Chapter Twenty-Two: Collection

  Wen Peng's room was very messy, but there was one place that was extremely clean and tidy. It could be seen that he wiped it every day.

  In a corner of his bedroom, there was a glass cabinet filled with lighters of all shapes and sizes. He liked to collect various types of lighters, even some rare ones, it seemed that most of Wen Peng's expenses went into this hobby.

  When Wu Hui reached for the lighter inside, Wen Peng, who had been nonchalant, suddenly flared up like a startled rooster and almost broke free from the police officer's grasp, shouting angrily at Wu Hui: "Get your dirty hands off! Don't touch my stuff!"

  It's a good thing the police were there to restrain him, otherwise Wen Peng would have broken free and definitely hurt Wu Hui. Wu Hui respected his opinion and didn't touch anything inside again, but instead turned around to look at Wen Peng with a very interested expression, "You like collecting lighters?"

  Wen Peng originally didn't like the police, and with Wu Hui's actions just now, he had an even worse impression of him. He looked at him with disdain, "What, is collecting lighters also against the law? Which law says you can't collect lighters?"

  Wu Hui smiled and pointed to a lighter in the cabinet that resembled a building, saying: "This limited edition S.T. Dupont's Pleven De?e was inspired by the Vend?me Plaza, made with luxurious platinum plating, 192 diamonds embedded on the Ligne 2 lighter, mimicking the plaza's architecture, Napoleon's famous quote 'Pssblen'espsfrn?s' engraved on the lighter's roller, limited to 35 pieces. I think this one should be a counterfeit?"

  Wen Peng did not think that Wu Hui would know about the lighter, as he was surrounded by people who were beneath him and only knew how to fawn over him. It was rare to meet someone who understood lighters, so when Wu Hui mentioned replicas, Wen Peng didn't deny it, but instead frankly admitted, "That's right, I really like this one, but even with all the money in the world, you can't buy it."

  Perhaps because Wu Hui had some understanding of lighters, Wen Peng's attitude towards Wu Hui changed slightly, and he was no longer as uncooperative with their investigation as before.

  Then Wu Hui hoped to open a conversation between the two through this, and again pointed at the lighter placed in the middle: "s..dpn noble series diamond rain. The lighter has a platinum-plated surface, s..dpn's signature diamond rhombus pattern, with multiple brilliant diamonds set in the center. Creating a dazzling effect. This unique and rare lighter comes with its own serial number, 'Diamond Rain' series limited to 352 pieces, each priced comparable to the latest Audi A4L top-of-the-line version, this one should be genuine."

  Yang Rong heard Wu Hui's words and took a deep breath. More than 500,000 yuan to buy a lighter, is Wen Peng crazy?

  Wen Feng thought Wu Hui only recognized one of the lighters, and didn't expect him to be right again. The collection of lighters was his pride, but usually no one understood them, and he didn't know who to show off to. Now that he had finally met someone who appreciated them, he definitely wanted to show off properly.

  Wen Peng's face was full of pride, and he pointed to a lighter next to the "Drilling Rain" and said: "I really underestimated you, I didn't expect you to be so familiar with lighters. What about that one? Do you know what it is?"

  Following the direction pointed by Wen Peng, Wu Hui looked over and saw that it was a relatively simple style. Wu Hui smiled and replied: "The Dunhill lighter with gold plating sells for about 5,000 yuan. In 1956, the Dunhill lighter was introduced to the world as the first high-end butane gas lighter, and it is still considered a classic in the field of lighters today. Alfred Dunhill defined the style of Dunhill as 'a gentleman's product that always has a knightly style'. How about it? Is what I said correct?"

  This lighter is cheap, but it has special significance for lighter collectors. Wen Peng also searched for many years before buying it back from someone else at a high price. "Are you here because of the arson? I admit it, both fires were set by me."

  Several people did not expect Wen Peng to admit the arson so quickly, Wen Peng pointed at Wu Hui and said "I don't believe anyone else, I only want to talk to you."

  Wu Hui was not a policeman, so he didn't have the right to interrogate prisoners. He looked at Guo Yining, who nodded in agreement without thinking much about it.

  "Alright, but I need someone to take notes. How about her?" Wu Hui pointed to Wang Siting standing aside, who was wearing a white coat at the moment and looked somewhat like a doctor.

  Wang Siting was somewhat unhappy with the extra work Wu Hui had arranged for herself, which wasn't within her job scope.

  When he saw Wu Hui pointing at him, Wen Peng didn't say anything. As long as it wasn't the police, that was fine. He had an indifferent expression and sat down on the ground with a thud. "Give me a cigarette!"

  Wu Hui pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Wen Peng, whose hands were cuffed. As he took the cigarette, the metal cuffs made a clinking sound. Wen Peng didn't feel any inconvenience, as he was used to being handcuffed every now and then. The police in this district would often take him to the police station for some reason or other. Wu Hui saw Wen Peng put the cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a lighter from his pocket to light it for him.

  Wen Peng took a deep drag on his cigarette, seeming to have regained his spirits. "So you know how to use a lighter. I didn't think of that. You're using a one-yuan plastic lighter and don't even know how to enjoy it."

  Wu Hui glanced at the lighter in his hand and put it into his pocket. "Not that much money, just like it, so I studied it, can't afford to buy."

  "It's true, you dead cops don't have much money, all you know is to shout and scream like mad dogs." Fortunately, the other police officers were all in the living room at this time, leaving only Wu Hui, Wang Si Ting, and Wen Peng in the bedroom. If Wang Hua was in the room, Wen Peng would probably be in for a hard time.

  Wu Hui took a look at the shelf, and the lighters inside added up to over a million yuan. He didn't know where Wu got that kind of money from. "You're right, but I also didn't expect you could collect so many lighters. That's a lot of money."

  Wen Peng took a drag on his cigarette, exhaling slowly as he blew out ring after ring of smoke. "I know what you're thinking - just look at where I live and the clothes I wear, and you'd probably think I'm just some small-time hoodlum who has trouble even getting meals. And to be honest, you're not entirely wrong either. I really don't have anything, and if it weren't for those two giving me money, I would've starved to death a long time ago."

  Previously, Guo Yining had investigated that Wen Peng's parents ran a small company in another place and they were quite well-off. "Those two people? You're referring to your parents?"

  "That's right, one is my dad and the other is my mom. They are willing to spend money on me as long as I don't go looking for them." Although Wen Peng put on an air of indifference, his eyes betrayed him - he wasn't unwilling to look for them, it was just that they had abandoned him.

  A child abandoned by his parents, hopes to get their attention by doing something earth-shattering. It's probably because when he was young, his parents were never around and he was always bullied by people around him. "Let's talk about the arson case, did you send this card?"

  When Wu Hui took out the card with a red wig, Wen Feng looked at it and shook his head. "How could such a mother's thing be sent by me? I'm not that boring."

  Wu Hui returned the card to Wang Si Ting and let her put it away. "Why did you choose Angel's Home as your target?"

  Wen Peng thought for a moment, "You're talking about the first one, right? I don't know what that place is called. Last weekend at the bar, I met someone while drinking. We hit it off and he also likes lighters, but relatively speaking, he likes fire more. So we planned to set a big fire, then he went to buy gasoline, chose a location, and I was in charge of setting the fire, that's all. As for what you said about Tian Shi Jia Yuan, I don't know."

  Wen Peng didn't know anything about that place, yet he so easily believed someone and set a fire. It's simply too ridiculous. "Do you know what kind of place you set on fire? It was an orphanage with many children who don't have parents or were abandoned by their parents."

  When Wen Peng heard Wu Hui's words, his hand shook and the cigarette fell from between his fingers. He really hadn't expected that the place was an orphanage. At the time, he had simply carried a can of gasoline into a courtyard, then snuck into a small house under cover of darkness. The house was very small, with several children's clothes inside, but he hadn't thought much about it and just lit the fire before running away. If he had known that was an orphanage, he absolutely wouldn't have set the fire. "Was...was there...were there any kids hurt?"

  Seeing Wen Peng's appearance, Wu Hui shook his head helplessly. "No, fortunately the children were all on the second floor when you set the fire."

  Wen Peng painfully buried his head in his hands, as if very regretful. "I didn't know, I really didn't know. At that time, I was too nervous and had no idea what I did. I just poured gasoline into the room and set it on fire, then ran out. I really didn't know. I didn't even hear the children's voices."

  Wu Hui didn't want to hear his explanation. Since he had done it, he should bear the consequences. "Why did you stay behind to put out the fire?"

  After a long period of silence, Wen Peng spoke again: "Although I was very nervous, but it was particularly exciting. The feeling is much better than those small-scale arson attacks. I imagined the magnificent scene of the whole building burning after ignition. How could I miss it? Of course, I stayed to watch, watching the fire getting bigger and bigger. Later, the fire brigade came, and I don't know why I followed them to put out the fire. As more and more people arrived, I was worried about being discovered, so I escaped."

  Seeing Wen Peng's nearly crazy look on his face, Wu Hui felt very irritating, "What about the second one?"

  "I sprinted all the way, and the excitement in my heart couldn't be hidden. It was like the feeling of arson after my heart was racing wildly. I really loved it, I had never felt that way before. As I got closer to home, the feeling of my heart racing slowly faded away, but that feeling made me addicted, I couldn't wait to experience it again. So I saw the video hall I often went to." When Wen Peng talked about that feeling, he was in a state of near-manic excitement, waving his hands and feet, and his previous guilt towards Tian Shi Jia Yuan had long since disappeared.

  Wu Hui was a bit skeptical, could Wen Peng really not know that Angel Home was an orphanage? Even if he was nervous, how could he not hear the children's laughter on the second floor when he was on the first floor? "How did you get in and set the fire?"

  As for the second arson, it was his own masterpiece. How could he not share it with them? "I knew that place would be locked up at night, and I also knew that one wall was easy to climb over. I often climbed over to sneak a peek at the video room. So I climbed in, saw that there was no one at the bar, took an electric heater from the bar, went into the empty 15th compartment, pointed the electric heater at the sofa, and I knew the heat of the electric heater would definitely ignite the sofa. Then I climbed over the wall again and returned home, lying on my bed, staring in the direction of the video room."

  In the winter, some homes without heating have electric heaters for warmth. Wu Hui looked around this room and didn't find an electric heater, so how did Wen Peng know that an electric heater could be used to set a fire? "Do you know that an electric heater can ignite a sofa?"

  "Of course, I remember when I was young, my grandma was worried that I would be cold while sleeping, so she put an electric heater in my room. Who knew that at night I kicked it over, burning the quilt and causing a fire? I also got burned and had to stay in the hospital. Later, my parents received a call from my grandma and came back, scolding me severely, leaving some money behind, and then hastily left again." Wen Peng rolled up his right pant leg, revealing a large burn scar on it.

  It seemed that Wen Peng remembered something from a long time ago, "That fire didn't think it would make my dad and mom, who I hadn't seen for over a year, come back to see me. I thought maybe it was because I caused trouble, so they came back. Later on, I often set fires in the nearby area, usually burning people's clothes or quilts, or sometimes the trash cans at the door. Every time this happened, they would come back, give them money to compensate, and slowly but surely, as long as I wanted to see them, I would go set fires. And every time, they really would come back, although they would beat me up, but being able to see them made it worth it."

  Wang Si Ting heard Wen Peng's words, feeling a bit pitiful for the child. Because he couldn't get his parents' love, he could only use such extreme methods to see the person he had always wanted to see. However, the more he did this, the less he got his parents' affection, until he became what he is now. "Why didn't you go with them?"

  "Leave? You think I didn't want to go with them, but as soon as Grandma's funeral was over, they said I could stay here and they would send me a lot of money every month, as long as I didn't cause any more trouble for them." At that time, he really thought that without Grandma taking care of him, his parents would take him in, but what he got instead was their abandonment.

  At that time, he was only 15 years old. A 15-year-old child, how could he face his parents' abandonment? Perhaps it was because of the little self-esteem he had left, he didn't ask his parents to take him with them, but instead agreed to their request.

  After that, he never saw his parents again, nor did he receive a single phone call from them. The only contact was the large sum of living expenses deposited into his card every month.