The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 114

This was one of the old shopping centers in the city of Peace, and it had caused quite a sensation when it first opened more than ten years ago because it brought in many well-known foreign brands. Although it had declined now, it still had a lot of loyal customers.

Jian Jing bought two dresses, a hat, and three pairs of shoes, and was incredibly happy.

In a good mood, even a dinner at a five-star restaurant would feel like seven stars, and after finishing she was reluctant to go home, deciding to watch a movie to aid her digestion.

The movie theater was on the seventh floor. Although it was a little old, it had been renovated and installed IMAX. A rather large supermarket was opened at the entrance, selling snacks, fruits and drinks.

Jian Jing ordered a combo of coke + popcorn + fried chicken.

She chose a mystery thriller movie.

However, ten minutes after it started, she regretted it.

The movie was a little bloody, and the murder scenes were arranged very clearly.

She was stunned.

The artistic style of parallel worlds was just different. In the next world over, how could this have passed censorship?!

Holy cow.

It was just a little nauseating.

Although she had encountered many cases, the deaths were not gruesome, and she had never encountered a particularly bloody dismemberment or rotting corpse.

But this movie... made her want to vomit.

The popcorn and coke were no longer appetizing.

She was not the only one who felt this way. Occasional "bleh" sounds came from the corners, and the pungent smell of acid spread through the air, making people even more uncomfortable sitting there.

People left one after another, and within thirty minutes of the opening, more than half the seats were empty.

Jian Jing didn't want to torture herself, but then she reconsidered - what if she encountered this next time?

Getting used to it by watching movies would be better than being shocked on the spot.

So she persevered.

Two girls sitting in front of her did not leave either.

The shorter girl on the left said, "How disgusting, I feel a little nauseous."

The taller girl on the right encouraged her, "You're going to go to medical school in the future, get used to it first."

Of course, imagination was wonderful, but reality was still a bit cruel. The two went to the bathroom halfway through, probably emptying their stomachs, but they did grit their teeth and watch the whole movie.

It was almost eleven o'clock when it ended, and the building closed at ten, with all floors dark except the seventh.

Jian Jing went to the bathroom with the two girls.

"Isn't it too late to catch the last bus?" The shorter girl couldn't help asking her companion at the sink.

Her companion said, "Don't worry, we can take a taxi. I'll take you home first."

"Why don't I just sleep over at your place? My parents are working overtime and no one's home."

Her companion was a little tempted: "Okay, let me call and ask if my brother is coming home today."

She made the call but didn't get through, and said angrily, "Forget it, just come home with me."

Just then, Jian Jing happened to come out of the bathroom and saw the two girls.

The tall girl recognized her immediately, and her eyes lit up in delight: "Teacher Jian!"

"You are..." Jian Jing thought for a moment, also a little surprised, "Ji Yunyun?"

Ji Yunyun hadn't expected her idol to recognize her, and her mouth was almost splitting to her ear roots from joy: "How did teacher know?"

"There's a photo of you in your brother's car." Jian Jing winked.

Although Ji Feng complained about his sister on the surface, there was a photo of the two siblings together behind the sun visor. She had caught a glimpse of it by chance and remembered their looks.

Meeting the real person today, she realized the siblings looked alike, both tall, with three-dimensional features. Ji Yunyun was still in high school, but was already almost 1.7 meters tall, with her hair in a high ponytail, making her look even more upright and spirited.

Since they had met, and she heard their worries, Jian Jing naturally wanted to help: "It's late, it's not safe for you two kids to go home alone. Let me give you a ride."

Ji Yunyun and her classmate were both a little embarrassed: "That wouldn't be right, we can go home ourselves."

"It's no trouble, I'm going that way anyway." Jian Jing spoke sincerely.

The two girls knew it wasn't safe to go home late at night, so they shyly agreed.

Ji Yunyun made introductions: "Teacher Jian, this is my classmate Xiao Xiao."

Xiao Xiao was short, with a round cute face, and spoke very excitedly: "I also like your books. We even went to a signing event on New Year's Day."

"Thank you both."

The three chatted and laughed as they walked towards the movie theater exit, but just then, their vision went pitch black without any warning, and all light sources were extinguished at the same time.

"Ah!" Xiao Xiao was so frightened she jumped up and grabbed Ji Yunyun's arm.

Ji Yunyun was also a little panicking.

Having just watched a horror movie and then this happened, who wouldn't be scared?

Even Jian Jing couldn't help but pause for a moment to let her eyes adjust before speaking.

"It's just a power outage..." She was halfway through speaking reassuringly when she stopped abruptly.

[System: New mission released]

[Mission name: Escape from the Burning Building]

[Description: A commercial high-rise building catches fire late at night, with thick smoke billowing to the sky and scorching heat rolling in waves. If you don't want to perish here, try your best to escape!]

[Rewards and penalties: Success rewards 10 courage points. Failure means you're dead.]

Jian Jing's scalp tingled.

Of all the missions, special missions were bizarre and ominous, but she feared escape missions the most. It was so easy to die accidentally!

She became mentally alert and immediately said, "We can't take the elevator since the power is out, let's walk downstairs."

Neither girl objected. There were plenty of scary elevator scenes in horror movies, so it was better to just take the stairs.

But the mall was mainly elevators, with escalators and sightseeing elevators in the atrium, and passenger elevators along the sides. They had to find emergency exits to get to the stairs.

There were two emergency exits on the seventh floor, one inside the movie theater that they couldn't find at the moment, and the other required going out the movie theater doors, turning at the bathroom, and making a ninety degree turn to get to it.

Jian Jing quickened her steps: "Let's hurry up and go."

As they walked, she thought it over carefully. The system releasing a mission implied a pattern - if the fire came first and power outage after, she should have seen the mission before the outage.

But the facts were the reverse, so it seemed the power went out first, then the fire started.

It looked like arson no matter how she looked at it.

She took out her phone and hesitated before dialing.

With two unfamiliar people following her, reporting a fire before actually seeing it would be hard to explain.

But she regretted it in less than five minutes.

Every building had emergency staircases for evacuation. If they didn't pass fire safety inspections, the mall couldn't even open. But when they ran to the emergency exit, they felt a blast of heat right away.

Billowing smoke and faint red glow.

In theory, stairwells in this type of mall were enclosed, using Class B fire doors that could effectively block smoke and flames. But reality wasn't always so perfect.

If someone stacked garbage in the stairwell, or deliberately set it on fire, the escape route would be useless.

"Why is it so hot? And there's light?" Xiao Xiao was still confused.

Ji Yunyun was more worldly, and immediately became nervous: "Don't tell me there's a fire?"

"Definitely." Jian Jing pushed their backs. "Let's go back first, we can't stay here."

She took out her phone and immediately dialed the prepared number to report the fire.

After that, she calmed her mind. Fires at night actually weren't too terrible of a situation. Other than thick smoke, the most frightening thing about fire scenes was usually trampling in crowds.

The mall was basically empty now, without many people, so they didn't have to worry about being trampled to death. But the seventh floor was the highest, so no matter which floor the fire started, because of heat convection, the smoke would quickly rise upwards.

Many who perished in fires did not die from being burned, but from smoke inhalation or lack of oxygen caused by the smoke.

Jian Jing immediately said, "Any water?"

"Yes." Ji Yunyun took out mineral water and tissue from her bag.

Everyone had basic fire survival knowledge, and they immediately used the water to wet their clothes and cover their mouths and noses.

At the same time, all three crouched low to the ground to minimize smoke inhalation. Jian Jing spoke low and fast: "We can't take that stairwell. We have to take the one inside the movie theater."

The building had at least two emergency stairwells. Something was wrong with the first one, so they could only take the other.

Hopefully it wasn't arson, or they'd be doomed.

They returned to the seventh floor and ran into a male and female movie theater employee who had gotten off work.

They were still a little confused: "Why is there so much smoke?"

"There's a fire downstairs!" Jian Jing said swiftly, "Are there any gas masks? The smoke is too heavy."

Now only white smoke remained in the corridor, but even so it was very dangerous. The smoke could quickly reach the seventh floor through the elevator shaft and air conditioning ducts. Without gas masks, their chances of survival were greatly reduced.

Fortunately, the mall had complete firefighting equipment. The female employee said, "Yes, in the office."

"Go there quickly!"

While speaking, Jian Jing had already rushed to the vending machine. She kicked it and grabbed a full armful of bottled water.

"Everyone take two bottles," she instructed.

The two young girls were students, used to listening to teachers. Her commanding tone was like their head teacher arriving. Without hesitation, they stuffed the bottles into their backpacks.

Everyone followed the two employees and rushed into the movie theater.

The temperature inside rose sharply.

The source of the fire was right below.

What to do? Should they go through and get gas masks?

Jian Jing bit her lower lip and made a decisive decision: "Draw a card."

The system was very reliable.

[Name: Knowledge Card - Survival (Beginner)]

[Content Description: Obtains introductory knowledge about survival skills in extreme environments. Comprehensive with shallow content.]

[Note: Everyone is afraid of accidents~~]

Knowledge suddenly flooded into her mind. Although the content was shallow, it was much more detailed than the general information she knew before.

Jian Jing organized her thoughts: "Take off all the metal things you have on you."

In times of crisis, everyone can panic and lose composure. When someone gives calm, authoritative commands, most people won't be stupid enough to defy them, but will instinctively obey.

The female employee took off her earrings, the male employee removed his watch, and Ji Yunyun and Xiao Xiao stripped their hair accessories clean.

"Protect exposed skin well," said Jian Jing. She only had an electronic watch, nothing to take off, so she flipped up her collar to protect her neck.

Then she arranged, "There are five of us total. Line up single file along the wall. My eyesight is good so I'll walk first to scout the path. You follow behind me and give me directions to the office with gas masks." This 'you' referred to the female employee. "Ji Yunyun, you walk third and call 119 on my phone. Xiao Xiao, you walk fourth, and you last."

The male employee brought up the rear.

Everyone nodded busily.

Jian Jing thought for a moment, then handed the male employee a lipstick from her bag, "Visibility will get worse and worse. The theater is winding. Use the lipstick to draw arrows on the walls to avoid backtracking."

The male employee looked freshly graduated, with an immature face. His forehead was covered in sweat beads, and he couldn't even hold the lipstick steady.

"Don't be afraid, just follow me," said Jian Jing. "The people behind, hold onto the clothes of the person in front of you. No one should break away, understand?"

The other four people clutched the clothes of the person ahead, like kindergarten children.

Thick smoke rolled. Jian Jing activated her perspective glasses.

The female employee had worked here for two years and was very familiar with the movie theater. "Keep going straight. Go past theaters A, B, C, then turn left."