The city of Heping didn't have too many surveillance cameras, so it wasn't easy to find Peng Wei's whereabouts that day. Ji Feng took the evidence to the Traffic Bureau to check the surveillance footage and brought back a hard disk.
As soon as he walked in the door, a colleague came up to him and punched his shoulder, "You little rascal, when did you trick such a pretty girl?"
Ji Feng: "Huh?"
"A beauty is looking for you." His colleague winked, "Since when do you have a girlfriend?"
Ji Feng was very surprised, "Me, an overtime fiend, with a girlfriend?"
The gossiping colleagues: "..." Ouch, my knees hurt.
Amidst the conversation, Ji Feng had already caught sight of the familiar hair color.
Sure enough, her hair was newly dyed, with first-class luster and softness, but the color was too recognizable, unsuitable for undercover investigation—well, it did look quite good.
Clutching the hard drive, he went forward and greeted, "Ms. Jian, what brings you here?"
Jian Jing said, "I happened to be passing by."
Ji Feng raised his eyebrows and smiled, "How nice of you to visit me."
"Don't be silly, I am the victim after all. I wanted to check if there's any news about the arson case." As she spoke, she glanced at the hard drive in his arms, "Is that surveillance footage from around the tower?"
Ji Feng smiled amiably, "Yes, but I can't show it to outsiders."
"Looks like you have a suspect." Jian Jing curved her lips, "What a coincidence, so do I."
Ji Feng exclaimed, pulled open a drawer, and took out a KitKat, "Have a snack first? Let's talk slowly."
"No need." Jian Jing cut to the chase, "I'll tell you, but you have to take me along."
Ji Feng: "That goes against protocol."
"Hmm?" She narrowed her eyes, the lens flashed.
"Fine." Faced with such a threat, he surrendered very swiftly too.
Jian Jing gave him the name, "I want to know if Pan Guo has any relatives."
With the name and company, the investigation for the police was very simple. They soon found information on Pan Guo. He had committed suicide by jumping off a building in 2013. His wife divorced and remarried. They had a son who was raised by his grandparents.
The son's name was Pan Jianli.
Twenty-three years old, no social security records, occupation unknown.
"How did you find this person?" Ji Feng was very puzzled.
Jian Jing: "Beauty salon."
"..." To avoid entering an incomprehensible realm and get beaten by her, Ji Feng decisively changed the topic, "What's the plan to investigate him?"
Jian Jing said, "Lie in ambush and wait."
Ji Feng laughed, "Interesting. Where do you think his next target will be?"
She pondered for a moment, "The holiday village."
"Because of that plot of land owned by Jianxin Real Estate? Makes sense." He said, "But I have a suspect too. I think he'll go to the Grand Theater."
Jian Jing raised her eyebrows.
Ji Feng spread his hands, "Still can't discuss it with outsiders."
Jian Jing: "..."
She was silent for a moment and smiled lightly, "Guess if I dare hit you or not."
"..." Ji Feng leaned back a little, very sincerely, "Let's talk nicely."
Jian Jing didn't even need to punch him to deal with him. A slap would do. Then tomorrow everyone would know he seduced and abandoned her. That's called attacking the heart, don't mess with her.
"Why can't you tell me?" Jian Jing asked directly.
Ji Feng immediately became serious, "The arson case intersects with another case. Although I suspect they are connected, it's merely a suspicion. Interfering with your thinking over this is not worth it."
That was a reasonable explanation.
Jian Jing thought about it and became even more curious, "Is he very suspicious?"
"Huge motive, can't not suspect him," Ji Feng confessed, "He's our main investigative direction, so we've overlooked other suspicious candidates, like the one you found."
"Having other options makes one less likely to jump to conclusions, I see." She paused and curved her lips, "Or else I'll scream."
Ji Feng: "You're very happy messing with me?"
"Yeah." She admitted.
"Tsk." Ji Feng shook his head and didn't joke with her anymore. He directly opened the files on the table, "No more joking around. Take a look if you want, but can't bring it out."
Jian Jing swiftly flipped through it.
She read very fast, and was done in no time. She pondered, "He does have huge hatred, but I don't think it's necessarily him."
"Why?"
She said, "Peng Wei has been petitioning and suing repeatedly. He seems like a rational person trying to uphold justice through legal means."
"People change over time," Ji Feng sighed. "Three years ago when he failed, he stopped trying. He may have given up and decided to get justice his own way."
Jian Jing refuted, "Then why burn down a kindergarten? I think that's the most unreasonable part. How could someone who lost a child bear to start a fire where there are only children?"
Ji Feng made a sound of acknowledgement and quickly started thinking.
Peng Wei was his prime suspect with the biggest grudge against the Fang Group that he had screened out. But Jian Jing made sense too. Arsonists have a different mentality from ordinary criminals.
"Peng Wei is very suspicious, Pan Jianli is also worth investigating," she said.
"Indeed." Ji Feng made up his mind, "I'll go to the theater later. Tomorrow I'll hand it over to my colleague and we'll go to the holiday village."
Jian Jing hesitated, "You're going to the theater..."
"Staking out gets boring and draining." Ji Feng took out a mug and poured some instant coffee, settled it, "Go home and sleep. See you tomorrow."
Jian Jing didn't insist either. Spending a whole night in the cramped car would break her bones.
"See you tomorrow then." She promptly bid farewell.
Ji Feng waved and looked at the time—still early. He plugged in the hard drive and settled down with coffee to watch the surveillance footage.
What? Send her home?
Didn't she buy a car? The new car keys were in her bag.
*
Ji Feng staked out the theater all day to no avail.
The next day, he went to the holiday village with Jian Jing.
"The first and second fires were ten days apart. The second and third were only seven days apart. The fourth must be imminent," Ji Feng started analyzing as soon as he got in the car. "Ms. Jian, want to bet with me?"
Jian Jing: "I bet on the holiday village."
He laughed, "Okay, then I bet on the theater."
"How much?" she asked.
"Ten bucks." He took out a ten dollar bill. "Enough for a milk tea, right?"
Jian Jing deadpanned, "Then never mind, I drink thirty dollar ones."
Ji Feng sucked in a pained breath, "Thirty bucks, you can treat me to it, famous author."
"If you win, you can treat me." She took the ten dollars and tossed it into the car's small drawer.
Ji Feng was a little deflated. He leaned back in the passenger seat to nap.
Jian Jing asked, "Sleeping?"
"I was up all night. Wake me when we arrive," he said, then closed his eyes. In less than five seconds his head lolled to the side, fast asleep.
Jian Jing rolled her eyes and grabbed a blanket from the backseat to toss over him.
Forty minutes later, she kicked the person beside her awake, "We're here."
At almost the same time, Ji Feng opened his eyes and sat up, eyes bright, as if he hadn't slept at all, "That was fast? Oh, nice scenery."
He admired the view outside the window, exclaiming in wonder.
The Fang Group's holiday village was on the outskirts of Heping City, next to a large thousand-acre lake. The scenery was excellent. Aside from the hotel, there were all kinds of recreational facilities like pool halls, movie theaters, hot springs, barbecue terraces. In the distance, a few small boats floated on the lake for fishing enthusiasts.
"Quite a lot of people huh." Ji Feng looked around, sounding rather incredulous.
It wasn't the weekend, yet there were quite a lot of coming and going guests at the holiday village. You could frequently see chatting and laughing young couples, or mothers with children and seniors.
It made corporate slaves very envious indeed.
Jian Jing said, "I checked online. You can buy separate tickets just to fish here, or stay as a guest."
"You plan to check in?" he asked.
"Only guests can go everywhere. Otherwise some areas are off limits," she explained. "What about you?"
Ji Feng said, "What do you think?"
In one stride he went up to a server, flashed his badge, and was promptly led into the hotel and introduced to the lobby manager.
Jian Jing pretended not to know him and checked in at the front desk.
The front desk gave her a check-in handbook.
Jian Jing flipped through the various areas and found that although this place was built by the Fang Group, only the hotel itself was operated by their own people. Everything else was rented out.
For example, movie theaters, restaurants, and pool halls are all different brands, which can also be seen frequently in the city. Fishing, barbecue and other activities are contracted out in cooperation with local people.
In such a big place, where would they choose to take action?
"Ding dong!" A new message popped up.
Ji Feng forwarded the investigation report on Pan Jianli from his colleague.
Although Pan Jianli did not have a proper job, the police went to Pan Guo's parents' home to investigate and found that Pan Jianli still lived there.
No one answered the door when they knocked. The neighbor said he went out to work.
So the police visited the surrounding area.
Since it was an old community, the neighbors knew each other well. They said that Pan Jianli’s grandparents had passed away in the past two years, and he lived alone at home. He was a loner who did not interact with others, and made a living by delivering takeout.
The boss of the small supermarket at the door revealed that Pan Jianli used to have a girlfriend before, as he had seen him buy contraceptives, but they probably broke up recently, because the frequency of buying sanitary products had increased sharply.
When the police asked the neighbors about their impressions of Pan Jianli, they unanimously said that he was a bit misanthropic and had clashed with the property management many times.
Once, his electric scooter was parked improperly, and the security guard asked him to move the vehicle, but he burst out cursing, saying things like "You don't ask people to move their sedans parked here, but you ask me to move my electric scooter", "You look down on me, bullying the weak and fearing the strong", "You are not a good person".
The property management guards in the old community were mostly elderly people. After being pushed and shoved by Pan Jianli, they almost broke their bones. So when mentioning him, their words were not without resentment.
However, an aunt who exercises in the community said that Pan Jianli’s parents were honest people who lived frugally. They haggled over every penny spent on groceries, but Pan Jianli was different.
"He's very extravagant despite his young age," she said disdainfully. “He often buys expensive things with parcels delivered frequently.”
So the police asked, "How do you know they're expensive?"
"They’re all in English, and the shoes he wears are branded, the hooked ones, very expensive,” the aunt said decisively with a discerning eye. “Young Pan can’t manage money.”
Other neighbors had similar opinions, and Pan Jianli's reputation was not good.
But when asked if he had shown any dangerous behaviors, everyone could not give a reason. No one had ever seen him set fire to anything.
Ji Feng said: [Arson is definitely not a spur of the moment thing. If he's never done it before, the chances of a sudden outbreak are small.]
But Jian Jing did not give up. She went to the window and observed with her binocular glasses.
Although the resort was located in the suburbs, Anding City developed very quickly, and the surrounding towns near the city center also developed well. It only took about twenty minutes to get here.
If guests wanted to order milk tea or fried chicken, they would also choose nearby places to order takeout. From time to time, deliverymen in jackets could be seen coming over.
Pan Jianli had the conditions to commit the crime.
After pondering for a while, she already had a relatively clear idea in her mind.
She would just wait for nightfall.
