“Exactly, Zhao’s lodging is right here. Listen, after we get off, Bai Xiang, you’ll go to the convenience store over there, pretending to buy something. Yan Yang, you’ll pretend to watch the old men playing chess over there. And you, what’s your name again? You’ll pretend to be my boyfriend later. Remember to act intimate,” said Mu Yu.

“My name is Qiu Feng, Qiu—Feng—,” Qiu Feng tried to emphasize, hoping Mu Yu would remember him, but was somewhat disappointed to see that Mu Yu had no reaction at all.

“Why does this youngling deserve to be your ‘boyfriend’?” Yan Yang couldn’t help but feel aggrieved. He had been working with Mu Yu for so long and had never had such an opportunity.

“Because he’s a new face. Both of you keep a low profile. Maybe your faces are already highlighted in their notes,” Mu Yu disregarded Yan Yang’s dissatisfaction, opened the car door, and glanced around to make sure no one noticed them.

“Am I doing it right?” Qiu Feng lengthened his stride to keep up with Mu Yu. She was petite, so his arm fit perfectly around her shoulder.

“You little rascal,” Yan Yang turned around and saw Mu Yu being held tenderly by this newcomer, but it wasn’t appropriate to react rashly. All he could do was mutter under his breath.

“Alright, let’s go over to the lodging. Zhao Pengcheng lives on the third floor. Let’s go upstairs,” Mu Yu pretended to tilt her head and acted coyly with Qiu Feng, but she was actually instructing him on their mission.

“Yu...” Qiu Feng’s ear was tickled by the breath of Mu Yu, making him blush. He hadn’t never been this close to a girl before.

“Why is there so much smoke?” Several tenants on the third floor opened their doors, trying to find out where the smoke was from.

“Oh no!” Mu Yu let go of Qiu Feng’s hand and hurried upstairs.

“Call the fire department! I’ll go evacuate the crowd,” Mu Yu saw that some people from the neighboring rooms were smoked out but were still lingering and looking around. Some doors were still closed, either because the occupants weren’t home or hadn’t realized there was a fire.

“Wait,” Qiu Feng followed closely behind her upstairs, taking out his phone and dialing 911.

The rental building had six floors with no elevator. Mu Yu ran straight to the sixth floor, knocking on doors one by one to alert the residents.

“Mu Yu, I’ll go to the fourth floor,” Qiu Feng ran to the floor closest to the source of the fire.

“Be careful, Qiu” Mu Yu didn’t have time to think much. The fire truck hadn’t arrived yet, but the fire was too intense. They needed to evacuate all the residents of the building as soon as possible.

Qiu Feng reached the fourth floor, the hallway filled with thick smoke. He choked on a lungful of smoke as soon as he opened his mouth, unable to speak. He could only pound on doors forcefully. Fortunately, most of the residents on this floor had already self-evacuated due to the heavy smoke.

“Help... Please help me...” Qiu Feng heard a very weak voice.

“Is anyone there?” He calmed down and heard that the voice was indeed coming from Room 405.

“Qiu Feng, is there someone?” Mu Yu had finished checking the fifth floor by now and saw him still on the fourth floor.

“There should be an elderly person here, probably with limited mobility.” Qiu Feng heard an elderly voice coming from the room. If people couldn’t come out now, it was likely they couldn’t leave on their own.

“Some people just left the door open. Go to find some towels and soak them.” Mu Yu rushed in front of Qiu Feng.

With a swift kick, Mu Yu forced open the door of 405, and inside, thick smoke billowed.

“Sir, where are you?” Mu Yu crouched down, trying hard to discern shapes in the dense smoke.

“Mu Yu, here.” Qiu Feng suddenly appeared behind, handing her a soaked towel. “You go first, I’ll handle things here.” With that, Qiu Feng rushed into the room.

“Qiu Feng, you—” Mu Yu was about to rush in, but Qiu Feng quickly came back, carrying an elderly person on his back.

“I’m fine. Let’s go! There shouldn’t be anyone left on this floor.” Qiu Feng swiftly moved forward with the elderly person on his back though.

As they reached the ground floor, Qiu Feng suddenly collapsed with strength depleted.

“Quick, help!” Mu Yu hurriedly called Baixiang over for assistance.

Baixiang supported the elderly person who had fainted.

“Yu, this neighborhood is quite old. The ambulance will be here soon, but it’s a bit difficult for the fire truck to enter. The guys have already helped clear the fire passage,” Bai Xiang explained.

“Are you okay, Qiu Feng?” Mu Yu supported the pale-faced Qiu Feng, extremely anxious. In a moment of daze, the figure of Qiu Feng seemed to overlap with her deceased chief Tang Jiaxing covered in blood. She subconsciously looked at her hands, as if they were also stained with blood.

“I’m okay, just a bit dizzy.” Qiu Feng tried to stay awake, wondering why Mu Yu looked so horrified.

“Yu, snap out of it. This is Qiu Feng, not your chief,” Bai Xiang reminded her, knowing that Mu Yu was thinking of her master again.

Shortly after, both the fire truck and the ambulance arrived. The well-trained firefighters quickly began extinguishing the fire.

The doctors on the ambulance conducted simple examinations on the elderly person and Qiu Feng.

“Doctor, how is he?” Mu Yu tightened her grip on the doctor’s arm.

“He’s fine. Don’t worry too much. He just inhaled too much carbon monoxide. I’ve already administered oxygen to him. Later we will take him to the hospital for observation, then he should be fine,” the doctor reassured.

“Yu, are you okay? Why don’t you also go to the hospital for a check-up, see if you’re injured anywhere?” Yan Yang had been clearing the fire passage at the entrance of the neighborhood. Now he finished and rushed back to check if Yu’s injured anywhere, only to find Mu Yu’s sooty face and charred clothes.

“Are there police downstairs? A body was found on the third floor.” By now, the firefighters had extinguished the fire on the third floor and discovered a charred body in Room 303.

“I’m okay. I need to call Chief Wen.” Mu Yu’s mind was in turmoil at the moment. They had come to apprehend a suspect, but now there was a huge fire, and she didn’t know what was specifically happening inside. Dodging Yan Yang, she dialed the phone while walking upstairs.

“Yu, Yan Yang has already briefed me on the situation. The forensic team is on their way. Just in case, I’ve also informed Forensic Pathologists Zhang and Xu,” Bai Xiang said.

“Bai Xiang, go get the equipment from the car. We’ll go to the scene first.”

The scene was already pitch black from the fire, and most of the traces had likely been washed away by the water.

Mu Yu, Yan Yang, and Bai Xiang had put on their gear and entered the room. It was a small room with a kitchen and a bathroom, and a charred body lay stiff in the middle of the room.

“Let’s split up and see if there are any trace evidence we can collect,” Mu Yu said, holding a camera and taking photos of the deceased’s position.

“Yu, what’s the situation?” Forensic Pathologists Zhang and Xu arrived with a few young forensic doctors.

“Mr. Zhang, here’s the situation. The body is over there. The firefighters probably haven’t moved it. After extinguishing the fire, they immediately informed us that they found a body inside. The footprints at the scene seem quite disordered. I’ll collect some later to see if there’s anything useful. Most of them are probably from the firefighters. The fire burned for about half an hour. Our colleagues from the fire department are investigating the cause of the fire,” Mu Yu explained, feeling regretful that they couldn’t have arrived a bit earlier.

“It’s okay, we’ll take care of the body. Don’t worry,” Zhang Shaohui patted Mu Yu’s shoulder. He and Mu Yu’s former chief, Tang Jiaxing, were close friends. He had witnessed Mu Yu’s growth firsthand. Tang’s passing was a blow to her, but also a motivation. He believed Tang could rest in peace seeing how capable she had become.

“Ms. Mu, hello, I’m the Deputy Chief of the Qian’an Fire Brigade. We found the origin of the fire in the kitchen.” A fully geared firefighter approached, signaling Mu Yu to come and see.

“Alright, thank you for your hard work.” Mu Yu followed the firefighter into the kitchen.

“The origin of the fire is the pile of scrap paper next to the gas stove,” the firefighter pointed to the corner of the kitchen where the pile of debris had almost turned to ashes.

“Zhao Pengcheng doesn’t usually reside here. He has his own home. Why would he stack so many cardboard boxes here?” Mu Yu turned to look at Yan Yang. Ever since they started investigating the jewelry store robbery, they had their eyes on Zhao, who was one of the masterminds and should have some reputation among the gang. Renting a place in this run-down house was beyond their expectations. This place was likely a cover-up for Zhao. He owned a property in the city center and a villa in the suburbs, yet he rented this room in the village on the outskirts of the city. Today, police in charge of surveillance reported seeing Zhao coming here alone, prompting their decision to make the arrest.

“Is he trying to conceal his identity?” Yan Yang speculated.

“Or could it be that the deceased isn’t Zhao?” Suddenly, Mu Yu had a bad premonition. She felt she had been played by this cunning suspect, led by the nose all along. Despite her years of experience as a detective, she felt frustrated like never before.

“But our surveillance officers have seen Zhao coming in and out of here every day,” Yan Yang said, his confidence wavering.

“Frequenting this place might just be a red herring. I think this person knows we’ve been tracking him, including today’s arrest plan. Could it be intentional to lure us here?” Mu Yu’s spine chilled as she pondered this. The fire seemed suspicious.

“Yu, I preliminarily determine that this person was posthumously incinerated. But this can only be judged by the appearance of the body. For concrete evidence, I need to further examine the body. We’ll find out who this person is once we conduct an autopsy,” Zhang Shaohui said, packing up his gear.

“Thank you, Mr. Zhang.” Every time Mu Yu saw the old friends of her chief Tang, she felt guilty about Tang’s passing.

“The funeral parlor’s vehicle has arrived. We need to take the body away first. Don’t worry, we’ll do our utmost to assist you in solving the case,” Zhang assured.