Demons Beside You

“Chen, how are you?”

“I’m fine.” Chen Zhao was exhausted at the moment. He was sure that there were no survivors in the four levels on fire. Everyone that could be saved had already been saved. “How’s your son?”

“He’s woken up.” Bant pointed at Ken who was sitting on the ground in the near distance. His injuries weren’t bad and he’d just inhaled smoke. “Chen, I don’t know how to thank you.”

The chief fireman walked over. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yes. Can the fire be contained?” Chen Zhao looked at the people on the fifth and sixth floor. They were at the window waiting to be rescued and there were quite a lot of them.

If the fire continued spreading, Chen Zhao might have to risk his life again.

“No problem. Our water guns can hit the fourth floor.” The fireman patted Chen Zhao’s shoulder.

“Hey, not that hard.”” Chen Zhao’s entire body was in pain.

“Sorry. Your pets are so amazing. How did you train them? Especially this baby—even I want to steal him.”

Hearing his words, Walter growled at the fireman.

“Haha… Seems like it’s unwilling.”

“Is the ambulance here?”

“No. We’re too far from the hospital.”

Unlike China with the five minute rule, ambulances, fire trucks and police came according to their distance. If a town didn’t have much money, it may need to share these public safety institutions with other towns.

Chen Zhao stood up. “I’m a doctor. I’ll go look at the wounded.”

“Hey, you’re over-exhausted right now and exertion at a fire is five times higher than usual. You better go rest.”

“It’s okay. I’m a doctor. I know overexertion will only make me sore and tired for a few days. I won’t die, but they will. I saved them from the fire. I can’t let them die before my eyes.”

One person was severely burnt and wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital in a few days. Chen Zhao secretly fed him some perfect crystals.

The others weren’t that serious. Most had just inhaled too much smoke.

The fire on the fourth floor didn’t keep spreading and was getting put out gradually. This fire was a huge hit to the town’s economy. Millions of dollars had turned to dust. Some people had died as well. If Chen Zhao, Walter, and Carrie hadn’t rushed in to save people, the casualties would be greater.

The three saved nine people from the fire. One was heavily injured while the others had lighter wounds.

The ambulance arrived in half an hour. Three hours later, the fire was put out entirely.

“Chen, can my team take a picture with you and Walter?”

“Of course.”

The firemen all admired Chen Zhao and Walter. After all, they’d saved nine people.

“Chen, I’ll drive you back.”

“Aren’t you going to stay with your son in the hospital?”

“No need. I told Mary to go. I can’t leave the hero behind.”

“Bant, please don’t call me a hero. If you keep doing this, I might have to move.”

“Fine, fine. Chen, how’s that?”

Chen Zhao sat in the car and almost dozed off.

“Chen, are you okay? Do you need to get to the hospital?”

“No. I’m just tired.”

When they reached his home, Bant woke Chen Zhao up.

“Thanks, Bant.”

“No, I should be the one thanking you.” After some hesitation, Bant added, “Chen, be careful of the mayor.”

“What?”

“This fire might have something to do with the mayor.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“It’s useless. There’s no evidence, unless you can find something at the fire site.”

“What’s going on?”

“A chemical plant has their eyes on the land the winery is on. They want to buy it and establish a chemical plant, but all the citizens protested. Only the mayor supports it, while the winery is the town’s public industry, so the chemical plant never succeeded. Later, they tried to buy the land from the mayor, but he doesn’t have the right.”

“So you suspect that he set the fire, right?”

“Yes. He’s not a good person.”

“Then how did he become mayor?”

“He won’t be for long. His term will be up in two months and no one will vote for him again.”

“Does he have some bad past?”

“On the surface, he’s just a regular politician. Actually, saying he’s a politician is too much for him. I’ve heard that he has connections with gangs, so I told you to be careful.”

“Okay, I understand, but I was just saving people. There’s no reason for him to go against me, right?”

“One of the people you saved is his mortal enemy—old Trede, owner of the winery. They’d had an intense confrontation before. The mayor once said that he would have Trede and the winery go up in flames together.”

“The mayor is that bold?”

“Yes. He’s an *sshole and a complete demon.”

Woof, woof, woof—

“Uh…Bant, my kids are all nicknamed ‘little demon.’ They don’t like having other people take their nickname.”

“Okay. Anyway, just be careful. That madman might want to use his last term to go crazy. No one knows what he might do.”

“I understand. I’ll be careful.”

After warning Chen Zhao, Bant went home.

No one would be able to rest tonight. Chen Zhao guessed that Bant had to get to the hospital later.

As soon as Chen Zhao got home, he opened the metal box. As expected, there was a huge perfect crystal lying inside quietly. His efforts tonight hadn’t gone to waste.

He felt like risking his life to save those people was all worth it.

It wasn’t that he was too realistic. It had really been dangerous when saving those people. Even with Carrie’s protection, it still wasn’t without risks.

Chen Zhao took out the miscellaneous pieces of demonic crystals. “Carrie, Walter, these are yours.”

“Human, what about me?”

“And me.”

“You two didn’t help and you still want a reward?”

“We couldn’t do anything there. Did you expect us to go in and get in your way?” Beelzebub asked matter-of-factly. “The most help we can give is to cheer you on outside.”

“Fine.” Chen Zhao chose the two smallest demonic crystals. “This is the reward for cheering me on.”

“That small?” Beelzebub and Raymond looked at their crystal and then at the handful of demonic crystals that Carrie and Walter had each.

As the saying went, there was no sadness if there was no comparison. Seeing the difference, Beelzebub and Raymond grew unhappy.

“Walter, my blood flows in you, so you should give me half.”

Woof—

Walter opened its mouth and started growling at Beelzebub. It was a demon now—not an ignorant dog.

As for Carrie, she was never afraid of Beelzebub and Raymond. The possibility of wrestling demonic crystals from her was basically zero.