Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 574 Danger
Lin Ge was brought here by Zhang Yong with the intention of getting a free meal and drinks.

Whether it's spicy crayfish or spicy shrimp balls, the fragrant aroma makes Lin Ge's mouth water.

Although he had already seen several underlings around the night market stalls who made a living there, he wasn't in the mood to greet them. He was just eagerly waiting for the food to be served.

Undoubtedly, a cat that jumped onto a table and ate with people at the same table attracted the attention of the surrounding customers.

"Look how greedy this cat is, has your police station been abusing it?"

Lin Ge's almost drooling expression made Xiong Han unable to suppress a smile.

This was the first time he had ever seen a cat staring intently at the table without blinking. Was it so hungry for food that it had gone crazy?

"Hmph! Abuse my foot! This cat is a tyrant! Everyone in the police station spoils it, who would dare to say a bad word about it? It's just that it's tired of eating and drinking well all day and wants to eat something it hasn't eaten before."

Zhang Yong knew exactly what Lin Ge was thinking. After all, the spicy crayfish was the dish the cat had personally ordered. He knew cats shouldn't eat such oily and salty food, but the office spoiled the little guy. Thinking that as long as he didn't eat too much, it should be fine, Zhang Yong secretly brought Mimi to the night market stall without Li Siyu's knowledge. He was even prepared to be scolded by Nie Guoqiang or someone else when he got back.

"Tsk tsk! Humans are inferior to cats!"

Xiong Han sighed.

"You can't say that, after all, this guy is really capable. When we really need his help, he never lets us down."

Zhang Yong clinked glasses with Xiong Han, and the two drank beer with some peanuts and chicken feet.

Seeing Hu Lijun tearing off chicken feet skins for Mimi to eat, Zhang Yong couldn't help but say, "Old Hu, don't think so much! You're just a policeman, not even a police officer. Why keep thinking about things that can't be changed under the law?"

"I didn't mean to! I'm not a new police officer, I'm not going to be so downcast over some unpleasant thing."

Waving his hand, Hu Lijun stuffed a torn-off chicken foot into Lin Ge's mouth before turning to Zhang Yong and saying, "I just feel sorry for Chen Dan! How did she end up with such parents? Besides blaming their daughter, what good things can those two do?"

"Actually, you can't say that! Apart from the issue of education, Chen Dayu and his wife are actually quite good to their daughter. No matter how hard they work selling steamed buns, they never ask Chen Dan to help out. The couple works hard from dawn till dusk, it's not easy for them either. It can only be said that they are just too concerned about saving face, right? Believe it or not, if it weren't for the online bullying and some other real-world conflict, Chen Dayu would never have done such a foolish thing today."

Zhang Yong wiped the beer foam from the corner of his mouth, then popped a peanut into his mouth and chewed as he said, "Chinese people care a lot about face. This isn't a unique case like Chen Dayu's. How many cases have we seen where people act impulsively over saving face? In fact, most verbal disputes escalate from the initial refusal to admit defeat to the gradual intensification of the conflict. Then, things go from minor head injuries to serious injuries. This isn't a recent occurrence. You think Chen Dayu is innocent? But aren't these people who end up in jail just for eating a meal innocent? Many times, a simple 'sorry' could resolve the issue, but it inexplicably escalates because of saving face."

"..."

Hu Lijun nodded silently, not knowing what else to say. That damn Zhang Yong was excessively calm; his words were like those of a judge, utterly devoid of compassion.

"You police officers aren't omnipotent after all! You think you can do everything, resolve every grievance of the people, and satisfy every victim's every demand? This kind of thing only happens in TV dramas."

After listening quietly to Hu Lijun and Zhang Yong's argument, Xiong Han sighed helplessly.

He couldn't help but shake his head at the end.

"Tsk! Every family has its own troubles. Life is tough for everyone! It's tough for you police officers, it's tough for ordinary people, and of course, it's tough for us firefighters too."

Lin Ge chewed up the chicken claw fragments in his mouth and swallowed them. Hearing this, he looked up at Xiong Han. This guy seemed to sense something; could it be that something had happened to him too?

Zhang Yong and Hu Lijun also looked up and looked at Xiong Han together.

"Did you see the news from a while ago?"

Xiong Han didn't hide anything, finishing a glass of beer as he poured himself another, saying, "There was a natural gas explosion at a market in Dongguang City, Fujian Province, resulting in many deaths and injuries. You might not know the specifics, but we saw the internal warning materials during our training sessions. The scene was absolutely horrific! The dead bodies you police encounter are nothing special, but for us firefighters... it's a miracle if the bodies are intact. The buildings collapsed... people were trapped underneath..."

He paused here, his expression grim, but continued, "The firefighters there dug through the rubble for two whole days before finding all the victims. Haha... When I heard the news, I thought, how could people be so unlucky? A perfectly healthy person, just walking down the street, suddenly encounters an unrelated accident, and that's it, that person is gone. What do you think their families are supposed to do now!"

"..."

Zhang Yong frowned, took a sip of beer, and didn't know how to answer Xiong Han's question.

Hu Lijun pursed his lips and remained silent, only taking a beer bottle from the table, pouring himself a glass, and then tilting his head back to drink it all in one gulp.

"You bastard, do you have to bring up such unpleasant things while I'm eating?"

Lin Ge glared at Xiong Han, annoyed, and suddenly felt the chicken feet in his mouth had lost their flavor. Besides, what's there to say about accidents? Life is unpredictable; you can choke on water if you're unlucky. Who's to blame then?
Is it God's fault?

"What exactly is going on?"

Zhang Yong spoke slowly, then suddenly realized that Xiong Han would never invite him to dinner for no reason, nor would he deliberately bring up such a topic.

"Lack of management led to corrosion and perforation of the natural gas pipeline, resulting in natural gas accumulation. For a considerable period, no one checked the area. It seems no one considered the possibility of a natural gas leak, especially since there was a row of restaurants downstairs. As a result, the restaurants' exhaust pipes were clogged with grease, causing slow smoke extraction and even sparks! By the time they discovered the problem and notified the fire department, it was too late. An open flame meeting natural gas naturally resulted in a deafening 'bang!'"

Xiong Han made an explosion gesture with his hand, but a bitter smile appeared on his face.

He held up three fingers and said softly, "Two firefighters in charge of the rescue died and four were injured. They were risking their lives to enter the building and try to plug the leak in the gas pipeline, and then they never came out again. Haha... They were all young men. I heard that one of the dead had just gotten married and the other had a child who was only four years old. They were perfectly fine, and then suddenly they were gone. What kind of mess is that?"

"drink wine!"

Zhang Yong raised his glass in a toast to Xiong Han.

Hu Lijun also sighed, raised his glass to clink with Xiong Han's, and then tilted his head back to drink it all.

Even Lin Ge didn't know how to criticize him.

If it were an accident, that would be fine; if God decided to do it, no one could be blamed. But it's precisely because it was caused by human negligence that even the cat feels distressed!
Soon the crayfish were served, and the three of them stopped talking about these depressing topics and started eating and drinking right away.

Everyone remembered Lin Ge. When they put on gloves to break open the crayfish, they also gave him two, rinsed them with water, and let him slowly gnaw and peel the shells himself.

Xiong Han provided the most attentive service, directly breaking the lobster meat into shrimp balls for Lin Ge, so Lin Ge didn't have to do anything extra and could just start eating.

The shrimp balls with shells were crispy and fragrant. Lin Ge felt that this was even more satisfying than eating lobster meat alone, so he quickly moved closer to Xiong Han and waited for him to serve him.

"Tsk!"

Zhang Yong pursed his lips, but still refused to treat Mimi like a king. He casually picked out some lobsters, threw them into Mimi's bowl, and let her fend for herself.

Lin Ge glared at Zhang Yong, but after a moment's thought, he couldn't resist the temptation of the crayfish and lowered his head to continue gnawing on them. The crayfish did indeed taste delicious; even sucking on the shells was a unique experience. He ate with great gusto, his mouth dripping with oil, his claws stained, and even his chin covered in sticky grease. But even so, Lin Ge couldn't bear to stop; he was so engrossed that he couldn't stop, and even peeling the shells became a very enjoyable activity.

His focused expression even attracted the attention of customers at the next two tables. Who has ever seen a cat sit on a table and eat crayfish? And even peel the shells with its paws? That's absolutely amazing!

After a few rounds of drinks, Lin Ge ate his fill of shrimp shells, and the three of them had also enjoyed themselves enough, so they slowed down their shrimp-peeling.

"So, what's the matter that you specifically asked me to come out for drinks?" Zhang Yong asked slowly, peeling shrimp, taking out the shrimp balls, and putting them into Lin Ge's bowl. His gloves were torn from peeling so many, and he changed them while looking at Xiong Han.

"Hehe... what else could it be! A fire inspection! Recently, the frequency of accidents involving natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas has been too high. The fire department needs to strengthen inspections of all natural gas pipelines and places that use a large number of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders in its jurisdiction. Confiscate what needs to be confiscated and rectify what needs to be rectified, so as not to regret it when something really happens. This requires your police station to send people to help cooperate. With you present, these merchants will be a little more obedient."

Xiong Han chuckled and dipped the peeled shrimp balls in garlic sauce to feed Mimi, but Zhang Yong slapped his hand.

"Cats can't eat garlic, don't mess around! Just give them something spicy, we'll handle the garlic ourselves."

"Tsk!"

Xiong Han raised an eyebrow and smiled at Zhang Yong, then stuffed the shrimp ball back into his mouth before continuing, "Everyone understands the importance of taking precautions. But there's always a sense of wishful thinking, a feeling that nothing will happen to their business. Plus, if they're really asked to close down for rectification and it affects their business, they'll complain or even secretly do something against it. After all, look how good the business is, who would willingly accept being forced to close for a few days?"

Seeing Zhang Yong nod, Xiong Han continued, "So why don't we just do a joint inspection? We can check for security risks, fire hazards, and hygiene and food safety issues. What do you think?"

"Are you trying to escalate this? What, are you under pressure from above?"

Zhang Yong raised an eyebrow.

Xiong Han sighed and shook his head, saying, "I just don't want to see a situation like that happen in Zhang City! Life is hard enough as it is; if innocent people die because of someone's negligence, that would be terrible..."

"what!"

A scream suddenly came from across the street.

Lin Ge, Zhang Yong, and the other two quickly turned to look and saw a group of customers in the hot pot restaurant across the street frantically scrambling to the side. Then, what should have been just a flare from the liquefied gas pipe at the bottom of the pot suddenly spewed flames out like spitting phlegm, even setting the large round table covered with a disposable tablecloth ablaze. The sharp-eyed Lin Ge even noticed a leak in the middle of the gas cylinder's hose, with flames seeping out from the gap in the hose.

Upon seeing the flames, the other customers in the hot pot restaurant all ran outside, creating chaos at the scene, and not a single person went to put out the fire.

"Fuck!"

Zhang Yong cursed and stood up, kicked the chair away with his right foot, and quickly ran to the other side.

But Xiong Han was faster. The moment he noticed the fire, he stood up and ran across the street. As he ran, he tore off his gloves and shouted for everyone nearby to scatter and not to stand around watching.

"Should I...go and help?"

Lingo looked down at his greasy paws, his furry body, and the oil dripping from his chin.

But seeing that Zhang Yong and Hu Lijun had already run over, Lin Ge felt too embarrassed to stay there and slowly eat shrimp any longer, so he jumped off the chair and walked over to the other side.

"This is... the hose has come loose?"

When Xiong Han arrived at the scene, he found that the hose connecting the liquefied gas cylinder had been completely disconnected from the stove under the table. Under the pressure of the cylinder, the hose was whipping around like a whip, spraying flames and flaming wildly, quickly igniting nearby plastic items, scattered paper towels, and even piles of tissues. Its movements were erratic, fast, and powerful, making it impossible to approach and control. Furthermore, perhaps due to aging or excessive impact during the whipping, the hose had several gaps in its middle section, reducing the flame output of the nozzle but creating multiple ignition points.

Xiong Han squeezed through the crowd and tried several times to control the erratic hose, but he was unsuccessful.

As for shutting off the liquefied gas cylinder, that thing was stuck under the table, and it was impossible to ignore the threat of flames and put your hand in there in a short time.

He was wearing casual clothes and didn't have any fire extinguishers with him. The hot pot restaurant manager had already rushed upstairs to get fire extinguishers as instructed by Xiong Han; heaven knows why such an important item was hidden upstairs.

"Everyone, disperse! Don't gather here! I'm a police officer, please follow orders! It's dangerous here, what if there's an explosion?"

Hu Lijun was frantically evacuating the curious fools around him. He really didn't understand what was so interesting about this commotion. Instead of staying far away, they were just standing at the door looking around. If there was an explosion, how could they possibly escape?
The explosion that Xiong Han just mentioned is still fresh in my mind; it killed so many people.

"again!"

Zhang Yong silently turned off the liquefied gas cylinders inside the store.

When the fire broke out at the nearby tables, people rushed outside, not even having time to turn off their own hot pot tables. Even if some had turned off their stoves, the gas cylinder knobs were still on. In case… in case the fire really got out of control, these gas cylinders, connected to the tables only by a single hose, could become a potential source of ignition. Even a small explosion or spark could create multiple incendiary devices.

What infuriated Zhang Yong most was that he discovered these LPG cylinders, unlike ordinary household LPG cylinders, didn't have check valves installed. They were simply a flexible hose and a metal nozzle inserted into the cylinder, with all controls and safety devices located on the stove under the table. On the surface, it seemed fine, but if the hose aged or accidentally detached, it could become a ticking time bomb.

By this time, the smell of liquefied gas in the room had become quite strong. Although most of the liquefied gas that had been ejected had been burned and consumed, no one dared to gamble on the possibility of an explosion.

"The fire extinguisher is here!"

The pale-faced hot pot restaurant owner ran downstairs carrying two handheld fire extinguishers and quickly handed them to Xiong Han.

"Give me... Holy shit!"

Xiong Han picked up the fire extinguisher, and just as he was about to use it, he reflexively glanced at the gauges and immediately cursed.

What's the point of bringing a fire extinguisher that's already out of pressure? Are you going to use it as a stick to hit people? This thing isn't even as good as a fire poker, and you're still hiding it like a treasure!

The gas hose on the hot pot table was old and not replaced, there were no routine checks for problems at the connections, and even fire extinguishers were not readily available. Xiong Han realized that he had no reason to have any expectations for this hot pot restaurant.

Since we can't rely on specialized tools, we'll have to rely on ourselves. The most important thing right now is to shut off the valve of the burning LPG cylinder; we can deal with the rest of the fire later.

So Xiong Han took off his coat, spread it out with both hands, and quickly covered the liquefied gas cylinder with it.

The burning hose swung in this direction several times, even lashing Xiong Han's arm with a whip. The rising flames singed one side of his hair and eyebrows, but Xiong Han eventually covered and pressed it down with his clothes, preventing it from moving any further.

He didn't care how long his coat could withstand the intense heat of the flames; he quickly reached for the knob on the liquefied gas cylinder covered by his clothes and turned it rapidly to shut it off.

'boom! ’

As Xiong Han moved, the tip of the hose, which he had pressed to the ground with his other hand, suddenly spewed out even more intense flames and emitted a more violent 'cricket' chirping sound.

"Can't turn it off?"

Zhang Yong, who was standing by intending to help, was stunned. Why was the fire getting bigger and bigger?

"Is the valve...fucked?"

As Xiong Han continued turning the valve, he glared angrily at the scoundrel of a shop owner hiding at the shop entrance.

"This gas canister... I... I plan to... throw it away... once the gas inside is used up... no... I don't want it anymore. Anyway, I thought there was a switch on the hot pot stove, so I didn't expect it to cause an accident."

The shop owner turned his head away guiltily.

(End of this chapter)