Chapter 331: Found the Cause of the Fire

Chapter 331: Chapter 331: Found the Cause of the Fire

Everyone jolted, turning in unison to look at Evan Keller as he approached.

"We’ve got something!"

"A team in Building 3 found a large number of cigarette butts, a cutting machine, and a half-finished job right where you said they would," Evan Keller said, handing the new file from the chief to Zoe Sawyer and the others.

While questioning residents, the district police had learned that the Labor Department had received a complaint about the flammability of the scaffolding netting. However, the contractor had dismissed it, claiming that "no hot work would be necessary." ℴℴ𝘮

The discovery of a cutting machine and cigarette butts on a lower floor now suggested they were, in fact, violating regulations.

"This is great! Finding it ahead of time... maybe this is the cause!" Zoe Sawyer said, clenching her fists in excitement.

Zoe Sawyer took a deep breath. ’I’ll rest for a bit, then try again. Maybe I really can find the source of the fire this time!’

The team of firefighters who had discovered the corner were just as excited.

"Who’s been responsible for this corner? Don’t they know smoking could easily ignite this nylon netting? If a fire actually breaks out, who among you is going to take responsibility for it?" Captain Lynch glanced at the corner they’d found, then moved to a safe spot to test the cutting machine.

Sparks flew. Surrounded by flammable materials on the scaffolding, it would be incredibly easy to start a fire.

And that wasn’t even counting the cigarette butts. While most had been tossed onto the concrete floor, a few stray ones had landed on the nylon nets.

They had been lucky before; no fire had actually started.

But who could guarantee it wouldn’t happen next time?

No one could. That’s why discovering a potential ignition point ahead of time was such a good thing.

A quick-witted young officer nearby heard Captain Lynch and jogged over to a corner of the complex, where he found the construction workers who had been told to wait.

He brought one of the men over and asked if he knew who worked in this specific spot.

The moment they arrived, the worker took one look at the area and answered without a shred of hesitation. "That’s been the foreman’s spot for a while now."

"How can you be so sure?" Captain Lynch asked, raising an eyebrow. He seemed surprised by the man’s confidence and the speed of his reply.

The worker pointed to the spot. "It’s not very high up," he said. "It’s much safer than the levels above. If you want to slack off or head home early, the lower floors are the most convenient.

From the very start of the project, this lower level has been the foreman’s personal spot. He’s related to the boss, so nobody else dared to say anything. We didn’t want to lose our jobs, so we just had to suck it up and deal with it."

As he spoke, a clear note of resentment crept into the worker’s voice.

When they worked on the lower levels, they not only had to watch out for falling objects but also had to navigate overlapping work zones.

But not the foreman. He was constantly finding excuses to sneak off for a smoke or to play on his phone. He’d just wander around, claiming he was "helping the boss supervise."

In reality, eighty percent of his actual work was offloaded onto the rest of them.

The pay stayed the same, but the workload increased.

Hearing the worker’s reply, Captain Miller, who was standing nearby, spoke up. "If you felt it was so unfair, why didn’t you protest?"

The worker shrugged nonchalantly. "To be honest, once it was split up, the extra work for each person wasn’t that much. Besides, this boss pays better than most others.

A job is a job, right? So we just kept on working here."

Captain Miller jotted something in his notebook, then looked up and fixed his gaze on the worker. "Since you’ve all been working here for so long, you must know the difference between nylon netting and flame-retardant netting, right?

The difference is obvious. How could someone in your line of work not know?"

The color drained from the worker’s face. He had clearly realized something.

He looked like he was about to make an excuse, but his resolve crumbled under Captain Miller’s stern gaze. His voice weakened. "I know... At the beginning, someone did bring it up with the boss and the foreman.

But after that, he was targeted. They gave him the hardest, most dangerous jobs, and they’d find any little mistake to dock his pay.

After a few months of that, he couldn’t take it anymore and quit. None of us want to be targeted like that. We don’t want to work our asses off for a month only to end up with nothing.

So we all kept our mouths shut and just told ourselves to be extra careful with our own safety gear."

By now, everyone present understood the situation.

Compared to flame-retardant netting, nylon netting was obviously much cheaper.

And since the workers valued their own lives and always double-checked their safety equipment, the management decided to roll the dice.

If their gamble paid off, the profits would be substantial.

"Alright, I understand. Don’t tell anyone else what we just talked about," Captain Miller said with a wave of his hand, signaling the young officer to escort the worker back.

"Those bastards are rotten to the core. Aren’t they afraid of a real accident? They’d lose a hell of a lot more if that happened," another firefighter muttered, grinding his heel into the ground in frustration.

They had just been lucky so far.

But that one taste of profit was enough for them to start pushing their luck even further.

"Let’s put that aside for now. Photograph everything for evidence, then clear this area out," Captain Lynch said with a sigh, directing his team to get to work.

"Okay, let’s expand the search to other areas. I refuse to believe this is the only spot," Captain Miller said, shaking his fist and assigning the next set of tasks.

As the tense search at Eldoria continued, Zoe Sawyer, who was waiting by the door, felt a sudden, strange sensation.

’It’s happening!’

An excited smile spread across Zoe Sawyer’s face. She shot to her feet and threw open the door.

Immediately, a vision of Eldoria filled her sight once more.

This time, however, she didn’t see fire. Instead, she saw a man in a hard hat, a cigarette dangling from his lips, standing with his back to her.

The man took out a lighter, lit his cigarette, then found a secure spot and began to smoke, puffing out clouds.

A few minutes later, the man casually tossed the cigarette butt aside, gathered his personal belongings, and left the area through an internal passageway on that floor.

Just moments after he left, a strong gust of wind swept through, carrying the cigarette butt into a nearby corner.

The still-glowing ember landed on a piece of nylon netting that was draped across the floor.

About ten seconds later, a thin wisp of smoke began to rise.

In less than a minute, the smoke thickened, and a small flame appeared.

Then, the flame leaped high, fanned by another gust of wind. It raced upward, engulfing the entire building in an impossibly short amount of time.

Seeing the towering flames again, Zoe Sawyer’s expression wasn’t grim like before. Instead, she quickly shut the door and turned to the others in the room, her face alight with excitement. Her voice cracked as she spoke, high-pitched with exhilaration.

"I found the cause of the Eldoria fire!"