Chapter 19: Memories of the Past (Please subscribe)

  That year, Wu Hui was only five years old. At that time, the three of them had just bought a birthday cake and were planning to celebrate Wu Hui's birthday belatedly because on the day of his actual birthday, the two of them had missed it due to work assignments. Now that their task was over, they finally had time to give their son a belated birthday celebration.

  Wu Hui still clearly remembers that at the time, his father Wu Fangtao was driving the car, and his mother and Wu Hui were sitting in the back row. At the time, Wu Hui kept staring at the cake, wanting to secretly take a bite, but was discovered by his mother, who told him she would give him the biggest piece when they got home. His father also teased Wu Hui that he was already a little man and couldn't be so greedy.

  The scene at that time was so warm and happy, but just at that moment, everything froze.

  A runaway large truck crashed into their car, Jiang Qing used her own body to protect her son in the last moment of her life. The car was crushed, Wu Fangtou and Jiang Qing died on the spot, but Wu Hui miraculously survived under Jiang Qing's protection.

  The driver of the big truck did not run away and confessed at the time, but everyone knew that there was someone behind him who had instructed him. However, this driver committed suicide in prison and never revealed who had instructed him until the very end.

  At that time, the case was extremely sensational, and a nationwide search was conducted to find out who was behind the scenes at the time. Until now, the perpetrator of the murder of the police elite has not been found, and this case is still ranked first in the unsolved cases today.

  Kuo knew about the case, but at the time when it was reported in the newspaper, the name of the deceased police officer was not disclosed. It turned out that the case was actually about Wu Fangtao, but he had a question, "But I didn't hear that Wu Fangtao and Jiang Qing have children?"

  "This was to protect me, their previous mission was to crack a massive drug trafficking case. More than 100 people were arrested, all of them were extremely vicious, and they were worried that there might be some fish that slipped through the net, even if not, they were also worried that someone had been missed in the previous cases." Because Wu Fangtao and Jiang Qing's identities were special, they were worried that if the escaped person knew that Wu Fangtao and his wife still had a child, then Wu Hui would be in danger.

  Guo Yining still felt that it was not appropriate, "If your identity is not known to anyone, then it should have nothing to do with the previous case, but if they find out...then you're really in danger."

  The main culprits in the drug trafficking and manufacturing case have all been caught and punished, so it shouldn't be them. Maybe I'm just overthinking, and it has nothing to do with his parents' case. "If they really knew about it, I probably wouldn't be alive today."

  Guo Yining still wasn't at ease. He had to investigate this matter thoroughly, "Better safe than sorry."

  "Alright, I'll be careful." Wu Hui felt that the whole atmosphere was awkward because of his own background, so he said: "Okay, it should have nothing to do with the previous case. Now let's take a look at this arson case."

  Wu Hui no longer mentions what happened before. The others also stop asking about it.

  "Well, basically everything that can be investigated on the scene, I've already finished investigating. Now it's up to you guys." Wang Siting walked back and sat down beside Wu Hui, her task was complete.

  Wang Siting sat back in her seat. Wu Hui continued, "If this case is related to the mastermind behind it, then I think there will be a follow-up. It shouldn't just be this one arson case. The next one will appear somewhere else, but we don't know where for now."

  Guo Yining nodded, "That's right. So we need to find this arsonist as soon as possible."

  Wu Hui decided to start by analyzing the arsonists, "At present, most of the arsonists we know are young males. Research has shown that 75%-85% of arsonists are male, while the proportion of female arsonists increases gradually between the ages of 13 and 17, with about 50% of arsonists under the age of 18, and about two-thirds of those arrested being under the age of 25."

  Guo Yining had indeed caught a few young arsonists at the police station several years ago, consistent with Wu Hui's statement. "You mean to say that the suspect in this arson case is a young person?"

  "It can be said like this." In theory, there is a great possibility of this happening.

  Yang Rong felt that someone who could be so ruthless couldn't possibly be a young guy. "What's the motive for setting fire to Tian Shi's home? No matter what, there should be a motive, right?"

  "Arson motives are varied, revenge, resentment or jealousy, this type of arsonist includes a jilted lover, disgruntled neighbor, underappreciated employee, or someone who has been cheated on or insulted and thinks about getting back at the person, often with the aid of alcohol or drugs."

  Wu Hui continued: "Another type is wanton destruction or malicious disturbance, the most common motive for arson among young people is to challenge authority through fire or to relieve their own negative emotions."

  Today, I saw a group of people who were not very old, dressed in a strange and peculiar way, chewing gum in their mouths, holding cigarettes in their hands, with an attitude that looked like they would beat someone up at any moment, "just like the hooligans in the neighborhood."

  Wu Hui decided to rule out one of the motives, "There is another motive that I think has nothing to do with this case, which is to cover up or divert attention from other crimes. At least 7-9% of arsonists try to conceal evidence of burglary and murder by setting fires near their targets or evidence. Angel Garden is an orphanage, if someone really wanted to steal something, they wouldn't go to the children's living quarters, this doesn't match. Another possibility is insurance fraud, these children have insurance but there are fixed beneficiaries, this motive also does not fit this case."

  He drew a question mark next to the words "divert attention" in his notebook, then looked up and said, "So can we understand it this way: the arsonist diverted our attention, but his real target wasn't Angel Garden, he just wanted to divert our attention by setting fire to Angel Garden, and his actual target is somewhere else?"

  Upon hearing Fang's inference, Yang Rong felt that there was some truth to it and hastily said: "Yes, because we also saw from the scene that although the fire was big, it was set on the first floor where no one was present. The children were on the second floor and didn't suffer much harm. Isn't that a bit strange?"

  Guo Yining thought Fang You's statement was feasible. "This possibility cannot be ruled out, as most of the areas around Tian Shi Home are residential districts. If they want to divert our attention, then their target might be the residential buildings. Although we haven't received any cases related to the residential buildings yet, that doesn't mean we can neglect this point. We need to pay attention."

  Wang Siting thought the possibility of residential building was small, "If by setting fire to Angel Home to divert police attention, then the real purpose of the criminal must be bigger than Angel Home, absolutely not a residential building. What could it be? A shopping mall? A bank? But we didn't receive any report like that?"

  Wang Hua felt what they said made sense, "En, you're right!"

  Wu Hui thinks that the person behind the arson case, if targeting him, has the following motive: "It's also intimidation, extortion, terrorist activities, and conspiracy to sabotage. This is done to achieve some social or political change."

  Recalling the card sent to Qin Min's room, Guo Yining felt that the possibility of intimidation was not impossible. "That's right, if the arsonist was just a tool being used, then the person behind him actually wanted to intimidate you, because he knew what this Angel Home meant to you."

  Guo Yining had a feeling of being watched all the time, which made him very annoyed. "It seems that person must have done some investigation on your identity, he is in the dark and you are in the light, it's better to be more careful."

  Yang Rong said: "This kind of person is only worthy of hiding in the dark, if I catch him. He must be pulled to a place with sunlight. Let him know how cold his world is and how warm our world is."

  Wang Si Ting gave Yang Rong a thumbs up. Agreeing with her, she thought of Zhou Da Peng's case and felt that there should be some similarities between the two cases. "If that person was trying to intimidate Wu Hui, then he should also choose someone similar to Zhou Da Peng, exploiting his psychological weaknesses without getting involved himself, and committing a crime."

  Wu Hui pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and Wang Si-ting's words were exactly what he had been thinking. "This is what I was going to say next, and it's also the motive that I think is most likely - that person took advantage of the arsonist's pyromania to carry out his plan."

  When Wu Hui said another strange term, Wang Hua was somewhat puzzled, but he knew a little about it and was sure it had something to do with mental illness. How could there be so many types of mental illnesses? Was humanity too fragile? "Pyromania, is this also a mental illness?"

  Wu Hui stood up and wrote three words on the note board, "Pyromania is a psychiatric term used to describe those who cannot control their impulses or passions for arson. These people have accumulated a lot of pressure before setting fires, and only by setting fires can they feel extremely happy or relaxed. I think that person took advantage of this point of pyromaniacs, instigating and inciting him to set fire in Angel Paradise."

  Wang Hua thought that a mentally ill person shouldn't follow other people's arrangements, you let him go burn the Tian Shi family home, he might go burn the neighbor's house instead. "If pyromania is a mental illness, he'll listen to others, if you let him set fires, he'll go set fires?"

  "Although we usually think that people with pyromania can't control their behavior, before setting a fire, they often show various clues indicating that they are going to set a fire. Maybe the person saw this and provided him with a place and plan when he was preparing to set the fire." Wu Hui put down his pen and sat back in his seat.

  Guo Yining recalled the several arson youths he had caught before, to see if he could find someone who matched Wu Hui's description of having pyromania. "If so, it should be easy to lock down the suspect, I believe he must have a previous record."

  Wu Hui's profile is also this, the person must have a history of arson, "That's right, and generally arsonists will stay on the scene to watch their own work. I think as long as we investigate the people who stayed at the scene that night and check if they have any previous convictions, it should be easy to lock them down."

  "Alright, Wang Hua you go to the scene to investigate, see if there are any surveillance cameras. If there are, retrieve the footage from the past few days. I think that person must have gone to observe the terrain beforehand. Fang You and Yang Rong, you two go to the hospital and make sure to comfort the child."

  "Yes!" Several people responded and left.

  Guo Yining saw Wu Hui had been busy all night and was also tired, hoping he would go back to rest first. "I'll go to the TV station to find a friend, let her use the media's power to call on society to donate, as soon as possible to repair Angel Home, can't let the children always stay in the hospital. Siting, trouble you to send Wu Hui back."

  Wu Hui didn't want to go home, he still wanted to see Qin's mother and the children. "No need, I'll just go back myself."

  "What's with all the nonsense? You should be honored to have a beautiful doctor send you off, what are you pushing away for!" Guo Yining gave Wu Hui's arm a hard push, almost sending him tumbling. If he wasn't busy with something else, he would definitely have sent Wu Hui back home.

  Wu Hui didn't want to be treated specially, just as he was about to decline, he saw Wang Si Ting give him a wink, "Don't worry, Captain Guo, I'll take care of Wu Hui."

  Since Wu Hui couldn't make any more excuses, Guo Yining looked down at her watch and saw that the time she had agreed to meet someone had arrived, so she couldn't stay here any longer. "Look at Si Ting, she hasn't said anything, why do you have so many words? It's settled then, Si Ting, I'm leaving Wu Hui in your care, make sure to send him back home safely."

  Wu Hui only then realized that in just a few sentences, Guo Yining had already glanced at his watch twice. Earlier during the meeting, he was also constantly sneaking glances at his wristwatch. It seemed he was in a hurry. "Alright, you can go and attend to your matters now."

  Guo Yining saw Wu Hui agree and ran out without looking back. Seeing Guo Yining's departing figure, Wang Siting seemed to be thinking, "Captain Guo, there's something going on."

  Wu Hui nodded in agreement, "You've also noticed, he shaved today, changed into a clean set of clothes, and even polished his shoes. It seems that the person he's meeting today is probably a woman."

  Wang Siting smiled, "It must be a woman, otherwise Captain Guo wouldn't be in such a hurry. After working with him for so many years, this is the first time I've seen him like this. It looks like Captain Guo is going to get off the single train."

  Wu Hui was not so optimistic about this matter, "It won't be that easy, it's probably just Guo's team being overly anxious."

  Wang Si Ting picked up the coat and bag draped over the back of the chair, heading out, "How about it? Want to make a bet? Let's bet on when we can see that mysterious beauty?"

  "I'm going to gamble." Wu Hui also picked up his coat and walked out of the office with Wang Si Ting side by side.