“Run! It’s flou—”
The words “dust explosion” were swallowed by the flames.
Fifty tons of flour poured down, covering the floor, burying every Syndicate auctioneer and buyer beneath it.
But more than that—it filled the air.
When there are 9.7 grams of flour per cubic meter of air, all it takes is an open flame to trigger a dust explosion.
Every tiny particle suspended in the air became an incendiary bomb, unleashing heat far beyond the limits of human endurance.
“Boom—”
Flames erupted from the giant cat’s mouth.
In an instant, the entire auction hall turned into a blazing hell.
Around the auctioneers and buyers, every inch of air was on fire.
They became crabs trapped in a pressure cooker.
The auction house, being a sealed space, had no way to vent the heat.
It was all trapped inside the building.
In this scorching high pressure, flames forced their way into noses, mouths, ears—every opening they could find.
They couldn’t even scream—only stare as the fire peeled away their flesh.
Masks burned away, revealing the buyers’ true faces.
Then hair and skin followed, leaving them unrecognizable.
At last, the pressure inside the hall reached its limit.
The walls cracked open, and the entire building turned into a giant grenade.
With a deafening bang, the ceiling blasted off.
Fresh air rushed into the inferno.
The buyers looked up at the sky. They thought they saw hope.
Are we saved? The pressure’s gone—can we finally breathe?
Wishful thinking.
Earlier, oxygen inside the room had been limited, and the dust explosion consumed most of it, making further combustion difficult.
But now—fresh air surged in.
The flour that had settled on the ground and on the buyers’ and sellers’ clothes suddenly leapt back to life.
All of this happened in an instant—there wasn’t even time to grab water.
“Crack—pop—”
Fat exploded in the flames, and the burning men danced like puppets.
They desperately tried to shake off the flaming flour—only to tear off their own skin.
They were stripped clean.
Naked, no longer resembling humans, their crimson muscles and bones lay fully exposed.
“Out of my way! Move!”
The buyers who still had strength left scrambled to douse themselves with water and fled toward the only door.
But there was only one exit.
It had been designed like a mythical Pixiu—something that only let things in, not out—to prevent the “goods” from escaping.
Now, their proudest design had become the greatest obstacle to survival.
All the survivors jammed the doorway, braving the searing hot metal, baring teeth as they pried open the iron door—only to be stuck by the narrow frame.
One trampled on another.
……
Wu Xiaomi couldn’t see what was happening outside.
A heavy iron tent had covered all the girls.
She’d crawled in at the last moment and slammed the gate shut.
Because of its immense weight, the tent’s edges were embedded deep into the ground.
Its domed shape withstood the crushing pressure.
Inside was safe.
But those outside weren’t so lucky.
No one could’ve designed such a protective structure in time—it would take a lifetime of solitude to even attempt something this intricate.
That’s why she built the tent first—then lit the fire.
“What’s happening out there?”
The girls inside the tent had no idea.
Nurse An tore off a piece of her skirt and helped bandage the wound on Wu Xiaomi’s shoulder.
“Barbecue.” Wu Xiaomi said with a sweet smile. “They were so happy, they decided to hold a spontaneous barbecue party.”
Barbecuing themselves.
The girls were still shaking with fear.
Wu Xiaomi wasn’t good at comforting people.
All she could do was smile and nod. “Don’t worry. No one’s going to hurt us now.”
……
Dust burns quickly—and dies down just as fast.
Once the outside went quiet, Wu Xiaomi pushed open the door.
Still hot out there.
The other girls followed cautiously behind her, trembling as they stepped out of the tent.
They stared blankly around them.
The ground was littered with charred corpses—scattered in every direction, not a single one still recognizable.
The worst pile lay at the doorway.
Two massive buyers had gotten stuck fighting over the exit.
The others were suffocated behind them.
Some had made it outside, but not far. Their bodies lay collapsed nearby.
They died from asphyxiation—their lungs had been cooked during the first explosion.
Even with access to fresh air, they had lost the ability to absorb oxygen.
This was hell on earth.
And yet, as the girls took it all in, what they felt wasn’t just physical terror—
It was also joy. Vindication.
“How… how did you do it?” Nurse An gasped, her mouth wide open.
“Sequence 121—‘Bite a Lighter.’”
“…”
The giant cat’s fur was completely scorched.
Its horse-sized body lay slumped against the wall, giving off the scent of roasted meat.
It was long dead.
And yet, amid the inferno, a few delicate white flowers sprouted from the charred corpses.
They cracked open the brittle shells of the bodies, blooming one by one.
“Thud thud—”
The two burly men stuck in the doorway collapsed—not because they came back to life or finally learned humility after death.
But because the heated walls had cracked, and the warped doorframe finally gave way.
Nurse An dazedly held Wu Xiaomi’s hand.
Barefoot, she stepped onto the still-warm ground, walking past the little white flowers blooming in the blood, stepping over the charred corpses.
Her gaze met the eyes of each corpse, one by one.
Looking into those despairing, unclosed eyes.
A slow smile crept across Nurse An’s lips.
“Looks like justice does exist, after all.”
She strolled through the field of flowers toward the exit, bathed in fresh air and the soft evening glow.
Nurse An felt as though she’d been given a second life—breaking free from a tightly woven cocoon.
She was still herself, but no longer the same person she had been.
“You’re… okay, right?”
Several figures rushed over like the wind.
It was Bai Xiaozhi, Kang Jie, Ah Lei, and Han Nuo.
“Cops and superheroes—always late to the party, huh?” Wu Xiaomi shot Kang Jie a glare.
“What the hell happened here?” Kang Jie stared at the carnage in shock.
“That’s why fire safety matters.” Wu Xiaomi blinked. “Leave a few extra fire exits, don’t do indoor charcoal grilling, or things end up like this… mmph—”
The girls ignored Wu Xiaomi’s nonsense and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Bai Xiaozhi’s body trembled slightly.
A tremble born of fear, now passed.
“Syndicate,” Han Nuo picked up a scorched copper badge from the ashes, wiped it clean, and said solemnly, “Syndicate members are tough. Their Sequences and gear are way ahead—hard to deal with. I nearly got played by them last time… How’d you pull it off?”
“Sequence 121—”
“Bullshit Sequence, huh?”
Not telling you anyway.
It wasn’t really a secret.
This kind of trick had probably been discovered long ago, and with the public’s creativity, evolved into dozens of variants.
But I’m just not telling you, Han Nuo.
You’re annoying.
“Looks like a dust explosion… Smart,” Kang Jie rubbed some flour residue on the ground, “Can’t believe a big Syndicate base was wiped out by such a simple trick.”
“Simple trick? Then, would Mr. Kang Jie kindly reimburse the point cost for fifty tons of flour?”
Fifty tons of flour.
That’s a full 2,000 points.
Two entire missions’ worth of survivor rewards—assuming no bonus points—would barely add up to 1,000.
Pulling off a dust explosion at this scale wasn’t something just anyone could do.
“Ahem,” Kang Jie feigned deafness at the mention of points, “Nice work, Xiaomi. I’ll help settle these girls in next—don’t worry, Spark HQ is safe.”
“Can I join Spark?” Nurse An suddenly asked.
Unlike the other girls, she didn’t look the least bit panicked or disheveled.
On the contrary, her tone was calm and her mind sharp.
“Of course. But if you want to become a full member of the raid team, you’ll need your own specialty skill.”
“I’m a med student.”
“Perfect. We’re short on medical personnel at the base.”
By now, a crowd of curious raiders had gathered outside the exchange.
No matter the time or place, you could always count on people showing up for drama.
When they heard Nurse An was about to join Spark, murmurs swept through the crowd.
A man suddenly rushed out.
“Xiao An, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” The man wore a face full of smiles. “You’re safe! Spark’s people saved you, right? That’s great—I was asking all over for help…”
Nurse An looked at him coldly.
This man—her so-called fiancé.