While lost in thought, Lin Dong tried to fully open his eyes, which had been stung by smoke but felt much better after being soothed by the "Water Spirit Technique.
Currently, regarding this world, he only had "impressions" from Andrew's memories, but he hadn't personally seen it.
So after regaining his strength, he still wanted to see with his own eyes what this Flame Realm he had traversed to was like.
However, upon opening his eyes, Lin Dong felt his heart tighten suddenly.
The people who had been surrounding him had, at some unknown point, backed away.
In front of Lin Dong wasn't the scene of a flame world.
Instead, it was a pair of eyes, extremely close!
Black pupils, with a hint of dark red, somewhat reminiscent of molten lava. In the depths of those pupils, magma seemed to truly flow.
They were the eyes of the old mage Hubert.
...
...
The fire was still spreading, like a red cloth recklessly swaying in the night wind, even making the starlit desert sky seem tinted red.
No one dared to extinguish this fire.
Fortunately, every block of residential areas had "buffer zones" around them.
No matter how fierce the fire, burning to the buffer zones where there was nothing to burn, it naturally stopped.
In fact, besides the "buffer zones" and the "Flame of Extinguishing," there was no third "legal" method of fire suppression in this Flame Realm.
Using water to extinguish fire? Impossible.
Anyone who dared to do so would be arrested by the Magic Guild that day and burnt alive under charges of desecrating the Holy Fire.
"You... what do you want to do?"
Aunt Sofia watched the approaching Sheriff Raymond warily, like a mother hen protecting her chick, keeping her daughter, who had survived but was still unconscious, tightly shielded.
The crowd had initially been gathered around Sophie and Andrew.
But when Raymond approached, most people instinctively retreated.
Raymond let out a cold laugh, put on his gloves, and picked up a piece of cloth from the ground near Sophie.
It was exactly the piece of cloth that Lin Dong had wet earlier.
During the escape, Sophie had actually woken up once, coughing uncontrollably.
Lin Dong then shared the cloth he originally had wrapped around his face with the girl, which is why the girl was now unharmed, while Lin Dong almost died from lung damage earlier.
The sheriff stared at the piece of cloth for a moment.
He moved closer to sniff it.
His face changed, and he exclaimed: "I see, this is... a diaper! Hmph, actually using such a method, attempting to avoid returning to the glory of the Holy Fire? This is undoubtedly depravity!"
The real thought in his heart, however, was: This is actually a good method! If I ever encounter a fire disaster, I could learn from this!
He stepped forward, intending to continue questioning Sofia and her daughter, to curry favor with Hubert.
But was mercilessly interrupted by the old mage: "Idiot, how could a twelve-year-old girl come up with such a method?"
Hubert walked straight to Andrew, now Lin Dong, and a strange smile appeared on his wrinkled face, slowly saying: "Interesting. Although a mortal body cannot withstand my magic flames, this method can indeed resist the smoke to a certain extent.
Did you come up with this idea, Andrew?"
He then fixed his gaze on Lin Dong.
—This was the moment when Lin Dong, after getting up, met the eyes of the old mage!
This was Lin Dong's first time facing a mage in this Flame Realm.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but at the moment of facing the old mage's eyes up close, Lin Dong had a terrifying feeling of being seen through from inside out.
As if the other person's eyes could see into his innermost being!
This wasn't a metaphor used in the previous world to describe certain great people's insightful eyes, but a kind of... real and unerring magic power.
Lin Dong almost couldn't control himself from blurting out: "I'm not the Magic Apprentice Andrew you know, I'm Lin Dong!"
Fortunately, the pendant "Tear of the Goddess" quivered slightly on his chest.
The "Water Spirit Technique" activated once again, flowing throughout his body, as if forming an invisible protective layer, blocking the magic power in the old mage's eyes that saw through people's hearts.
Lin Dong then regained his clarity.
But in his heart, he was terrified: "Damn, what on earth? This old guy's eyes are terrifying!"
Indeed terrifying.
But Lin Dong felt little residual fear!
Because before a sense of fear could emerge, a peculiar feeling of pride and anger at a "violation of dignity" surged from his heart—no, it should be said, from the "Tear of the Water God" on his chest—spreading through his body with the "Water Spirit Technique."
So Lin Dong's gaze sharpened, and he met Hubert's eyes unflinchingly, saying words he himself didn't expect:
"Sorry, I have no obligation to answer your question."
The scene quieted for a moment.
The boy's calm words reverberated through the street near Wildfire Town's central square, seemingly carried far away by the cold night wind.
The crowd taking refuge on the street and some who had come from other parts of the town to watch were stunned for a long while before letting out a low "hiss" of indrawn breath.
This kid... is he crazy?
Merely a Magic Apprentice, though having barely squeezed into the magic circle, was still the physique of an ordinary person without any magic talent.
How dare he speak to an experienced Fire Mage like that?
Even if he had just escaped the sea of fire and felt anger towards the mage who caused the fire and his laboratory, he should have held it in, how could he say it out loud?
Does he not want to live?
Sure enough, after a moment of stupefaction, Sheriff Raymond jumped up excitedly: "You... How dare you! You're seeking death!"
The Magic Guild is the de facto ruler of this world, and the secular power wielded by the sheriff is negligible in front of the guild.
Raymond had already made up his mind to properly deal with this kid called Andrew.
Because there was no better way to please the old mage!
"Wait a minute!"
Aunt Sofia called out.
After ascertaining that her daughter was fine, she regained some calmness.
Although she normally wasn't close to Andrew, who lived on the same floor, and didn't quite understand why the normally timid and cowardly Andrew would risk his life to save her daughter from the fire.
But since she owed a debt of gratitude, Aunt Sofia still wanted to repay it as much as possible: "Andrew just escaped, he... he's still confused!"
Some residents nearby who knew Andrew also bravely said: "Yes, he's just a kid. You are magnanimous, please let him go."
Lin Dong didn't know what effect these words had on the sheriff's ears.
He only knew that hearing them himself left a feeling of illogicality.
So I escaped from the sea of flames, and coincidentally saved a little girl, and in this world, that's a crime?
Although he had already learned from Andrew's memory about this world's blind, pathologically extreme worship of flames, this was Lin Dong's first time seeing it through his own eyes.
The feeling of violated anger from the pendant on his chest had already faded away.
But Lin Dong still, based on his own will and logic, pointed at the raging fire beside him that no one was tending to, and incredulously asked: "This fire, isn't anyone going to put it out?"