But when they saw the Iron Cross Medals on Luca and Gu Ji’s collars, they chose to follow without hesitation.

“Yes!!”

The response echoed loudly.

Gu Ji, “fully armed,” borrowed a military flashlight and a mechanical wristwatch from a policeman.

“All firefighting personnel, listen to my commands when the time comes, and watch the position of my flashlight. Do not wander, or in this high-concentration chlorine, visibility is severely impaired, and it’s easy to lose direction!”

Finally, waving his hand, he shouted:

“Move!”

At his command, the rescue team consisting of Gu Ji’s three soldiers and seven firefighters quickly rushed into the factory.

At this time, the explosion cloud in the sky, mixed with high-concentration chlorine gas, gradually changed from the initial yellow-black to a dense yellow-green, and the gas descended from a height of hundreds of meters to just twenty meters above the ground.

It was as if the foot of a giant was hovering overhead, pressing down bit by bit.

Theoretically, based on hazardous chemical handling methods.

When facing a chlorine attack, there is hardly any effective self-rescue method for people. Ordinary people rarely come into direct contact with it, except when mixing bleach and toilet cleaner, which can cause mild chlorine poisoning, where a wet towel can be used to cover the mouth and nose and quickly leave the scene.

The vast majority of chlorine leaks result from factory accidents.

For this crisis, the only effective protection method is a gas mask and protective clothing.

But in the mid-World War II period, there were no self-contained breathing apparatus gas masks or professionally sealed multi-layer high-performance protective suits. So, he could only adopt this makeshift method, using the solubility of these chemical gases in water to temporarily create a substitute isolation layer for protective clothing.

As the team moved deeper.

The crowd got closer to the leak point, the surrounding chlorine gas was noticeably denser, gradually engulfing everyone.

That feeling was like being in a thick fog, only this fog was yellow-green, which itself resembled the evil potion of a wizard in a fantasy movie, not to mention the terrifying damage it had once caused on the battlefield.

When you are surrounded by toxic gas, it could seep through the gaps in clothing, corroding the skin, and even cause suffocation or blindness through nasal and oral mucosa, making it impossible not to be nervous or afraid.

Especially the deeper you go, the higher the gas concentration.

Additionally, the lenses of the gas masks were also yellow, and the team members could only see one or two meters in front of them, beyond that was a blur of hazy yellow.

“Hoo-ha… hoo…”

Gu Ji could clearly hear the anxious breathing next to him, turning his head, he saw Eugen.

It wasn’t just him.

Some younger firefighters were also trembling all over, breathing rapidly, as if they might collapse at any moment.

For them, this “death gas” that they could see but not touch was sometimes scarier than enemy artillery and bullets on the battlefield.

“Eugen, steady your breathing! The activated carbon in the exterior gas mask has a lifespan, the more anxious you breathe, the more gas you inhale, everyone must stay calm, focus on my light source!”

To stabilize everyone’s mindset, Gu Ji quickly turned on the military flashlight.

The Hans military flashlight looked like a box-shaped device, somewhat resembling a radio, with a bulb on the upper front part.

However, as it wasn’t a professional fog light, its light penetration effect in the chlorine fog couldn’t compare to modern car fog lights.

Fortunately, Gu Ji had already adapted to using light sources in dim environments during previous operations in the underground building and capturing Shao Liang.

He used rhythmic flashing to enhance the light source’s visibility.

Just like that, Gu Ji, relying on his Central Nervous System Attribute of 17.1, and the factory building map recalled from a previous rescue, finally reached the chlorination plant near the large smokestack he had seen back then.

He raised his wrist and glanced at the steel wristwatch hands.

It’s unimaginable, in just five minutes, the surface of the steel watch chain had already shown greenish spots due to corrosion by the high-concentration mixed gases in the air.

“We have only 15 minutes to find people, the team must not scatter, every five minutes, I will call out a roll, everyone must report their location. If you feel my voice is getting faint, immediately call out loudly.”

In the absence of tactical headsets and walkie-talkies, Gu Ji had no choice but to use this clumsy method to prevent team disbandment.

Unexpectedly.

As soon as he rushed into the factory, he saw a figure silhouetted against his military flashlight, chasing after its light.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Hacking violently, he stumbled and fell to the ground, clutching Gu Ji’s calf, “Save me, save me…”

“Take a gas mask right away!”

Gu Ji called over a firefighter for help, “How many people are still in the factory, where’s the chlorine leak point, do you know where Ler is, the officer in military uniform?”

Pressed for time, he fired three questions in quick succession.

The worker’s hands and face had turned reddish, especially around the eyes, where the gas corrosion had caused swelling and cracking, filling the whites with blood threads, and any slight movement even made blood seep out.

“I, I don’t know, probably about a dozen more, the officer seemed to run into the factory basement to shut off the gas tanks…”

“Someone, retrace the route and quickly take him to a non-toxic, well-ventilated place, call for medical personnel for emergency care, rinse affected areas with lots of water, hurry!”

Gu Ji directed a firefighter to transport the injured away, then continued leading the team forward.

Upon entering the factory, he turned to look at the various signs hanging on the wall, apart from safety production slogans and Hans labor slogans, the most important to him was the safety escape map.

Since 1940, workplace safety production management had started to gain attention from various countries, such important maps should be placed at main personnel access points like fire architecture plans for visitors.

Unfortunately, he did not see any escape map on the wall.

He had no choice but to shout, using his voice and light to attract the injured, reminding them to stand up as much as possible, as chlorine is denser than air, the lower the position, the higher the chlorine concentration.

Then to soak a cloth or rag to cover their mouth and nose, or to use urine if necessary.

Though urine has a certain smell, midstream urine is clean and sterile, its urea and alkaline substances can neutralize chlorine, blocking chlorine even more effectively than pure water.

Under his continuous shouting, several workers indeed used the method he conveyed to call for help guided by the sound.

After consecutively rescuing three workers.

Gu Ji finally found the most interior position leading to the basement. Considering space utilization, staircases are often distributed on both sides of a building.

He headed down the stairs, just after rounding the corner.

He heard intense coughing.

“Ler?”

“Cough, cough…”

The shadow did not reply, only continuing to cover his mouth and nose, finally when they were close, he hoarsely managed to speak: “Hey, buddy, I couldn’t find Goring, I’m sorry, the gas leaked, but I did find out the location of the storage tanks, quickly turned the direction wheel to close the pipeline, not sure if it worked, there are still a dozen workers in the factory, cough…”

“Stop talking for now, maintain steady breathing!”

Gu Ji didn’t expect Ler to be so desperate, hastily fitting him with a gas mask, and carrying him on his back, checked his watch, “Prepare to retreat!”

He shouted, as if announcing pardon for the team.

They hurriedly followed his light source out of the factory.

With the route memorized on the way in, everyone moved faster on the return, but the rate at which chlorine fell far exceeded their expectations.

The team dashed along, yet never escaped the range of the chlorine fog until spotting the cement fence and park gate up ahead, only then did they realize the whole area had been engulfed by chlorine.

“Oh God, the gas has completely swallowed the factory!”

“Could we still not get out?”

“Cough, cough, I feel a burning sensation in my throat!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep