Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 356 352. Why are you doing this?

December 12, noon, 3:11
The fire at the Paris Opera House finally subsided after burning for nearly 10 hours.The surrounding air was still filled with a burning smell and a lot of smoke and dust. Combustible materials such as wooden structures and interior fabrics were burned to ashes, and only a pile of black-painted black masonry skeletons remained of the original tall buildings.

Since last night, from time to time, people will stand around and pray silently, and some people will hum some opera excerpts or choruses, such as Valdi's "Rain and Storm", Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", Gounod's "Faus De", Offenbach's "Orfeo in Hell", etc.
The scene was as unacceptable as a charming girl who suddenly became a crooked old woman after a hard night, but she had to accept it.

"Mr. Barnes, were you the first to see the fire?" Standing beside Barnes was Inspector Helmut, who was in charge of investigating the cause of the inexplicable fire.

"Yes, it should be me. There were shouts in the theater and the opera music stopped. I was the first to notice something strange." Barnes was satisfied with his intuition. "At first there was thick smoke on the third floor on the left. Immediately afterwards, flames burst out, and then a large ball of fire fell to the ground."

Helmut briefly wrote two notes in the notebook, and continued to ask: "Is Mason with you?"

"Yes, the two of us are patrolling here together." Barnes replied, "The young man has been greatly stimulated, and he has asked for leave to go home and rest."

"Although I hope to find as many witnesses as possible, since they are uncomfortable, let's forget it." Helmut walked to the place pointed by Barnes' finger and found the location where the fireball fell, " The temperature was so high that the slabs were burnt black."

"Three charred corpses were found here, glued to each other, and it's hard to tell who is who." Barnes only slept in the police station for less than four hours, and was brought out early in the morning to be Hull. Mutter's temporary assistant, "I think the fire should be on the three of them."

"It looks like a VIP box, surrounded by wooden structures, it seems that all of them have been reimbursed."

Helmut looked up at the remaining stone pillar arcade: "By the way, do you know the identity of the deceased?"

"Just finished the first round of search in the morning, and it seems that we found fragments of a long skirt and a police badge on the body." Barnes pondered for a moment, and said, "Both Mason and I think the deceased is the missing Ashley. Miss."

"Ashley?"

Helmut didn't react at first, and it took him a while to understand the identity represented by the name.

As expected of an old detective, years of work have taught him not to be alarmed, and his face that should have been chaotic now looks very calm: "You mean the minister's daughter?"

"Yes, shortly after the opening of the opera, we saw him bring a few police officers into the theater." Barnes said, "Even as her bodyguards, it wouldn't take so many people, so I prefer Come in and catch the thief."

"Emmm, do you have any other discoveries?"

"Here? There are no other clues here." Barnes thought about it again, "The body was sent to the morgue early in the morning, and it should be stuffed into a pit and buried soon. After all, fire is extremely easy to disfigure,”

Helmut looked around, only found some traces of burnt green trees, and found nothing else, "It's a very novel point of view."

"Both Mason and I saw it."

"Well, I'll report it." Helmut said, but the pen that had been moving just now stopped. "Is there any other discovery? For example, who is acting suspiciously, or..."

"Is it a hidden danger?" Barnes pointed at the gate, "There are too many hidden dangers. Several gates are locked, no keys, no guards, no tools to pry open the gates. Listen. It is said that there is less than half of the water in the fire extinguishing water tank in the opera house, and no one has used it in time."

The gate was the place with the most casualties, and a large number of spectators were besieged there. It took a whole morning just to collect the corpses, and the scene is still being cleaned up.

Even if the fire extinguishing water tank in the theater is full of water, it will only be less than 5 liters. Facing such a big fire, it is a drop in the bucket.Besides, what ignited was the vip box with oil-based paint, and kerosene was used there, even a serious modern fire brigade might not be able to suppress it.

After hearing this, Helmut began to write: "Apart from these?"

"Besides?" Barnes repeated what he said just now in his mind, and he really couldn't think of anything else. "No, it's outrageous to have these."

"Yeah, I have to be careful of open flames, and beware of fires at all times." Helmut sighed, and suddenly changed the topic, "By the way, did you pay attention to the time? What time was the fire at that time? "

"It was around 20:40 last night."

"Oh, I remembered, I asked before."

Helmut turned two pages forward, moving his fingers across the paper, finding the time he had written down himself.And below this time is another time, with 21:06 written: "But this is very strange"

"What's so strange?"

Helmut scratched his cheek with his fingers and asked, "Where is your sentry box?"

"It's around the corner."

Looking at where Barnes pointed, he frowned: "It seems like two or three minutes from here to the sentry box."

"Where does it take so long, I'll be there in a short jog."

"If that's the case, why didn't the fire station receive your telegram until 21:06?" Helmut noticed a sense of incompatibility between the two time points, and seeing that Barnes didn't reply, he continued to ask , "Then let me change the subject, who sent this telegram?"

"I"

"So it was you." Helmut hesitated for a moment, "Then there must be someone between you and the firefighters."

"Mason and I forgot to send a telegram." Barnes didn't hide anymore, "It's been a long time since we encountered a fire. When we first found out, someone ran from the inside. We immediately thought of saving people. Take into account the requirements in the manual."

"This door is the only exit." Helmut just jotted down the outline, and didn't continue to make a fuss about this matter. "Are there any other entrances and exits?"

"There is still a back door, but according to the commander of the fire brigade, there was a deflagration at the back door, and everyone died. Some people chose to jump from a high place, and as a result." Barnes shook his head and continued to report, "In short, Ma and I The survivors Sen contacted all left from the main entrance. "

Helmut nodded: "Then who was the first to leave the theater?"

"The first one?"

"Yeah, the survivor who can leave the theater as soon as possible after the fire needs not only agility, but also an intuition far beyond ordinary people." Helmut explained, "If he doesn't have it, then the fire accident in the end Whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster needs to be marked with a big question mark.”

"Uh, the first one." Barnes suddenly remembered something, and said, "I don't know who the first one is, but a cripple did leave the scene not long after the fire broke out."

"Cripple?"

"Well, it's very difficult to walk with a cane." Barnes added. "I've seen the man, but he disappeared after sending the telegram."

"Ever talked?"

"No, I may have had a few conversations with Mason, I don't know too much."

The cripple in his mouth was naturally Li Ben. Although he happened to avoid the fire and was in good health, he was still depressed.

Li Ben never calculated that he would be blocked by Alphonse and Mick, and finally became Alphonse's companion when he was hospitalized reluctantly.The two were connected by a rope, and it was not easy to break free, and the French cook didn't give him any chance.

At the beginning, he wanted to use force, to intimidate the other party with a move close to madness.

But Alphonse has obviously seen through this trick, and he can leave if he wants to, complete the duel between the two or cut off the hand of either party.

Seeing him like this, Li Ben lost his mind in an instant, and intimidation became an enlightenment, and he even played the emotional card: "Mr. Alphonse, I really respect you. But it is not an option for us to be tied up like this, why don't you let me go?" Horse. You see, I am missing a leg, and it is very inconvenient to fight a duel. This is not fair."

"Impossible!" Alphonse's entire left arm had just undergone debridement, and it was burning and painful, but his tone was unusually calm, "There must be a break between you and me."

"I'm a cripple, how can I fight you?"

"You underestimate the rules of French duels too much. Moreover, mobility is not necessary in a duel. After all, I didn't say to use a sword." Alphonse said, "According to the regulations, if the provocative party apologizes enough, the duel will no longer be It is an inevitable event recognized by the public."

"Yes, yes, I apologize!"

"Not an inevitable event means that whether to continue the duel is completely up to me, and the choice of weapons is completely based on lottery." Alphonse explained, "Given your body, using a sword is not good for you, so we can use guns. Just stand still."

The French duel rules are known as "reasonable", regardless of whether the opponent is a disabled person, an elderly person, a woman or even an animal, they can all be pulled to the same level.

"Ah this."

"If you are confident in your riding skills, we can also ride horses and shoot each other," Alphonse said.

"No, I can't ride a horse like this."

"Then shoot each other with the most direct pistol."

"It's my fault. I offended you." Li Ben looked at his bloody left wrist and said helplessly, "Mr. Chef, dueling is not good for you or me. I'm just an unknown person. You are a famous French chef, why bother with me."

"This is something that was set at the beginning and cannot be changed!" Alphonse turned his face to look at him, "Your evasion has polluted it."

"Didn't we have a fight?"

"That playful joke wasn't a duel at all!!!"

Li Ben was so upset by what he said, so he could only look for Carvey who had been standing silently by his side, hoping he could persuade him: "Dr. Carvey, I am friends with you, and you and Mr. Alphonse are also friends. This relationship is not easy, you need to help."

"Forehead"

Carvey has not closed his eyes for 30 hours, and his energy is low. The only remaining attention is allocated to work, and other things have nothing to do with him.Besides, the relationship between Alphonse and Li Ben is a matter left over from history. It's not that he hasn't persuaded him, but since the other party insists on this, he also respects their choices.

"What is uh, you should say something!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Carvey didn't listen to him at all, but just said to Alphonse, "Your left hand is seriously burned, but fortunately, the palm and fingers are fine, otherwise it will be difficult to recover the function of the left hand when the scar appears. gone."

This does not sound serious, but if you think about it from another angle, it is not difficult to guess that the burn will greatly affect the function of Alphonse's left arm.

When he first came here yesterday, his left arm was severely burned, and the remaining clothes were still stuck to the wound. Most of them were deep second-degree burns, and some may have been third-degree burns.Third-degree burns lose all skin functions. Even if treated with the most standard medical methods, the final scar will contracture and limit joint function.

"What will happen to my arm?"

"The elbow joint will be too stiff to bend, and the wrist injury is not serious, but it will affect it to some extent." Carvey gave a simple demonstration, "Oh, by the way, the arm can't be rotated either."

Although Alphonse is right-handed, he always needs his left hand to assist in cooking. An arm that cannot be bent and rotated is like a wooden stick. How can this work?

Cooking is his soul and his motivation to live.This is not retirement, and it is not that cooking skills are affected as we grow older, but that it is completely deprived of all this in just two days.

"Dr. Carvey, I don't know how to describe my current mood." Alphonse was in such pain for the first time, "It's like saying that you can never use a scalpel. I don't know if you can understand."

"Understood, I understand very well." Carvey nodded mechanically, "There are four or five of them in this ward, and there are several more in the next door. It's too much to say."

"Is there no chance?"

"There must be, but it's a little troublesome." Carvey explained, "The function is affected because the scar loses the function of the skin, and the scar contraction will greatly increase the tension, so the initiator is the scar. It is when the wound recovers. Good stuff, but there's no need to exist when it's fully restored."

"what do you mean"

"Cut out a part of the scar, and then take some healthy skin from your body, like your back," Carvey said.

"It's not as easy as it sounds."

"Indeed, the success rate of the operation is not very high. It is also helpful for the operation to recuperate well during this period of time. Do you want to fight?" Kawei glanced at Li Ben and warned, "This kind of thing can wait Do it after the surgery, don't worry."

Alphonse had no reason to refuse, but restoring the function of his left hand did not conflict with the duel: "It doesn't matter, Mr. Li Ben lost a leg, and I lost an arm, which is fair. Moreover, only one hand is enough for pistol shooting. "

(End of this chapter)