Chapter 32 Raging Waves

Libraries have been a symbol of civilization since ancient times because they carry human knowledge, wisdom, experience and problems. For example, ancient wonders like the Library of Alexandria can be said to have been the coordinates of Mediterranean civilization for centuries. And this school library, which is not too big or too small, means more than that to people who have traveled to this world. It is not only the only link between these abandoned people on earth and the civilization of their hometown, but also the foundation for their establishment in this strange world. Selinda Neratzel Arias was right, knowledge is power, and libraries are the source of power. This fire not only burned the wealth of knowledge, but also directly burned the foundation of Xiao Chen's existence.

When people in the modern world enjoy convenient Internet queries and read books on their tablets while lying down, libraries seem to be somewhat outdated and forgotten. However, here, this represents the advantages of civilization for thousands of years. It is everyone’s biggest trump card, allowing them to Stand on the shoulders of giants and move forward.

So although Xiao Chen and Luo Ling were very tired, they still tried their best to run to the door of the library. The small square outside the library was full of people running back and forth. Some people brought fire extinguishers from a distance, and some People carried water in buckets, some rushed out of the fire holding books, some were screaming for help, and some were standing there at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Heat waves were rolling in the air, flames were roaring on the houses, and an atmosphere of tension and panic spread among the crowd. Xiao Chen could imagine that if these collections of books were burned down, the disaster would severely shatter everyone's newly built confidence.

The fire started in the library on the first floor on the west side of the building. At present, it has just spread to the reading room on the west side of the second floor and the offices on the third floor. It has not yet reached the lobby and the east side of the library.

When Xiao Chen was thinking about what he could do, he met a few people who were scorched black from the smoke and stumbled out of the library. One of them looked seriously injured and was being carried on his back. He ran up and asked : "Classmates, were you injured by the fire? Is it okay?"

"Mao Kai led us to open the bookshelf and create a gap to slow down the fire. However, he was hit by the falling bookshelf and may have injured his leg." One of them said.

"I see Dr. Feng over there. You should hurry over and let her take a look." Xiao Chen pointed the direction to them, and the few people supported him and ran towards the doctor.

"Their efforts may save a few more books, but the entire fire will not be delayed much." Xiao Chen said in a deep voice. He looked at Luo Ling and said, "Give me those two scrolls."

"You don't know the effect of that scroll, so don't rush to seek medical treatment." Luo Ling disagreed.

"Listen, I can feel that one of the scrolls is filled with the power of water. Since experiencing those storms, no one understands the feeling of water better than me." Xiao Chen stretched out his hand, "Trust me."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds. Luo Ling knew that Xiao Chen would not change her mind again, so she had to take out the scroll from her bag and handed it to Xiao Chen, "Go...but don't do anything stupid."

Xiao Chen handed the "Shadow Scroll of Knowledge of the Sea" to Luo Ling, grabbed the bucket from the hand of the student carrying water next to him, poured it on his head, and then rushed into the fire scene with the scroll.

The fire hadn't reached the lobby on the first floor yet, but the air was already scorching. Many people were busy putting out the fire. Xiao Chen stood hesitantly at the door leading to the library. The choking smoke and fierce fire inside obscured all vision, just like the legendary gate to hell.

He actually had no confidence at all. Although he could feel that the power of water in the scroll was real, how could he know what kind of magic it was, let alone what effect it would have if activated. He felt like a primary school student holding a small pistol facing an ancient beast.

The only thing he was sure of was that without a fire truck or a fire hydrant to provide water, and with the current means of people like them, the only outcome for the library would be to be burned to the ground tomorrow morning.

This was a gamble, involving both life and death, and an opportunity to inherit civilization. However, when all of this was placed on Xiao Chen, the weight was heavy.

However, at any time, history needs people who carry a heavy burden forward. Xiao Chen did not feel this way before, because he was just a beneficiary of the protection of martyrs and heroes, but here, the burden was shouldered by him. So, Xiao Chen went in.

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When Li Jia rushed to the library door, her heart was full of worry and suspicion.

Today was originally a good day for him. When Selinda was leaving, Li Jia impulsively gave her an jade pendant hanging around his neck. The pendant was engraved with a Guanyin. It was of good quality and had a water head. It's quite sufficient. It was a birthday gift from Li Jia's grandfather when he was one year old.

Selinda took a chain off her neck and gave it to him in return. The chain looked very simple. The pendant was made of white shells and was simply worn with a metal chain. I don’t know what kind of shell it is, but the surface may have been worn smooth due to long-term wear. Although the valuable jade pendant was exchanged for this seemingly worthless thing, Li Jia wanted to howl with joy. Isn't this an exchange of tokens? It made him feel that all his previous efforts had finally paid off.

When he came back, he was still dreaming about where he and Selinda would end up, but as soon as he walked out of the storage room door, he saw the burning library in the distance.

It can't be such a coincidence? He couldn't believe that this was Serinda's doing. She was so pure and lovely, and she didn't have any means of setting fire. Li Jia denied it again and again in his heart, but he couldn't get her figure out of his mind. At this time, two people came over with a stretcher. The person on the stretcher made Li Jia look familiar.

"Mao Kai?" Li Jia ran over, stopped the stretcher, and eagerly pulled the hand of the person on the stretcher and asked: "Tell me quickly, what's going on? How did the fire start?"

The boy carrying the stretcher in front said angrily: "What's wrong with you! Mao Kai's legs were broken in order to put out the fire. It hurts so much. We have to rush to the hospital."

Li Jia didn't listen to him at all, and kept asking Mao Kai with his eyes half closed: "You were in there at the time, where did the fire start? Tell me quickly!"

"The library... the library we encountered... the fire started suddenly and fiercely. Others... I don't know." Mao Kai reluctantly answered while enduring the pain.

"Go, ignore this lunatic." The classmate behind pushed Li Jia away and hurriedly carried Mao Kai away.

Li Jia walked towards the library in a daze, and he kept recalling the scene where Serinda disappeared. A voice in his heart said: Serinda couldn't have done it. Another voice asked back: What's impossible? One voice argued: This has nothing to do with me. Another voice smiled bitterly: You brought the person here, how could it have nothing to do with you?

The more Li Jia thought about it, the more confused he became. When he saw Luo Ling staring at the door with a serious expression, he grabbed her and said in a crying voice: "Teacher Luo, Teacher Luo, can the fire be stopped?"

Luo Ling turned her head and glanced at him, a little surprised by Li Jia's expression, and Li Jia felt weak in his heart under Luo Ling's gaze, and took a step back uneasily.

"Xiao Chen hasn't come out yet, I have to go in." She said, handing the "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of ​​Consciousness" to Li Jia, "Hold it for me, don't look at it." Then, she also poured water on herself and rushed into the fire, leaving Li Jia watching her back engulfed by smoke and dust in panic.

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Xiao Chen covered his lips and nose with his wet sleeves and ran all the way from the lobby to the third floor. He thought that water flows downward, so he should release the scroll at the highest point. The smoke was so heavy that his eyes were sore and his throat was coughing, but he still bent his body and touched the burning offices at the end of the corridor.

However, when he was four or five meters away from the open fire, Xiao Chen felt dizzy and unable to continue. He knew that if he went any further, he would not be able to concentrate on releasing the scroll, and he was more likely to suffocate to death.

He opened the scroll, held it flat in front of his chest, and then put all his thoughts aside and put all his energy into it. Although he felt the power of water in the scroll, he found it difficult to understand the meaning of the complicated diagrams on the scroll. They asked him to run his mental power according to certain rules, but he didn't understand. The layers of lines were like shackles to him. Xiao Chen tried to break through these rules, but the mental power he controlled was far from enough.

Xiao Chen was sweating profusely, like a starving person who was told that he couldn't eat before he finished praying before sitting at the table. He even forgot the heat in his body, but deeply felt the anxiety from his heart.

Meditation space! Yes! If my own power is not enough, can I use that uncontrolled power? He remembered the practice in the sea of ​​illusion, the violent power was lawless and boundless. He recalled and felt that the sea slowly formed and churned in his mind; he endured and accumulated, and the sea became bigger and bigger. Until he had a splitting headache and couldn't bear it anymore, a gate was opened, a shackle was broken, and endless spiritual power poured into the scroll in his hand like overwhelming sea water.

The diagram in the scroll was shattered, and only the part that summoned water was activated, amplified, and exploded by this overbearing spiritual power! If ordinary magicians use scrolls like lighting lamps with oil, then Xiao Chen's actions are like throwing matches into oil barrels.

A burst of blue light appeared, and the first drop of water appeared in the void, and then the rushing water turned the surroundings into a world of water.

Luo Ling saw from behind Xiao Chen that he seemed to have opened a gate in the void in his hand, connecting to a big river, and the water dragon swept over and knocked her to the ground in an instant. Luo Ling knew that the momentum of the water flow was very strong, so she quickly retreated to the corner and grabbed the wall. Soon the water flooded up, and she first heard the door of the office being opened, and then the sound of the window being broken.

The water came too fast. The speed of water pouring down from the elevator shaft, stairs and windows could not keep up with the speed of Xiao Chen summoning water. In about a minute, the water flooded over Luo Ling's neck.

"Xiao Chen, that's enough, stop now." Luo Ling shouted to Xiao Chen who was still standing in the water, but she shouted several times without any response. Xiao Chen seemed to be in a state of high concentration, turning a deaf ear to the surroundings, and he didn't even notice that the water was gradually flooding over his nose. Luo Ling wanted to swim over to pull him, but the huge force of the water made it impossible for her to swim upstream.

Luo Ling gritted her teeth, dived down and fumbled around for a while, and touched an ashtray that was washed over in the corner of the wall. She stepped hard on the water to expose one arm, aimed at Xiao Chen's back and threw it.

There was a bang, followed by screams and the sound of swallowing water...

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Li Jia and many other people witnessed this miraculous spectacle. Suddenly, a strange sound of water came from the burning library. After a while, water broke through the window and gushed out, first on the third floor, then the water flowed from the inside and the outer wall to the second and first floors, and finally a huge wave of water rushed out of the library's gate, and many people who were fighting the fire inside were swept out. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the water continued for a long time. When the library stopped gushing out, the water in the small square in front of the door had already exceeded the ankles.

Are they saved?

Li Jia suddenly rushed into the library like crazy, stepping on the water. When he ran to the door, he saw Luo Ling supporting Xiao Chen and walking out.

Li Jia quickly supported Xiao Chen, "You...why is your head bleeding?"

Xiao Chen looked at Luo Ling helplessly, only to get a white eye in return. She sneered: "What a fuss, haven't you seen a work injury?"