After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

Fire hoses slammed into the corrugated iron roof, the water mist and black smoke swirling together, making it impossible for people to open their eyes.

Chen Ping stood inside the cordon and started yelling at the construction site security manager.

"The surveillance cameras were down for half an hour. What were you doing?"

The security chief, surnamed Zheng, was in his forties. He was sprayed with spittle in his face and shrank back half a step.

"Director Chen, the monitoring room says the circuit breaker tripped, and the staff on duty went to check the distribution box."

"It takes half an hour to check?"

Chen Ping grabbed the shoulder strap of his reflective vest, raising his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the entire construction site.

"Don't you know what's stored in Warehouse No. 3? Core equipment from the silicon carbide pilot production line! If it burns out, can you afford to compensate for it?"

Captain Zheng stumbled a step as he was pulled, his lips trembling as he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

A dozen or so workers and technicians were gathered around, their cell phone screens lit up, and someone was recording a video.

Chen Ping loosened Captain Zheng's shoulder strap, turned around and walked towards Jiang Fan. After taking three steps, with his back to the crowd, he took out his phone from his pocket and quickly swiped his thumb across the screen twice.

The message sent contained only four characters.

"The fish has taken the bait."

Recipient: Ma Donglin.

Jiang Fan leaned closer, speaking in a low voice.

"Director, the fire department says the fire is basically under control. The western half of the warehouse collapsed, but the shelves in the eastern half are still holding up, but the boxes inside..."

Chen Ping raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Have Lin Yuanzhou lead men in to take inventory. Take everything that can be salvaged, and register anything that can't be salvaged. Report the losses first thing tomorrow morning."

He said it loud enough that at least five or six people around him heard it.

Jiang Fan turned around and went to find Lin Yuanzhou.

Chen Ping walked alone to the roller shutter door on the east side of the warehouse, leaned against the metal frame of the roller shutter door, turned his phone screen to the darkest setting, and opened a memo from three days ago.

He wrote that memo himself and didn't send it to anyone.

"At dawn on November 1, all core equipment was transferred to the backup warehouse (No. 6). Warehouse No. 3 will retain the scrapped old equipment and empty packaging boxes, with no changes to the appearance and no changes to the seals."

The relocation work was overseen by him and Ma Donglin alone; Jiang Fan didn't know, Lin Yuanzhou didn't know, and no one else on the construction site knew.

The two aluminum alloy boxes that Lin Yuanzhou rushed into the fire to retrieve contained discarded control boards salvaged from the pilot production line. The actual epitaxial furnace control cabinet and photolithography mask had already been locked in the constant temperature cabinet in spare warehouse number 6 three days prior.

Lin Yuanzhou didn't know. He thought he had snatched the real thing, so his desperate efforts were genuine, and the burn hole on the back of his shirt was real too.

Chen Ping owed Lin Yuanzhou a favor in this regard. But there was no other way—the reactions in the fire had to be genuine, everyone's reactions had to be genuine, in order for the person who started the fire to believe that the fire had hit a vital spot.

My phone vibrated.

Ma Donglin's reply.

"The surveillance camera at the north gate captured a person wearing a black hoodie exiting through a gap in the fence at the northwest corner. We're following them. They're about 300 meters away. Don't move."

Chen Ping locked his phone, put it in his pocket, and looked up at the still-smoking warehouse roof.

The firelight had died down, leaving only a few plumes of black smoke rising from the collapse and being dispersed by the night wind.

He took out a cigarette case from his pocket, shook out one, put it in his mouth, but didn't light it.

three minutes.

five minutes.

At the seventh minute, a brief commotion came from the direction of the North Gate in the distance. Footsteps, shouts, and the clanging of metal were mixed together, and it quieted down in less than ten seconds.

My phone vibrated again.

Ma Donglin sent a photo showing the back of a person being pinned to the ground. The person was wearing a black hoodie, jeans, white sneakers, and a digital watch on their left wrist.

A line of text appeared below the photo.

"We've got him. We found a bottle of industrial alcohol and a homemade, albeit poorly made, ignition device on him. Take him to the Economic Crime Investigation Division first. When are you coming over?"

Chen Ping took the unlit cigarette out of his mouth, crushed it, and threw it into the puddle at his feet.

"An hour later."

After sending the message, he turned and walked towards Jiang Fan.

"Leave the scene to the fire department and security; you stay and keep an eye on things. I'm going to the city bureau."

Jiang Fan didn't ask why, and simply nodded.

The Economic Crime Investigation Division is located on the third floor of the North Building of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

When Chen Ping released him, Ma Donglin was standing at the door of the interrogation room at the end of the corridor, with his arms crossed and one leg braced against the wall.

"How is he?"

Ma Donglin tilted his chin slightly towards the interrogation room.

"He was about 26 or 27 years old, uncooperative, and wouldn't say a word, but we found something during the body search."

Ma Donglin pulled an access card out of the evidence bag. It was covered by a transparent plastic bag, and the logo of Xinhuo High-tech Zone was printed on the card.

"This card has a B2 access level, which allows access to the internal area of ​​the Management Committee and the core warehouse area of ​​the Phase II construction site. A total of 47 B2 access cards have been issued throughout the High-tech Zone, and all of them are registered under real names."

Chen Ping took the evidence bag and turned it over to the back of the card.

On the back, there is a small label with printed words, including the name and employee number, all written clearly.

He stared at the name for about three seconds.

He said, "Go in."

The lights in the interrogation room were a very white and cold color, illuminating people's faces clearly, making even the lines on their faces particularly obvious.

The young man sitting in the chair was still wearing the black hoodie, but the hood had been removed, and his hair was a bit messy, sticking to his forehead. His chin was taut and he looked stiff.

Chen Ping didn't sit down; he stood next to the table, took the access card out of the evidence bag, placed it face up in the middle of the table, and then put it there.

"You should recognize this card, right?"

The young man's eyes were fixed on the card; his Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't say a word.

Chen Ping flipped the card over again, turning the label on the back towards him.

"You don't need to speak, I can read it for you. It says: Name: Liu Chang. Employee ID: HX-2023-0187. Position: Section Chief of the Technology Management Section of the High-tech Zone."

The young man's shoulder twitched slightly, a small movement, but it was unmistakable under the cold white light.

Ma Donglin added a comment from the side.

"He is 27 years old this year and was promoted last year, making him the youngest head of the technology department since the establishment of the High-tech Zone."

Chen Ping took back the access card, put it into the evidence bag, and sealed it.

"Liu Chang, who recommended you for your position in the technical department?"

Liu Chang's lips moved slightly, then closed again.

Chen Ping didn't ask any further questions and turned to leave the interrogation room.

Ma Donglin followed him out and closed the door behind him.

"He won't talk, and the interrogation will take time."

"No rush." ​​Chen Ping stood in the corridor, his hands in his coat pockets.

"Was his phone confiscated?"

"Detained, currently retrieving communication records."

"Focus on investigating two time periods: phone calls and text messages within 72 hours before the fire, and the frequency of contact with internal personnel of the High-tech Zone Management Committee over the past month."

Ma Donglin nodded, turned around, and went into the technical analysis room next door.

Chen Pingfang stood alone in the corridor, leaning against the wall, staring at the closed door of the interrogation room.

Liu Chang. Twenty-seven years old. He was promoted last year to head of the technology section, making him the youngest and most valued cadre in the High-tech Zone Management Committee.

Chen Pingfang remembered the person who recommended him.

The signature on that promotion recommendation letter is still sitting in the filing cabinet on his desk.

The signatory was Sun Zhaohui.

But the fact that Liu Chang dared to take action after Sun Zhaohui was taken away shows that he had more than just Sun Zhaohui behind him.

The door to the technical analysis room opened a crack, and Ma Donglin peeked out.

"The call logs are out; there's one you need to look at."

Chen Ping walked in, and on the screen was a list of Liu Chang's calls over the past week. Ma Donglin pointed to one of the records with the tip of his pen; the time was marked as four hours before the fire.

Call duration: 1 minute and 47 seconds.

Next to the other party's number, the system automatically generated a nickname that popped up.

Chen Ping stared at that name, his entire body glued to the screen.

The nickname is only three characters long: "Director He".