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墨書 Inktalez
"What is Spontaneous Human Combustion?" We looked at each other in confusion. "What does that mean?" Old Bi asked curiously.
Zhang Xing didn't explain right away. Instead, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took one out, lit it, and took a few deep puffs before continuing. "You all know I just transferred here and I'm still not familiar with the situation. So to better understand the circumstances, I personally lead the team every time we respond to a call. Yesterday afternoon, we received a strange fire alarm. When we arrived at the scene in a certain area, we found that there was no visible fire from outside the building. The person who reported it was an old lady from the neighborhood; she called because she saw a lot of thick smoke coming from a window. We arrived at the scene in about ten minutes. After I led my team upstairs, we found no one answered the door. Our team used a rope to lower themselves down to the open window and managed to unlock the door from inside, allowing me to enter. Can you guess what I saw?"
Before we could answer, Old Zhang took another deep drag from his cigarette and continued, "The room that was smoking looked like a study. There was a man lying on the sofa against the wall, burned to death, with no signs of struggle or cries for help—like he had spontaneously combusted while asleep." He paused slightly before adding, "He was burned so thoroughly that many parts had completely turned to ash! Just a light touch would turn them to dust!" At this point, Old Zhang noticed our confused expressions and raised his cigarette, pointing out the long ash that had formed on it while it burned, still retaining its original shape. "See? Just like this!" He flicked the ash off, and it instantly crumbled and fell.
I couldn't help but shiver as everyone imagined such a horrific scene. Lulu gasped and covered her mouth in shock, while Xiao Mo Ya stared wide-eyed.
Ah Huang frowned slightly. "So how do you determine it was spontaneous combustion?"
Old Zhang exhaled slowly and replied, "First, the room was locked from the inside; it couldn't have been arson. Second, everything else in the room was fine, including a bookshelf just a few meters away that could easily catch fire; our investigation found no signs of open flames or smoldering fires, nor any short circuits in electrical outlets. Third, our technical team examined the burn patterns and found that the point of ignition was on the person himself—he caught fire first and then burned the parts of the sofa he was in contact with; other areas of the sofa were untouched. We reported this to our department yesterday; experts have also examined the scene and concluded it was spontaneous combustion—an accidental incident."
After finishing his explanation, Old Zhang took another puff of his cigarette and flicked off some ash. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the falling ash—what kind of fire could suddenly burn someone to death without any struggle? What kind of fire could completely consume a person? Each of us lost in thought, there was a moment of silence.
After a while, Ah Huang slowly said, "I've seen some reports from abroad about spontaneous combustion; it refers to a person's body catching fire without any external ignition source."
Moya chimed in at this point, "But how can that happen? Without an ignition source, how can something burn?"
Ah Huang glanced at her and smiled. "It's considered an extraordinary phenomenon—it's when a human body can ignite internally without any contact with an external flame source and can even be reduced to ashes while surrounding objects (including flammable materials) remain unburned."
"That's incredible!" Lulu exclaimed in surprise.
I raised my glass dismissively and said, "Alright, there are all sorts of wonders in this world; don't waste your energy thinking about it! Cheers to our health and happiness!"
"Hahaha! No wonder you're a doctor; you can't stray far from your profession! Cheers!" Old Bi laughed heartily in agreement.
"Cheers!" Everyone raised their glasses together.
After a few more rounds of drinks, everyone was completely in the mood, excitement buzzing in the air. At that moment, Old Bi stood up with a bottle in hand and declared, "Alright! While we're all here, I have a few words to say!"
Everyone looked at Old Bi with a hint of drunkenness in their eyes.
Old Bi let out a loud belch. "Uh! I think it's fate that brings us all together. We’re all working hard in this city, relying on each other! How about we become brothers? From now on, we’re family!"
Before any of us guys could respond, Lulu and Moya were banging on the table, shouting their approval. Old Zhang waved his hand and stood up, saying, "Great! Old Bi's suggestion is good! But let’s leave the two girls out of it! What will you call each other when you get married? Let’s sort it by age!"
I also stood up enthusiastically, holding a bottle of liquor. "As for age, I know best. Old Zhang, you’re the oldest; Old Bi is second; I’m third; Ah Huang is fourth!"
Seeing this, Ah Huang smiled and stood up with a bottle as well. "Alright! I have no objections to the proposal from my brothers! We’re already brothers; now we just have a hierarchy!"
Old Zhang boldly declared, "Alright then, it’s settled! Since I’m a bit older, I’ll take the lead. From now on, let’s look out for each other and improve together! Come on, let’s finish this bottle!"
"Cheers! One, two, three—down it goes!" Everyone began chugging their drinks while Lulu and Moya cheered them on.
After forcing down an entire bottle of beer, I let out a long belch and wiped my mouth. Looking at the familiar young faces around me filled me with excitement. As the only child in my family without siblings, I had grown up feeling lonely and had always feared solitude.
Emotionally, I felt like a particularly fragile person at heart. Seeing all these people made me genuinely happy. Every time we gathered like this, I felt immense joy and satisfaction; yet afterward, there was always a tinge of sadness. I often wished our gatherings could last forever. With these thoughts swirling in my mind, the heaviness that lingered after parting ways with Xi dissipated instantly. Having friends and brothers truly felt wonderful.
A warm feeling surged within me as I couldn’t help but tap my chopsticks against my wrist and sing loudly, "Toasting with wine and singing songs—how fleeting is life? Like morning dew, the past is bitterly long gone. With passion comes generosity; worries are hard to forget. How to ease sorrow? Only with good wine."
Everyone turned to look at me; Old Zhang laughed heartily and said, "Old San sings well! Truly fitting for the occasion!" Lulu and Moya giggled behind their hands.
Old Bi excitedly patted me on the back and said, "Good! Sing some more!"
I stopped and looked at everyone, blinking awkwardly as I said, "I forgot the next part! Drink up!"
Laughter erupted among the crowd.
I couldn't remember when we dispersed, but I managed to drag myself back to the unit and fell into bed, completely exhausted. I didn't even wake up when Sheng Xiong came by to call me for dinner; I slept straight through until Sunday morning.
When I finally woke up and glanced at the clock, it was already past eight. After washing up, I contemplated whether to head to the mess hall for something to eat.
Old Tang was in his room as usual, reading. He greeted me as I passed by his door, but I shook my head. This guy was even more of a homebody than I was; no wonder he still didn't have a girlfriend. I had tried to get him to come out with me on weekends, but he always refused. Well, there was no forcing him.
As I reached the entrance of the mess hall, I spotted a slightly plump figure sitting on a bench outside, picking through vegetables. When he heard the noise and turned around, it was none other than Fatty Jinghe! Ever since I became Company Commander, I rarely gave anyone nicknames anymore, but this one was an exception. He wasn't extremely overweight, but he was definitely the heaviest in our company, and I couldn't help but tease him by calling him Fatty.
He stood up immediately upon seeing me and saluted. "Reporting in, Company Commander! It's my turn to help in the kitchen today!" He seemed quite unbothered by being called Fatty.
"Oh! Is there anything left over from breakfast?"
Jinghe looked at me in surprise, as if he couldn't believe I wanted leftovers. "There are just a few steamed buns that went cold; no one ate them. Should I hurry and ask the squad leader to cook something else for you?"
"What are you staring at? Stop talking nonsense; just grab whatever is available and hurry up."
Jinghe nodded, wiped his hands, set down his book, and turned to head into the kitchen.
I glanced at Fatty's book—Modern Science. Hey, he's actually studying something worthwhile.
Just then, my phone rang. Without checking the caller ID, I answered casually, "Hello, Brother Three!
"Brother Three!" What the hell! I was momentarily taken aback. "Ah!"
"I'm Fourth Uncle, Ah Huang!"
"Oh!! Fourth Uncle!" Suddenly, I recalled what happened yesterday, and it felt a bit awkward.
"Hey, are you busy?"
"No! Well, not really! What's up?"
"Do you remember what happened with the boss's Spontaneous Human Combustion yesterday?"
"Of course I remember, spontaneous combustion, what's wrong?!"
"This morning, a woman reported it. The incident of spontaneous combustion was actually a murder!"
"Ah?!"
(To be continued, more exciting content tomorrow!)
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