Chapter 1311 No Way Out
This time, she finally received an answer to her calls. Toby’s low voice sounded from behind her. “I’m here.” Sonia hurriedly turned around. After seeing him walking over with a solemn face, she let out a breath of relief before hurriedly asking, “Where did you go? Do you know that there’s a fire outside?”
“I do.” He swept a glance at the gates of the factory behind her. The crimson flames had already spread to the small ventilation windows above the gates. Anyone would be able to notice it as long as they weren’t blind.
“I left earlier because I heard something, and I went to take a look. Then, I saw that someone had locked the back door and set a fire outside,” he replied with a dark look on his face. Alarmed by his words, she repeated, “What? Someone set the back door on fire as well?”
Toby nodded. Sonia became even more nervous. “Same here. I couldn’t open the entrance with the remote key at all.”
“Let’s go and look at the other exits.” Although Toby was furious that someone had started a fire, he was doing a better job keeping his composure than her. He took her hand in his before hurrying to look for other exits.
Without further ado, Sonia picked up her pace to match his. The main entrance and the back door were locked, so they could only pin their hopes on the fact that the other side entrances and some of the shorter windows hadn’t been locked as well.
They soon arrived at a side entrance, where the fire outside was even bigger. Here, they could hear the crackling of the burning embers and could even feel the scorching heat of the flames. As Sonia looked at the side entrance in front of her, a bad feeling instantly emerged in her heart.
The structure of the factory was essentially metal. And reasonably speaking, if the fire was only lit at the front gate and back door, it would not have spread here so quickly. Under normal circumstances, they were at the very center of the factory, and as the main and back entrances were at two opposite ends, the sound of the fire shouldn’t be heard from the side entrance.
However, they were able to hear the sound of crackling flames and feel the temperature of the fire clearly from the side entrance. Evidently, someone had poured gasoline and set a fire outside the side entrance. Hence, she now suspected that this side entrance had also been tampered with.
Toby shared her sentiments as well, and his expression darkened even further. Although he suspected that the side entrance had been destroyed and they were unable to leave, they still had to give it a go as they were already there. After all, there might be exceptions.
Sonia had the same thoughts as him, and she immediately reached out to unlock the side entrance. However, the moment her hand came in contact with the metal, the heat immediately caused her to yelp in pain and hurriedly pull her hand back. Her face turned pale even.
“What’s wrong?” Toby hurriedly grabbed her hand to examine it.
Sonia spread her palms open with red eyes, revealing her skin that had turned red from the heat. “I burned myself. I can’t touch the lock; it’s too hot.”
Toby pursed his lips bitterly. “It seems that this place has been set on fire for a long time, or the lock wouldn’t have become hot enough to burn someone at a single touch in such a short time. We can’t use this exit anymore.”
If a fire had been set outside, the lock would naturally have been destroyed as well, so there was no point in them being there anymore.
“Let’s go somewhere else.” He grabbed Sonia by her wrist, leading her to the other exits.
Now, all they could do was place their bets on the fact that the person who set the fire did not know all the exits of this factory and missed a door or a window. Only then could they escape.
As they walked, they kept calling the police. In case they weren’t able to find an exit, they could only rely on external help.
In the time that followed, they continued to search for an escape route at various doors and windows, but they were all damaged and could not be opened without exception. Even after kicking with all his might, Toby could not force the doors open. Even the glass windows did not budge as they were bulletproof and could only be broken with professional equipment.
However, they weren’t available anywhere as the machines inside the factory were worth a fortune. All the equipment here was imported and was of high value, not to mention that this was a suburban area, which had always been a little chaotic. Hence, all the doors and windows were made with the most advanced break-resistant technology, and unless they had professional tools, it was absolutely impossible to break them with sheer strength.
All the doors and windows were destroyed, leaving no way to get out, and the remaining ones that were not destroyed were ventilation windows located several meters above their heads. These windows were too narrow and small for even a child to climb out, let alone the two adults. In other words, they were locked inside the large factory.
As the factory was vast and spanned several acres, they were both exhausted after running through all the entrances and exits. By this time, the fire outside had become bigger and nearly surrounded the entire factory. Although the fire had yet to spread indoors, it was only a matter of time before it did.
Standing in the open space inside the factory, they could feel the abnormally high temperature around them that radiated from the fires outside. Not only was the temperature spreading inside, but there were also thick clouds of black smoke.
Sonia let out a few coughs, tears rolling down her face from the intensity of her coughs.
Seeing that, Toby took out his handkerchief and covered her mouth and nose with it. “Use this, don’t let the smoke get into your lungs.”
This handkerchief had already been soaked with water when they were looking for the exit. Toby had a feeling that smoke would spread into the factory, so he had dampened the handkerchief earlier just for this moment. After covering her mouth and nose, Sonia instantly felt better and was no longer choking as hard.
As she pressed the handkerchief to her face, she turned to look at him with red eyes and asked, “What about you?”
Knowing that she was worried he didn’t have anything to cover his nose with, Toby smiled at her before retrieving a piece of white cloth. “I have this piece of cloth that I ripped from my shirt earlier. Don’t worry, I’ve soaked it too.”
If there were a blanket nearby, he would’ve already soaked it and placed it over them.
Seeing that he also had something to cover his mouth and nose with, Sonia was slightly relieved, but the guilt and remorse in her heart were enough to crush her. “I’m sorry for bringing you into this mess. If I hadn’t come to visit the factory, we wouldn’t have to go through this at all.”
“That’s nonsense. I was the one who wanted to come with you; how are you bringing me into this mess?” Toby reached out and caressed her head, indicating her not to worry.
However, Sonia couldn’t stop herself from overthinking, and tears rolled down her face as she said, “It’s true. This is my factory, and someone set a fire here to take my life, and you got caught up in it because of me.”
“How do you know that the person who started this fire is aiming for you and not me?” Toby looked at her pensively. “I’ll have you know, I have more enemies than you.”
“But this is my factory—”
“It doesn’t matter whose place it is. What matters is the person who’s present. If they’re coming for me, they won’t even care whose place I’m in. As long as there’s a chance to lay their hands on me, they won’t pass up on the opportunity. That’s why you can’t say that you’ve gotten me involved. If anything, it’s more likely that I was the one who dragged you into this.” Toby squeezed her hand.
At his words, Sonia gaped in silence, unable to refute him, for his words made too much sense.
“Then, who do you think it could be?” As she had been running all over the place, coupled with the fact that she had just inhaled some smoke, she felt a little dizzy and simply settled down on the ground.
In any case, all the exits were blocked. They might as well take a seat and conserve the last of their strength while waiting for help from the outside world. In the meantime, before the fire spread inside, they could even try to figure out who was behind the fire.
