in the neighboring rooms: "Come out! We're the police, everyone get out now!"

Chaotic noises blended together as the two girls hauled their suitcases outward; Ling Yue helped shout for people, and the landlord had already rushed out.

"It exploded? It's about to explode!"

After running outside, the wind and snow slapped her face with a crackling sound.

Bewildered tenants poured out in a swarm; hearing the police's words, some still didn't believe it: "How could that be?"

"The hot water pipe is going to explode? How would it explode?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a deafening boom erupted from the ground!

Everyone was startled, covering their ears as if deafened; in the deathly silence, from all directions, shattered glass windows spewed out surging white smoke, and the snow on the roof melted at a visible speed.

Even several meters away, the steam heat wave still hit them in the face, surging to the extreme!

"Holy shit!"

The landlord trembled with fear, while all the surrounding tenants rushed out; seeing this dark crowd, the police officer's brows knotted into a shape like the Chinese character for river.

Li Ting grabbed her best friend, her heart pounding nonstop.

It was so close, just a little bit more.

From the other end of the phone came a relative's frantic shout: "Little girl? Little girl, don't scare Mom! Little girl, are you okay? Quick, give me a sound!"

Li Ting spoke with a choking, tearful voice: "Mom, I—I'm fine."

"You little brat, you're going to scare Mom to death!"

From the other end of the phone came the relative's scolding; she said nothing, just listened quietly.

Before leaving, Ling Yue glanced at the two women's foreheads; the misfortune had dissipated, the deadly calamity was over, and she even expended a trace of faint azure qi, which also signified that they would later engage in work related to the state.

Recalling what the flower-mouse sugar sugar had said earlier, Ling Yue suddenly understood.

As for this person—

She glanced at the still‑shaken landlord, her eyes like an ice‑bladed knife.

Later, Ling Yue also learned that, although no one was killed or injured, the incident's aftermath still attracted high attention from the relevant authorities, and a vigorous inspection and crackdown began.

Sugar Sugar didn't come back with her; it chose to stay by the little girl's side.

After returning home, Ling Yue only then remembered there was still a mouse in her pocket; she took out Xunbao Shu Duo Duo, the little creature wobbling as it flopped onto the table: @

"Whoa, the mouse is going to get dizzy to death!"

The earth‑shaking roar made it dizzy and blurred, the world spinning upside down.

Ling Yue, to reward it, specially suggested: "How about we have hot pot tomorrow?"

Jing Shi Police Dog Training Base.

The dog food Ling Yue sent was distributed to each base; initially it wasn't given much attention, even though someone found that the pet food had a 100% positive feedback rate, for the base the dogs' safety came first.

Therefore, these pet foods were only given as after‑meal snacks or for a single meal.

Yet just like that, in only a few days, the dogs that ate the new pet food for the first time also showed noticeable changes.

"Zhang Hu and Luo Lan!"

"Present!"

A trainer in uniform led a half‑grown police dog, responding loudly; looking closely, his youthful face still bore some nervousness. The other team members were the same.

Because today is the first time these reserve police dogs are undergoing a mock evaluation.

For a dog to become a qualified police dog, it must undergo continual training and improvement before it can wear that special uniform and earn its designation.

This batch of ten dogs is the reserve police dogs of the Jing Shi Police Dog Training Base.

Reserve police dogs and police dogs differ by only two characters, yet the gap is heaven and earth.

These trainers, too, are for the first time gaining their own comrades; over the past few months they've already become familiar, but the training intensity and effect will be seen in this evaluation.

Even though it's a mock test, one cannot afford to be careless.

After several teams barely passed, it was Zhang Hu's turn; he lowered his head to look at the little police dog Luo Lan, the dog sticking out its tongue, clinging tightly to his leg, rather carefree.

His heart pounded; Zhang Hu was both nervous and excited.

Unlike the others, his comrade Luo Lan is practically the most famous dog in the base, and even has a loud nickname: "Spiky!"

Zhang Hu: "……"

Wind howled over the training ground covered in a thin layer of snow; the round‑faced instructor, who always laughed heartily, now spoke solemnly: "The evaluation begins!",,.