Vol 2 Book 2 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Book 2 Chapter 10 – Mystery Case in the Village

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Panic spread throughout the crowd as the sound of gongs alerted the village of the situation. The solidarity of a small community was put on full display as the villagers dropped whatever task they had at hand and rushed towards the scene of the blaze. With the thick smoke that gradually spread into the corners of the village, filming naturally ceased. The crew guarded the equipment in an orderly manner, according to the plans devised during the professional training they had received.

“Could it be that the fire and lightning division…” The floor manager scurried to Xiao Hei with a worried expression: the filming crew had some flammable items used for filming. Xiao Hei shook his head in silence and gazed at the fire in a pondering stance.

Li Yiming did not rush to the site of the incident. Instead, he dragged Bai Ze and Liu Meng to the side, and observed Fang Shui’er together with his summon from a far-away corner.

“Guo Xiang?” Fang Shui’er gulped down a mouthful of water from the bottle given to her by Zeng Qian and asked in a calm voice.

“It’s that Lei San’er” Zeng Qian answered with a smile.

“Daring, to set the mountain ablaze like that.”

“But not unusual. I’d reckon that Guo Xiang has promised him some kind of reward. Money will always bring out the lunatics, especially for these people who have learned to avoid poverty at all costs after struggling with it for so long. Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest,” said Zeng Qian.

“I’d commend him for his initiative. With the forest and the crops gone, the fruits of the villagers’ labor for the year is burnt to the ground as well. How are they going to sustain themselves for the upcoming year? It wouldn’t be so bad if only the crops were burned, but these fruit trees, worked on for many years, will be ruined. Of course the villagers would have to resort to selling their land once they lose the means to feed themselves. But has he thought about how to build a resort on a ravaged wasteland?”

“You’ve given him too much credit for even coming up with the idea, to ask him to think about the consequences?” Zeng Qian had a cold smile.

“Anything from their side?”

“Nothing. We’ve kept an eye on them since the start of the fire.”

“Trouble. We don’t even know if they’re friends or foes,” said Fang Shui’er with her back turned against Li Yiming. She drank another mouthful. “What of Guo Xiang?”

“I’ve yet to hear news of him. I told Zhi Wen to keep an eye on him.”

“Okay, tell Zhi Wu to watch Li Yiming as well.”

“Noted.”

The fire spread quickly, despite the efforts of the villagers fighting against it. Fortunately, the leaders of the village had the foresight to order the villagers to cut down a row of trees to contain the conflagration. Five fire trucks carrying what seemed to be the entire department of Jing Prefecture had finally arrived, and teams of firefighters dove into the burning forest with their equipment.

The members of the filming crew were quite distraught by the idea that they might have caused the fire. Some of them joined in helping the efforts of the firefighters after gathering the filming equipment together. Liu Meng had barely taken a step in that direction when Li Yiming pulled her back; he himself would have voluntarily joined the fray, but this was a domain. With Fang Shui’er and her friends watching from the side and the cause of the fire still unknown, Li Yiming did not dare to make a move.

The situation finally returned within the boundaries of control as dusk fell. Desolate hills still smoldering with white smoke replaced the otherwise beautiful landscape. The lush vegetation was gone, and so were the pools of untainted, limpid water. Many of the villagers held themselves together to seek comfort and cried at their misfortune. However, they were at least able to find solace in the constatation that no one had perished from the incident. The results of the investigation of the firefighters came as a quick shock: evidence pointed towards arson. Not only were there remnants of flammable material around where the fire started, the blaze itself was found to have originated from four different locations, so the possibility of it being an accident was minimal.