The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 116

Once in the car, Jian Jing finally regained her mood for conversation: "How did the arson case go?"

But Ji Feng hesitated and said, "Yun Yun is right, you two had a close brush with death today, you should rest well. Look up the details of the cases in the news tomorrow, don't worry about it for now."

After thinking for a bit, he added, "Tomorrow I have to take Yun Yun to the hospital, you were in the fire scene for half a day, more or less inhaled some toxic smoke, it's better to get checked out. Your car burned down, so can I give you a ride too?"

Jian Jing was very surprised: "Did you take the wrong medication? You're suddenly so thoughtful."

"Tsk, I'm not a machine, I still have the necessary human caring," Ji Feng glanced at her and said, "Just a momentary impulse earlier, if it were you, wouldn't you be curious too?"

Jian Jing scoffed: "At least I wouldn't keep people guessing."

Ji Feng was rendered speechless. After a long pause, he said, "Teacher Jian, you're not very lovable like this."

"That's how you see it, not how I see it," she said.

Ji Feng: "......"

There was no winning in a war of words.

He knew he couldn't beat her, so he conceded in time: "So, want to go to the hospital or not?"

Jian Jing shook her head. She had a character status panel, if she had been poisoned, the status bar would definitely show it. Now there was nothing, which proved she was fine.

"I want to rest well for a day," she said, also not asking about the case. When lacking in energy, it was better not to do brain work.

Ji Feng did not force her: "Alright, call me if you need help."

"Call you? Will you even have time?" Jian Jing mocked, "Yun Yun has called you before, but the call didn't even go through."

Ji Feng scratched his nose, slightly embarrassed: "My phone was out of battery, didn't have time to charge it."

"So I understand," she said.

Ji Feng knew his own family affairs, so he didn't insist. He just didn't forget to remind her after sending her home: "If you have any thoughts after looking at the cases, remember to find me."

Jian Jing said: "Consultation fees apply."

"Haha." He laughed heartily, fumbled around in the car for a while, and took out an unopened box of chocolate, "Prepayment for consultation."

The box was macaron colored, very beautiful. There was a faint scent of perfume on the bow. She took it and weighed it in her hand, her face full of suspicion: "This is a gift from some girl, right?"

"I'm still very popular," Ji Feng didn't deny it, and readily said, "Might as well make good use of it."

Jian Jing: "......" He probably would never get rid of being single in this lifetime.

But she would still accept the payment. Work shouldn't be done for free.

"Alright then," she pocketed it, "Thanks for sending me back, you can leave now."

Ji Feng laughed loudly, waved his hand, and drove back home.

Jian Jing went upstairs with the chocolate, first carefully checked the fire safety devices at home, making sure they were all in the most accessible places, before letting out a breath, and took a shower.

Although the time spent at the fire scene was less than half an hour, the tremendous psychological pressure meant that the mental and physical exertion could not be estimated.

She soaked in the hot water. As soon as she relaxed, she immediately fell asleep.

Luckily there was Buding at home. The agile cat slapped her awake, thus avoiding the tragic fate of catching a cold.

"Thank you, Buding," she nuzzled the fat belly of the orange cat and picked up its chubby body, stuffing it directly into the quilt.

Buding's resistance was futile. It was forced to accompany her to sleep.

Such was the inevitable miserable fate of every little kitty!

Jian Jing slept well and recovered most of her spirit. After a simple breakfast, she rummaged through the safe deposit box and took out the insurance contract, preparing to file a claim.

She didn't need to worry too much about this. She had a lawyer friend who could help handle miscellaneous affairs.

But during the search, Jian Jing discovered a strange file.

A high-end file folder of plain white leather, with a gilded logo on it called "St. Angel". Opening it, there was only a greeting card inside.

The greeting card looked a lot like a childhood birthday card. When opened, a three-dimensional illustration would appear. It was a beautiful winged angel girl.

The paper girl held a book in her arms. The book was three-dimensional and could be opened.

Inside was a chip.

What was this thing? An invitation??

Jian Jing searched her memories carefully, but the "memories" left by her other self were vague, only remembering some people and some major events, with almost no details.

She didn't remember this at all.

When she had just transmigrated, she had flipped through the documents at home and was clear about her basic information and assets, but didn't notice this item.

What was it?

Jian Jing looked at the chip for a long time, and tried opening it with a USB reader.

A file popped up on the computer screen, a string of letters and numbers, but it required an account and password to access.

She: "......" Tsk.

The secrets of "Jian Jing" were far more than she had imagined.

Jian Jing's eyes fell on Buding dozing on the bookshelf.

Buding and the Gem, Jiang BaiYan; Kang Mu Cheng, Blood Rose, Scar Man; St. Angel.

Interesting.

"Buding, why are you called Buding?" She scratched the cat's chin, murmuring to herself.

Buding let out a "meow", and comfortably narrowed its eyes.

Jian Jing smiled. She didn't dwell on it further.

Puzzles would always be solved eventually. For now, it was time to buy a car first.

Nowadays, it was truly difficult to get around without a car.

At the 4S store, after telling the enthusiastic young man her requirements, they would recommend several models that met her needs in terms of performance, price, brand, comfort and safety.

Jian Jing didn't understand cars, and had no plans to research it herself.

As long as it worked alright, just in case it burned/crashed/broke down again someday!

It wasn't like Dr. Alisa's car.

In the end, the young lady recommended the BMW X5.

Her reason was very emotional: "In the past, men used to mock that girls would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle. But now, girls buy their own BMWs."

Jian Jing: Accurate marketing, what a talent!

She readily went along with it, and signed to buy it.

But afterwards, when Kang Mu Cheng asked why she chose such a big car instead of a smaller one, what she said was: "In case I need to ram into something someday, bigger ones feel safer."

The cars recommended by the young man to female customers were all small models, some were even MINI models.

Wasn't that asking for trouble? Wouldn't such a small car flip over in a collision?

Bigger ones felt safer.

After buying the car, Jian Jing's mobility improved tremendously.

She also went to the hair salon.

Familiar Tony greeted her enthusiastically: "Teacher Jian, here for maintenance again? Oh dear, what happened to your hair?"

The hair singed by the fire was brittle and charred, a pitiful sight.

Jian Jing sighed, "It's a long story, please help me fix it first."

Tony became spirited: "No problem, leave it to me!"

Washing, trimming, perming, conditioning.

The whole process took no less than eight hours.

Just right to check out what was going on with the arson case.

As Ji Feng said, the few fires were all reported in the newspapers, with detailed coverage.

The first one: One night, improper use of electrical appliances in a school dorm caused one bedroom to catch fire. Only the student who used the prohibited appliance was injured and hospitalized.

The second one: One evening, a rental apartment caught fire due to an accident while charging an electric bike, resulting in spontaneous combustion. The owner was not home, no casualties.

The third one: One night, someone lit fireworks in a park, igniting construction materials and causing a fire. No casualties.

The fourth one: One afternoon, leakage of materials at a chemical plant led to an explosion and fire, multiple deaths and injuries.

The fifth one: Early one morning, aging electrical wiring in a hotel accidentally caused a fire, multiple deaths and injuries.

The sixth one: Late one night, a kindergarten caught fire, burning down a classroom building, but no casualties.

Jian Jing immediately picked out the anomalous events mentioned by Ji Feng.

The park and the kindergarten.

The other four cases all had clear accident causes. Although the results varied, they were relatively common occurrences.

Only the park and kindergarten were a bit strange.

The kindergarten was obvious, no one would be there at midnight.

The park was also very weird.

Setting off fireworks and firecrackers in the city was prohibited without approved paperwork for an event. Who would run to the park to set off fireworks in the middle of the night? Even if some young people had a screw loose and wanted to create some romantic gesture, they should pick a scenic spot.

The first ignition point was the amusement park in the park where renovation materials were piled up, dirty and messy.

Who ran there to set off firecrackers?

Coupled with the mall fire she personally experienced yesterday, these three cases had two special points.

One was that they all happened in public places, and the other was that they all happened late at night.

Public places other than entertainment venues like bars and KTVs are empty at night. They encountered it last night too, whether it was intentional or a coincidence was unknown.

Jian Jing was very interested and sent a WeChat message to Ji Feng: [This case is a bit difficult to investigate]

Ji Feng: [What are your thoughts?]

Jian Jing replied: [There are two possibilities]

[These fires all happened late at night, and were in public buildings where there are generally fewer people. If it really was arson, the perpetrator probably didn't want to cause too many casualties, just purely enjoys fire.]

There are all kinds of birds in the woods. Pyromania is not uncommon in criminal psychology. Among them is a type of arsonist who sets fires not out of deep hatred, but purely enjoys watching things burn.

Considering there were no fearless heroes trying to put out the fires at the scenes, we can basically rule out someone trying to boost their presence and find self-fulfillment through arson and then putting out the fires.

- This kind of person is usually collectively rejected and behaves abnormally, longing for recognition.

[But they were all public buildings, so it could also be someone expressing their dissatisfaction]

Arson is extremely dangerous, and has been analyzed many times in criminology. It can be divided into four categories:

1. Instrumental towards a person; 2. Instrumental towards an object; 3. Expressive towards a person; 4. Expressive towards an object.

So-called instrumental arson refers to using fire as a means to an end. The fire itself is nothing special, it's just the method chosen.

When directed at a person, it means revenge or to send a message to someone. Especially some authoritative figures, if someone has a building named after themselves, their opponents may burn down the building to express anger.

Similarly, hating a teacher may lead to burning a school, hating a doctor may lead to burning a hospital.

When directed at an object it's even simpler: four words - destroy, erase, eliminate, evidence.

Expressive arson is more complex than instrumental arson.

Expressive arson directed at a person is often done by those with mental disorders. They attempt to gain attention from certain people through this method, a different kind of cry for help.

As for expressive arson directed at an object, it's like what Jian Jing mentioned earlier - pyromania, enjoying the feeling of flames raging.

Because of the choice of locations like the park, kindergarten and mall, we can rule out destroying evidence and crying for help.

That leaves the other two possibilities.

Either it's a pervert who enjoys playing with fire, or it's someone expressing some kind of emotion through arson.