Qiu Yan pondered. “If Purple Flame isn’t the perpetrator from back then, why is he wearing the bird mask?” She seemed to think of something. “Yingsheng, he may be wearing that mask because of you, to disrupt your thinking.”
Gong Yingsheng’s expression changed. “Right, right! From the very beginning of the video, he spoke to us as though he were having a conversation with us. Whether it was the mask or the things he said, everything made us feel that he was targeting us, that he was taking revenge on us and declaring war on us. But perhaps this was simply his way of misleading us, limiting the way we think. In reality, we still haven’t understood what his motive actually is.”
Ren Yi repeated quietly, “Motive…”
“Is it revenge? Is it provocation? Does he simply want to commit crimes for the sake of committing them?” Qiu Yan frowned deeply, asking herself and answering herself. “What exactly is his motive?”
“Prometheus, missionary, fire, wildfire…” Gong Yingsheng repeatedly murmured several words Purple Flame had mentioned in the video, sinking into even deeper thought.
Everyone was racing against time, trying to find answers to the questions before them. Ren Yi paced back and forth nearby, repeatedly checking the time. He was both frustrated by his helplessness at this moment and terrified by every second that mercilessly slipped away.
This was not an ordinary New Year’s countdown.
It was a countdown to the lives of tens of thousands of people.
They absolutely could not fail.
At that moment, news came from Cai Qiang. They had found the vehicle that had transported the explosives. It was one of the equipment trucks belonging to the company responsible for setting up the main stage. They had now gone to find the person in charge.
Although finding the vehicle involved was progress, it was not exactly good news. Companies like this took on projects of varying sizes, so for physical labor such as on-site construction, they usually did not employ full-time workers. Their personnel turnover was extremely high, meaning they might not be able to locate the perpetrator quickly.
Captain Zhang’s team soon used the surveillance footage to identify the vehicle involved. The vehicle had entered and left the venue three times today. Eleven people in total had handled and transported equipment, all of them young or middle-aged men.
“This man looks suspicious. He kept looking around several times, as if he were observing something.”
“Send his photo to Cai Qiang.”
“Dr. Gong,” Tan Haochun said, “I previously compiled the fire-related cases from the past several years in China, but there are too many. I need keywords to narrow the range.”
Gong Yingsheng said, “Filter out fires in underdeveloped regions, retaliatory arson, arsonists over the age of forty-five, large-scale fires, and secondary fires caused by other factors. Focus on first-, second-, and third-tier cities; fires where fire was the first or primary means of committing the crime; incidents that could have been caused by a single person; and fires with a large amount of written or video content on Blazing Angel.”
Tan Haochun stuffed another handful of sunflower-seed kernels into his mouth and vigorously rubbed his hands together. “Leave it to me!”
Ren Yi couldn’t help urging him. “There’s less than half an hour left. If we still can’t determine where the bombs are, we really won’t make it in time.”
Gong Yingsheng took a deep breath. “Give me a little more time.”
At that moment, there was progress on He Gu’s side.
“Officer Gong, Captain Ren.”
The two hurried over.
Various complicated blueprints covered the entire table. Holding the map of the perpetrator’s movement trajectory that Tan Haochun had compiled, He Gu explained, “Based on this map, I compared the places he could have visited during several time periods with the routes of the equipment systems. I believe his target isn’t any single system. Instead, he intends to use the explosions to trigger a chain reaction.”
Gong Yingsheng narrowed his eyes as he studied the blueprints. “Each time the hacker infiltrated the surveillance system lasted no more than thirty minutes. An adult walking briskly can cover about one hundred meters per minute. Adding the time needed to avoid detection and plant the bombs, if the round trip would take more than twenty minutes on foot, it’s very likely a smokescreen created by the hacker. We can eliminate it.”
“Okay.”
He Gu removed the routes that spanned distances that were too great. The remaining movement trajectories became fewer and increasingly clear.
“What equipment are these?”
“This is the boiler room, but the boiler room was the first place checked. The perpetrator wouldn’t plant bombs in such an obvious location. This line extending from the boiler room is the gas pipeline, and these are the water pipes. The gas pipeline is the easiest place to cause explosions, fires, and mass casualties.”
Ren Yi said, “But we’ve already shut off the combustible-gas valves. The gas remaining in the pipelines isn’t enough to create a chain explosion.”
“Right. So the perpetrator’s ultimate target probably isn’t the gas. Among these lines, there are two other extremely dangerous things. One is the solar power system and energy-storage generators, and the other is the hydraulic system. The former has an enormous amount of stored electrical power, while the latter has several hydraulic cylinders. This hydraulic system isn’t only used for sewage disposal. The retractable rain canopy on top of the venue and the raising, lowering, and rotation of the stage all involve hydraulics.”
Ren Yi said, “But both of these things are relatively stable. Electrical fires are easy to extinguish, while hydraulic oil is difficult to ignite.”
Gong Yingsheng said, “Engineer He, you understand these systems better than we do. Imagine that you were the perpetrator. How would you use these things and six bombs to cause the greatest possible damage?”
He Gu furrowed his brows deeply. “In principle, I think that without gas as an accelerant, these systems wouldn’t cause a large-scale explosion.”
“But there’s no way Purple Flame didn’t consider that we would cut off the gas.”
Qiu Yan said, “Maybe we’re overcomplicating things. Perhaps Purple Flame’s purpose isn’t to cause massive casualties, but to send a signal, a declaration of war. After all, even if only one bomb explodes here, it would become an international news story.”
“But if that’s the case, the locations where the bombs were planted could be random. Then there’s absolutely no way we could find them all within an hour. I don’t think Purple Flame would set up an unsolvable game.”
Ren Yi said coldly, “He’s the leader of a cult, a deranged arsonist. Do you really expect him to mercifully give us clues?”
“I think he will.” Gong Yingsheng said with certainty. “Because of his arrogance.”
Everyone looked at Gong Yingsheng in confusion.
“If he simply wanted to create an incident, he wouldn’t have deliberately sent us this video beforehand to warn us. We are in the light while he is in the shadows. He could blow all of us up. He called this a New Year’s gift, but in reality, this is a declaration of war.”
Gong Yingsheng looked toward Ren Yi.
“He said that we are connected to him, that we share a bond, that the will of God brought about all these coincidences. He wants to obey the will of God and ignite this fire. In our previous confrontations, although they committed many crimes, we also solved their cases and arrested their people. The two of us even ended up on Blazing Angel’s bounty list. Without realizing it, we became opponents of this organization.”
“The death of Red Flame was a victory for us in their eyes. It may have humiliated Purple Flame, or even challenged his authority. So he wants to defeat us on this symbolic day, in this stadium where countless people are watching.”
Ren Yi felt his hands and feet turn cold, a chill shooting straight to the top of his head.
A sudden flash of insight struck Gong Yingsheng’s mind, and even his lips began to tremble.
“He’s broadcasting this live. No—the concert is being broadcast live by six media stations and one online network. And he is going to perform his feat during this livestream. The people in that organization, as well as the secret users on Blazing Angel, must all be watching the screens.”
“So he will set up a relatively fair game. He is giving us a chance to resist. If this were a dead end from the beginning, it wouldn’t demonstrate his power. He is so arrogant and conceited. He wants to watch us struggle on the verge of death, and in the end, broadcast our failure to everyone.”
Qiu Yan bit her red lips and cursed viciously.
He Gu suddenly slammed his hand on the table. He said in a low voice, “I’ve got it. I overlooked something before. I know now!”
“What?”
He Gu rushed to the table and pulled out several blueprints, examining them carefully.
“Engineer He, what exactly…?”
“Antifreeze!” He Gu’s eyes widened. “The antifreeze in the condensate-water circulation system. It’s only added during winter. Antifreeze is relatively safe and has a very high ignition point, but if it encounters high temperatures and an explosion…”
Gong Yingsheng clenched his fists. “Ethylene glycol can have an ignition point of more than four hundred degrees, but once it reaches its explosive limit… This water-circulation system runs throughout the entire venue, including the structural columns. That means that if the perpetrator uses an explosion involving gas, an energy-storage generator, or a hydraulic cylinder to ignite the antifreeze, the entire venue will be in danger.”
He Gu picked up the blueprints with trembling hands.
“I’ll mark all the key nodes where these systems intersect. The bombs must have been planted somewhere near those locations!”
Ren Yi looked at his watch. His voice was trembling too.
“Twenty minutes left.”
At that moment, news came from Cai Qiang. The suspicious man captured on surveillance was a temporary worker hired by the construction company. He had disappeared, and they were now searching for him throughout the entire venue. His photo had also been sent to the phones of everyone involved.
He Gu ultimately marked twenty-four nodes. Qiu Yan immediately sent out the information and had multiple teams of police officers and firefighters conduct searches. As soon as they found anything, they were to notify the bomb-disposal team immediately.
Ren Yi also wanted to lead a search team, but Gong Yingsheng stopped him.
“You stay here.”
“I can’t really help much here either. I’ll go—”
“You stay here.” Gong Yingsheng emphasized his words, leaving no room for argument. “You understand these lunatics better than most police officers. Little Tan will finish compiling the data soon. I need your help.”
Although this really was one of the reasons he wanted Ren Yi to stay, there was a more important selfish reason he could not say aloud.
He wanted Ren Yi to stay away from the bombs.
Whether the bombs ultimately exploded or not, they would not leave. They would fight until the very last moment.
That was their mission.
But if that moment really came, he wanted Ren Yi to be by his side.
“…All right.”
Ren Yi gazed deeply at Gong Yingsheng, a dull ache spreading through his heart.
What kind of fate awaited them twenty minutes from now, he no longer dared to imagine.
But being able to share life and death with Gong Yingsheng, he was no longer afraid of anything.
Very soon, a team of firefighters led by Wang Meng found the first bomb inside an electrical distribution box. The bomb-disposal team successfully defused it.
A burst of cheers erupted in the conference room.
At that moment, Tan Haochun also finished collecting the data. He had gathered all the fire-related cases across the country from the past five years that matched Gong Yingsheng’s criteria.
There were more than four hundred cases.
Gong Yingsheng frowned. “Still too many. Delete… the ones where the perpetrator has already been arrested.”
The number of cases was immediately cut in half.
“Print them out.”
Gong Yingsheng stood beside the printer and said to Ren Yi, “There’s no time for detailed analysis now. Based on your experience, your instincts, and your understanding of these people, pick out the ones you think look like they were committed by them. Trust your instincts.”
Ren Yi nodded.
As the printer continued spitting out pages, Gong Yingsheng rapidly scanned through them. His memory was astonishing. He could practically read ten lines at a glance and quickly finish a case summary. Whenever he found one that seemed suspicious, he handed it to Ren Yi.
The two of them spent nearly ten minutes narrowing more than two hundred cases down to twenty-seven.
There were certainly cases they had missed, as well as cases they had misjudged, but the remaining twenty-seven could at least provide them with some basic reference points.
While they were reviewing the cases, the bombs were also being found and defused one after another.
Gong Yingsheng and Ren Yi carefully went through the twenty-seven cases again.
The more Ren Yi looked, the stranger they seemed, yet he could not put his finger on what was wrong.
The cases appeared to have no connection at all. The locations, backgrounds, and victims varied enormously. Yet he could still sense that there was something among them, something that allowed him to glimpse a shadow behind these brief case summaries.
Gong Yingsheng braced both hands against the table, his expression shifting unpredictably.
Ren Yi said, “Yingsheng, did you figure something out?”
Gong Yingsheng nodded.
“We feel that these cases are suspicious because none of them are retaliatory crimes. But calling them accidents would make them far too coincidental. There are traces of human involvement within these coincidences. Yet if we assume they were deliberately caused, it’s difficult to explain the motive behind them.”
“Right. Like this one. A travel photographer’s RV caught fire. There were signs suggesting possible arson, but it couldn’t be confirmed. It could also have been a spontaneous gas fire.”
“This one was a blogger who liked posting videos of himself wearing bizarre outfits online. His apartment caught fire, and both he and the arsonist died in the flames. But the investigation showed that the two had no social contact whatsoever.”
“And this one—those graffiti-covered trash cans. They went viral online for a while. The person who burned them was arrested, and the arsonist said the trash cans looked bizarre and evil.”
Tan Haochun blinked. “Is there anything similar between them?”
Gong Yingsheng’s mind raced at tremendous speed, causing a splitting headache. He had a strange thought, but he could not quite grasp it.
Qiu Yan said anxiously, “There are only seven minutes left. There’s still one bomb that we simply can’t find.”
“Fire…” Gong Yingsheng murmured. “Fire represents the will of God. What is the will of God? It is to ‘treat every blade of grass and every person and thing in this world fairly.’ ‘Reward and punishment, prosperity and decline, life and death are all the laws of Heaven.’”
Everyone looked anxiously at Gong Yingsheng.
“‘Fire represents the will of God descending into the human world. Those who receive enlightenment from God…’”
Gong Yingsheng continued repeating Purple Flame’s words.
Suddenly, he raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was even somewhat distorted.
“You… What did you figure out?”
“I understand what Purple Flame means by an evil soul.”
“What is it?!” Ren Yi asked anxiously.
“An evil soul doesn’t refer only to people. It may also refer to a blade of grass, a tree, a person, or an object. Those who receive enlightenment from God are those who receive ‘fire.’ Prometheus stole fire, but he did not do so to save humanity. He was merely a missionary. He brought fire, the will of God, into the human world. Some people received enlightenment and obtained fire, while others did not. The ‘fire’ here isn’t literal ‘fire.’ It means ‘enlightenment.’”
“Purple Flame compares himself to Prometheus. He is that missionary. He uses fire to enlighten all living beings. His followers received the ‘fire’ he passed on and received enlightenment from God. Most ignorant human beings did not receive the fire. Those people are his targets for continued preaching.”
“But there is another category of people or things. They received the fire, yet they did not receive his enlightenment. Those are the ‘evil souls’ Purple Flame is talking about!”
Everyone was completely stunned by his explanation.
“What is fire? Fire represents the heart. It represents emotions, the soul, life, enormous energy, and vigorous vitality. ‘Fire’ is the power God grants to all living things.”
“Some people receive ‘fire’ and become followers of God, like Purple Flame and his followers. Some receive fire and remain ordinary among the countless living beings, using it only for cooking and keeping warm.”
“But there is another category of people. They use ‘fire’ to make themselves powerful—whether externally or internally. They make themselves different from others, causing God’s will to lose its fairness when applied to them.”
“For example, when a great wildfire sweeps across the land, the short grass will be completely burned away, but as long as the roots of a large tree remain alive, it can grow again. The fairness of God is called into question here.”
Qiu Yan exclaimed, “You mean that the so-called ‘evil souls’ he talks about are, in plain terms, people or things that stand out too much?”
Ren Yi finally understood what Gong Yingsheng meant.
“Essentially, what he calls eliminating evil souls is eliminating those who are different. And the more outstanding the person or thing is, the more shocking and demonstrative the effect will be. Put simply, Purple Flame is still doing it to consolidate his own rule.”
“Exactly.”
Gong Yingsheng continued, “Purple Flame uses this logic to brainwash his followers, convincing them that these people or things not only violate God’s will of fairness, but that some of them will even use their own fire to fight fire, such as firefighters. Others will use their own fire to influence others, such as writers, artists, singers…”
Gong Yingsheng’s expression suddenly changed drastically.
He said gravely, “The last bomb is on the perpetrator. Purple Flame’s ultimate target is Song Juhan.”