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墨書 Inktalez
"Fan Lingguang! I want to see Fan Lingguang!" Fang Dersee shouted in the kitchen.
"Fan..." Shen Jie was about to ask who Fan Lingguang was when someone nearby suddenly whispered, "Fan Lingguang is a distant cousin of Fang Dersee and also the nephew of a city leader. He used to be the abbot of Pudu Temple and opened a bar in New Century Underground Plaza, which was reported for offering illicit services. Fan Lingguang's wife, Nie Hua, owns a security company, and the security personnel have been involved in multiple group brawls."
Shen Jie looked at Ji Qinchou in surprise. "Fan Lingguang is quite a well-known figure locally, but if we're talking about collusion, he wouldn't look down on us frontline officers. I don't even have his contact information; do you have it? WeChat ID or phone number?"
Turning back, Shen Jie found that Shi Ya had already left with that guy.
"Excuse me, may I ask what evidence there is to list Fang Dersee as the main suspect?"
Shi Ya was surprised by his bluntness. "Well..." A police officer from the precinct was just supposed to assist from behind; asking about the key evidence in a criminal case right away was a bit too forward.
"I'll vouch for him!" The observing precinct chief, Yu Liangcai, stepped forward. "This kid is quite sharp and has good character. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."
Shi Ya licked his lips, which were blistered. "We extracted a small amount of semen from one of the victim's vaginal cavities, and after comparison, it directly matched Fang Dersee."
"Were there none on the other bodies?"
"No, I can personally guarantee that. In today's world where surveillance is everywhere and investigative techniques are constantly evolving, having 15 young girls raped and murdered across provinces within two years is a major case! The collaborative efforts of multiple provincial police forces are evident; we won't miss any key information. However, the murderer is too cunning. Even though we have many clues, we still can't accurately depict his identity because he has been extremely cautious and has never left any biological traces. Fortunately, he made one mistake and left behind that piece of evidence, which we captured precisely and quickly identified."
"Are you sure this victim was killed by the same person as the others?"
"Yes, the killer's criteria for selecting victims is very clear and singular. The methods of abuse inflicted on the victims before their deaths are also highly characteristic; every detail is precise. No imitator could replicate such criminal methods to this extent except for the killer himself."
"Have the two surviving victims identified him?"
"One became a vegetable due to brain hypoxia, and the other developed a mental illness from excessive shock—how could they identify him?"
"So among the 15 confirmed victims killed by the same person, only one had a small amount of semen belonging to Fang Dersee remaining on their body. Therefore, Fang Dersee is indeed the perpetrator responsible for 17 cases."
Shi Ya nodded. "That's correct."
Ji Qinchou suddenly fell silent. Yu Liangcai noticed he was lost in thought and signaled Shi Ya with his eyes. The two entered through the building door one after another. The iron door leading to the cable shaft swung open again. Just as Yu Liangcai was about to close it to avoid causing trouble, he glanced over and immediately furrowed his brows in frustration. He gently closed the door and followed Shi Ya into Room 101.
"Yes, he slashed half of the person's face off with one knife; this is definitely a criminal case. We're currently collecting evidence at the scene, but he insisted you come because you're his cousin. If you refuse to come, he'll have me contact his granduncle. Mr. Fan, what do you think—fine, I'll wait here for you."
Shen Jie hung up the phone and called into the kitchen, "Did you hear that? He'll be here shortly!"
There was no response from inside. Shen Jie walked out of Room 101 to give orders through the intercom: "Once there's an opportunity, shoot immediately while ensuring the hostages' safety!"
"Received!"
Shen Jie looked up to see Ji Qinchou staring at him intently as if lost in thought. "Which scoundrel cut off all the copper wires!" Yu Liangcai muttered quietly as he came out and greeted Shen Jie before noticing Ji Qinchou mumbling to himself, "Why is it in the kitchen instead of the storage room?"
"What?" Shen Jie thought Ji Qinchou was asking him.
Ji Qinchou seemed to be lost in thought, asking aimlessly, "What is their purpose for coming here?" The moment the words left his mouth, he appeared to realize something, as if everything clicked into place. His face visibly turned pale. "The igniter!"
As he rummaged through his electrician's bag for a voltage tester, he rushed into the building entrance, opened the cable well, and looked at the cross-section left by the ground wire that had been stolen at the root. Gripping the voltage tester, he slowly reached towards the nearby gas pipeline. The moment he heard a "ding," his legs nearly gave way beneath him.
Yu Liangcai had never seen Ji Qinchou in such a flustered state. "What's wrong?"
Ji Qinchou turned his head and stared intently at Shen Jie. "We can't shoot; it will explode! Pan Lang brought an igniter; they want to die together with Fan Lingguang and Pan Nianzhen!"
Shen Jie’s expression darkened as he took two steps forward. "What do you mean? Explain clearly!"
"I marked the positions of all the windows on that floor plan. The storage room has no windows and can completely isolate against ambushes from outside. How could Pan Lang not know this? They must have chosen the kitchen for a reason. Here, the ground wire has been stolen, and the break connects to the gas pipeline through a metal plate inside the wall. This means that the gas pipeline has effectively become a ground wire. If any unit in this building experiences a short circuit or leakage that produces a spark, not only will the building explode, but no one within a kilometer radius will escape!"
Shen Jie felt a buzzing in his mind. "Are you sure?"
"I have taken an electrician's certification exam and know some basic principles. Fang Dersee and Pan Lang came here for revenge. They hid in the kitchen because there is a functioning water heater inside, which acts like an indoor ground wire for Room 101. The current can flow through the water heater to the gas pipeline. If they sprinkle even a drop of water into the socket connected to the water heater, everything will be reduced to ashes in an instant!"
"So you're saying that notifying the power company to temporarily stop supplying electricity to Qingtong Community could defuse this crisis?"
A hint of sorrow flickered in Ji Qinchou's deep brown eyes. "But... she brought an igniter."
Clearly, Pan Lang had prepared a plan B; if plan B failed, there might be plans C, D, and so on... She had no intention of leaving anyone alive.
Right now, the core issue was whether to protect many or few.
To protect many meant evacuating people, calling for fire and medical assistance, and cutting off power to the community. In that instant of power loss, the alert sound and indicator light of the water heater would surely alert Pan Lang that the police had grasped her plan. If she chose to turn on the gas valve under pressure and brought the igniter close enough to ignite it, then "bang!"—the powerful shockwave from an explosion would leave anyone outside unable to escape. If Fang Dersee and Pan Lang at ground zero survived, it would be nothing short of divine intervention.
To protect few meant doing nothing and using psychological tactics to persuade them to abandon their plan. The consequence of failure would not only mean all residents of Building Nine would perish with them but also everyone in the community and passersby outside... After all, this was enough power to destroy an entire building; the police would never gamble with innocent lives.
The answer was clear. Shen Jie immediately instructed Yu Liangcai to arrange for cooperating officers to evacuate people while Ji Qinchou was about to follow his superior out when Shen Jie grabbed his elbow and simultaneously dialed emergency services for fire and medical assistance. Finally, he called the power company; the number was right at the top of his screen. As long as he gently tapped on the microphone icon at the bottom, it would dial out, cutting off power to the community—and after that, he could not predict what would happen.
Shen Jie looked at Ji Qinchou, whose eyes were cold and empty as if a bucket of cold water had instantly brought him back to rationality. He resolutely dialed the power company.
"Perhaps I can give it a try," Ji Qinchou said.
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