Fast asleep, An Ning was completely unaware.

A flash of light flickered in her palm, but she felt no pain or itch, so An Ning remained oblivious.

An Ning slept soundly. When she opened her eyes, she was so disoriented she felt like she didn’t even know what year it was.

The whole house was too quiet.

So quiet it was as if no one was home.

So quiet it was a little scary.

An Ning got up and looked outside. It was pitch-black.

She raised her wrist, checking the time by the faint moonlight.

"8:37. Where is everyone?

An Ning scrambled out of bed and rushed out of her room.

The kitchen was empty. The room across was empty. Even her injured second brother wasn’t home.

’Did something happen?’

Anxiety rising in her chest, An Ning ran outside. Her eldest brother’s room was also empty. Even her younger brother, who was taking the college entrance exams, was gone.

The only ones left in the entire house were a few hens and the rooster.

"What’s that sound?"

Standing in the courtyard, An Ning faintly heard the sound of people shouting.

She bolted outside.

"Oh my god!"

An Ning instantly understood why. A pillar of fire shot into the sky, shockingly bright against the dark night.

There was a fire!

An Ning ran for her life, sprinting toward the blaze.

By the time she got closer, the scene was already a chaotic flurry of activity.

All the villagers had formed a line to pass buckets of water, one after another.

Meanwhile, those with shovels were furiously digging up dirt in front of the fire, heaving it onto the burning house with all their might.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

"The wind’s picking up!"

"Everyone, put your backs into it!"

An Ning didn’t jump in to help right away. Instead, she assessed the fire.

Houses in the countryside were often built close together. Everyone was rushing to put out the fire because the wind was starting to blow.

The wind would fuel the flames, putting the entire row of houses in danger.

They were fighting the fire, but they were too slow.

’What should I do?’

An Ning ran to Sun Dazhuang, grabbed him, and shouted.

"Captain, get some dirt ready! I’m going up on the roof!"

Without waiting for a reply, An Ning vaulted over the wall into the neighbor’s yard where the fire was. She didn’t need a ladder. In a single step, she was on the windowsill, her hands gripping the eaves. With a flip, she hoisted herself onto the roof.

"Captain, hurry!"

Sun Dazhuang was quick to react. The fire was concentrated in the middle, and getting on the roof was the best way to extinguish its core.

"Quick, quick, fill up the buckets with dirt for An Ning!"

As soon as Sun Dazhuang shouted, Jiang Xia was the first to move. He leaped onto the windowsill, grabbed a bucket of dirt, and passed it up.

An Ning lay flat on the edge of the roof, lifted the bucket with one hand, and yelled, "Get a bigger one! I can handle it!"

The villagers below were also quick to act.

Several villagers lined woven baskets with burlap sacks while others furiously shoveled dirt from the vegetable garden, no longer caring about the plants.

A full basket of dirt was too heavy for one person to lift.

An Guoqing copied Jiang Xia and climbed onto the windowsill. Other villagers held their legs steady from below as the two of them worked together to hoist a basket of dirt upward.

Above, An Ning used both hands and hauled it up, dumping the basket of dirt onto the most intense part of the fire.

Basket after basket of dirt was passed up.

With people now in front of and behind the burning house, plus An Ning directly above, the fire finally began to show signs of weakening.

Below, Captain Sun Dazhuang made a swift decision and yelled, "Get on the Li family’s roof! We need people up there now!"

A few strong men scrambled over the wall and onto the roof. Working together, three of them took the buckets being passed up from below and began dousing the flames, one bucket at a time.

Ten-odd minutes later, only scattered embers remained.

"Quick, quick, just a little more! One last push!"

By now, Sun Dazhuang’s face was covered in soot, and the hair on his arms had been singed off.

The villagers kept going. An Ning continued to monitor the situation with her spiritual power until not a single spark was left. Only then did she collapse onto the roof, grinning foolishly at the stars.

Below, most of the villagers had also collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

Jiang Xia and An Guoqing, who had been standing on the windowsill passing up dirt the whole time, had arms that wouldn’t stop trembling, but their faces showed immense relief.

The fire was out.

The men at the front who had been fighting the fire had almost no strength left. The villagers who had been passing water from the back came forward to clean up, pouring more water to ensure it wouldn’t reignite.

Everything seemed to have settled down, until a cry broke the silence.

"My house—"

"Ah— My— house—"

A woman sat on the ground, beating the dirt and crying her heart out.

A few women nearby came forward to comfort her, but they didn’t know what to say.

This was their house, their entire livelihood. Who wouldn’t cry in this situation?

What does a farmer have, if not their land and their house?

"All right, for tonight, you can stay with one of your neighbors. We’ll talk about everything else tomorrow."

Sun Dazhuang stepped in. The head of the village women’s committee also helped persuade them. The family ended up staying with a relative in the village, and the other villagers started heading home.

"Little Sis, can you get down?"

An Guoming hadn’t been able to help fight the fire, so he’d been watching from the sidelines, his eyes fixed on his younger sister the entire time.

"Second Brother, I can get down. Just give me a minute."

An Ning slowly sat up. Even with her strength, she was still a bit tired.

She climbed down from the roof and was immediately steadied by Lin Cuihua. The family headed home together.

Once they were home, Lin Cuihua started nagging.

"Look at you, showing off. With all those men there, did they really need you to step up?"

Lin Cuihua grumbled as she massaged An Ning’s arms.

"These arms are going to be sore for days. See what you’ve done to yourself."

An Ning, who had been about to use her spiritual power to ease the soreness, decided against it.

’I’d better let it hurt for a few days,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, I’ll seem a little too inhuman.’

"All right, the kid did a good thing. We’re all from the same village. How could she just stand by and not help?"

An Sancheng had barely finished speaking when he received a glare from Lin Cuihua.

"Oh, you’re the good guy. Always have to have the last word, don’t you?"

Lin Cuihua huffed and turned to get a bowl of food for An Ning.

Earlier, at dinnertime, Lin Cuihua had gone to call An Ning, but she didn’t wake up after being called twice.

She knew An Ning must be exhausted, the kind of tired that runs you right into the ground.

So she had saved her a portion of dinner for whenever she woke up.

"Here, eat. Go back to sleep after you’ve had your fill."

An Ning looked at the small basin on the table and asked with a grin, "Mom, did you guys even eat any meat? This is way too much."

"Will eating finally shut you up? Just eat quickly and go back to rest."

"Honestly, you’re just asking to be exhausted."

An Ning was long used to Lin Cuihua’s nagging. To her, every word was a sign of her mother’s concern.

An Ning lowered her head and started eating.

The basin contained a mix of millet and sorghum rice, with a side of pork ribs and bok choy.

An Ning finished the entire small basin of rice and vegetables. While she ate, she listened to the An Family talk and finally understood what had happened with the fire.

The family whose house caught fire also had the surname An. The adults had stepped out in the middle of cooking, leaving two children at home alone.

The children were playing around and accidentally pulled out a burning piece of wood from the stove. They didn’t pay attention, and a spark ignited the firewood in the kitchen.

The children panicked and didn’t put out the fire in time, which led to nearly half the house burning down.