Crackle, crackle.
The sound of flames scorching wood.
Lin Dong felt like he was inside an oven, surrounded by heat, being roasted.
He tried hard to open his eyes, but his head was splitting with pain, unable to wake up.
Until a suffocating smoke invaded his nostrils.
"Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough!"
Lin Dong finally woke up with a violent cough.
He saw raging flames and billowing smoke.
What... what's going on?
Wasn't I just attending a class reunion at the karaoke bar? How did I slip on my way to the restroom and wake up like this?
Did the karaoke catch fire?
Lin Dong vaguely knew that wasn't the case, because through the flames and smoke, he could barely make out that he was in a wooden structure building, with no trace of the steel and concrete structure he was familiar with.
His lungs were burning with pain.
For a moment, Lin Dong didn't consider the possibility of time traveling; instead, he wondered if he had been kidnapped.
Until a sharp headache struck again, and a torrent of memories belonging to the body's original owner surged and emerged.
That's when Lin Dong understood: he had time-traveled!
This was a world dominated by Fire Mages, where flames held an extraordinary sacred meaning, almost to a pathological extent.
Almost every day there were explosions during experiments conducted by Fire Mages.
As a result, there were many fire disasters in this world!
The original owner of this body was named "Andrew," a lowly Magic Apprentice.
Though nominally above commoners in status, he was actually just doing odd jobs for the old Mage in town.
The laboratory where Andrew worked was right next to his home.
Originally, after a busy day, he came home intending to sleep, but was swept away by a raging fire.
There was almost no need to think; the source of the fire had to be the adjacent Magic Laboratory!
"Crap... Damn it!"
Lin Dong almost cursed.
Time traveling... it's not impossible to accept!
But isn't the condition upon traveling a bit poor?
I'm not asking for a prince's status with a built-in system or anything; starting from being a Magic Apprentice from scratch is fine, but just don't let me wake up in a fiery siege right away!
Right now, the flames are literally at my eyebrows...
No choice, first get out alive and talk about the rest later!
Lin Dong tore a piece of cloth from his shirt, then urinated on it—thankfully, he had urine.
Then he covered his nose and mouth with the damp cloth.
This was something Lin Dong read in a fire safety manual: when encountering a fire, especially in a wooden structure building, first ensure not to suffocate, then consider not being burned to death.
Suppressing the thought, "If I let myself burn to death, would I time travel back," Lin Dong got up ready to escape.
Yet at this moment, he heard a faint sound.
Only then did Lin Dong notice: not far from him, another figure was lying on the ground.
Due to incomplete memories inherited from the body's original owner, Andrew, Lin Dong only barely recognized it as the daughter of Aunt Sofia, who lived on the same floor—little Sophie.
The girl was about twelve or thirteen years old, her little face was blackened by soot.
"This..."
For a moment, Lin Dong intended to just run. Everyone is unrelated to each other, and I am not a professional rescuer, too powerless to help.
The fire isn't my fault!
If couples separate when disaster looms, what about us who aren't even familiar?
But at this moment, he heard little Sophie murmuring in her fainting state: "Mom, I'm hot... water... cough, cough..."
Lin Dong: "..."
Gritting his teeth, he crouched down and picked up the little girl, carrying her over his shoulder.
Well, luckily, this body's physical strength is quite good, better than before the time travel. It seems the rumor that Mages have weak physiques isn't entirely true.
Lin Dong struggled to discern direction amidst the smoke, and ran out of the fire scene.
The situation was urgent, and Lin Dong didn't notice that at the moment he decided to save her, a teardrop-shaped pendant on his neck, originally gray and unremarkable, suddenly gleamed with a water-blue light.
Like a beam of life in the chaotic fire scene.
...
The fire spread.
If placed in the modern society before time traveling, by now there would already be fire trucks and firefighters arriving at the scene, performing professional firefighting and rescue.
But in this Fire Mage-dominated Otherworld, the logic was different.
The Magic Laboratory that caused the fire was unscathed, but the residential building for civilians adjacent to the laboratory had already caught fire, burning more and more fiercely.
But because fire—especially the magic flames cast by Mages—had sacred inviolability, this fire was not allowed to be put out!
One could only wait for it to naturally extinguish once it burned to a "firebreak".
"Master Mage, are you alright?"
A middle-aged man with a muscular build, his uniform tightly stretched, led a team onto the street beyond the fire scene, eagerly approaching a small, dried-up old man in a dark red Magic Robe who looked as if at any moment he would shoehorn into a coffin.
The old man was named Humboldt, the Chief Mage of Wildfire Town.
The middle-aged man was Raymond, the town Sheriff.
"I'm of course alright." Humboldt sighed, "But... why did the experiment fail again? How exactly can I add the 'Earth Fire' attribute to my Magic Flames?" Stroking his sparse beard, he began to ponder again.
Moments later, the old Mage suddenly frowned, seeing more and more civilians fleeing from the burning house to stand on the street crying.
Among them, a middle-aged woman was nearly hysterical: "My... my daughter? My daughter is still inside the house!"
She immediately intended to rush back into the fire scene to save her daughter but was firmly held back by others.
Given the fire's intensity, rushing back in now would only cost more lives.
Humboldt watched coldly, saying to Raymond beside him, "Leave the aftermath handling to you. As per the usual rule, do not put out the fire! As for the losses incurred... hmm, start raising taxes next month. That's it, I'm leaving now!"
With some annoyance and indifference, retracting his gaze from the street's civilians, the old Mage was about to leave.
He still had to think overnight about the reason for the experiment's failure and the plan for the next one.
"Wait, wait a moment!" The middle-aged woman rushed over, "Respected Mage, my daughter Sophie is still in the fire, I beg your great mercy, save her!" Saying this she knelt directly, grabbing a corner of the old Mage's Magic Robe.
"How dare you!" Raymond's face changed, he kicked at Aunt Sofia, "How dare you, a mere commoner, touch Master Humboldt's clothes? Are you tired of living? Let go, let go of me!"
But no matter how he kicked, Aunt Sofia did not respond.
In this mother's eyes, she was staring only at the old Mage, clinging to his garment's hem as if holding her last strand of hope.
"Enough."
The old Mage raised his hand to signal Raymond to stop, then turned around, speaking warmly, "Firstly, your daughter hasn't perished in the fire, but has become part of the Holy Fire, and this isn't a bad thing.
Secondly, even if I were willing to save her, it would be too late.
Because that is not an ordinary flame, it's Magic Fire imbued with my Magic Power, not something a mere mortal can resist. Your daughter is probably already—"
With a rumbling sound, the entire civilian residential building finally couldn't withstand the devouring fire and collapsed.
Aunt Sofia's body jolted as if electrocuted, and then, like the building, she sagged down, as if losing her soul.
"—Alright, it seems there's no need for me to say anything more now."
Humboldt gave an indifferent smile.
Carelessly, he tossed away the Magic Robe that had been soiled by Sofia's hands, discarding it on the ground.
However, at this moment, a commotion broke out among the civilians on the street.
One could see a figure, wrapped in flames, rushing out from the blazing inferno just before the building completely collapsed!