Some people said that when the fire broke out, the entire mall was engulfed in massive flames, and the whole world near the mall was plunged into a red panic. No one knew what to do; with a fire this big, putting it out was no longer realistic.

When the fire consumed the entire mall, it was just like a forest fire—only controllable, not extinguishable.

All the fire department could do was to keep the fire from spreading further.

The mall that used to be the favorite of Luocheng’s people was reduced to ashes overnight. For something like this to happen on the night of the third day of the Lunar New Year seemed like a bad omen for the whole city in the coming year.

Fortunately, the mall had closed at 7 p.m. on the third day of the New Year, and the fire didn’t break out until around 11 p.m. It was New Year’s Eve, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The officials of Luocheng’s government were sweating bullets—if dozens of people had died, their positions would probably have been replaced by others.

Luckily, nothing like that happened.

Several neighboring streets were put under lockdown, but what some found strange was that the first department to arrive last night was actually the Civil Defense Department.

The Civil Defense Department is short for the Civil Air Defense Engineering Department, which manages what ordinary people call “air-raid shelters.”

Nowadays, the secret air-raid shelters being built in some important strategic cities are no longer the simple structures seen in old movies.

The entrances and exits are openings for people and equipment, and every civil air defense project has at least two entrances, usually on both sides of the main structure. Protective facilities are installed at the entrances, mainly including protective airtight doors, toxic filtration ventilation, decontamination, automatic nuclear and chemical alarm control, and dose monitoring and testing equipment. These are the material foundation for the effective protection of people sheltering inside.

Protective airtight facilities include protective doors, airtight doors, and anti-poison passages. Their function is to prevent contaminated air from entering the shelter through the entrances.

Toxic filtration ventilation facilities generally consist of air intake wave-damping devices, dust filters, absorption filters, air ducts, airtight valves, and fans.

Decontamination facilities include decontamination doors, disinfectants, and decontamination equipment, allowing for partial or full-body decontamination of personnel entering, to prevent radioactive dust or toxic agents from being brought into the shelter, thus ensuring the safety of those inside.

The automatic nuclear and chemical alarm control system is the nerve center for protecting against nuclear and chemical weapon attacks. In the event of such an attack, it can automatically sound the alarm and shut down fans and close valves, thereby preventing radioactive dust and toxic agents from entering the shelter.

Dose monitoring and testing facilities are used to determine the contamination levels of air, food, and water sources inside and outside the shelter.

But in fact, with all these functions, the main feature can be summed up in one word: precision.

In this era, most people thought air-raid shelters had become obsolete, but for some reason, since last year, construction of these projects had resumed, though only in a few places.

After the Civil Defense Department arrived, some speculated: could there be an air-raid shelter under this mall? How come no one had heard about it before?

Last year, this area was indeed blocked off with blue steel panels for round-the-clock roadwork. The whole road was fenced off very high, and, even more strangely, the intensity of the construction at night far exceeded that during the day.

However, this was just a minor detail in the fire incident. The biggest thing wasn’t even the fire itself, but the claim that someone had filmed a video of a person conjuring flames out of thin air and setting the entire mall ablaze at night!

At the time, this person was standing in the middle of the crowd, and many people gathered to watch. It was clear as day in the video shot last night: one person could release flames with just a lift of the hand.

The scene was unmistakably the mall, and the footage was very clear. The person filming was hiding in a corner, and you could even hear his nervous breathing in the video, as if he was witnessing something utterly unbelievable.

If the video had been faked, it would have been far too rushed—there simply wasn’t enough time.

So when the onlookers saw the video, they chose to believe it.

They didn’t know how it was done—could supernatural powers really exist?

When something is too far removed from people’s lives, you don’t really care whether it exists or not. Whether there’s a Captain America or a Hulk doesn’t matter, because those things are just too distant.

But when last night’s fire happened right next to them, people suddenly realized that these things might not be so far away after all.

If such things really exist, then are those old videos that were deleted in the past also real?

In the midst of all this, some people felt a bit panicked, not knowing how to face it, while others were excited, because they were used to ordinary days and longed for a more colorful world.

Even if that world is dangerous.

But in the blink of an eye, the guy who had provided the video suddenly disappeared, and everyone had no way to watch it again.

Many people still wanted that young man to send them the video so they could share it on their social media.

However, news about supernatural powers spread rapidly by word of mouth, like a spark igniting a prairie fire.