Chapter 88 Provocation

After the video appeared, Mo Fei didn’t hesitate and returned straight to the police station.

After an entire night of investigation, although not all the explosives had been found, there was little point in continuing to sweep the streets. The process was too inefficient and lacked accuracy. He was back at the station to find out if the police could track down the location of the person who posted the video. If they could apprehend him and make him confess how much explosive he had planted, everything would become much easier.

The police station was in utter chaos. There was no way to finish reviewing all the surveillance footage in one night; Lu Chunqiu’s contact list was under scrutiny, and anyone who had recently purchased large quantities of sulfur or saltpeter was being investigated. The criminal was so audacious it was as if he were riding roughshod over the police station; if they managed to find him and not kill him, it would only be because of their professionalism.

When Mo Fei returned, Officer Tang was still on the phone. He had seen the short video, and now needed to cooperate with the platform to see if they could locate where the account owner had posted it. That person, brazenly posting a video and issuing a public warning, clearly intended to put on a show.

The police focused their investigation on a magician who had once worked under Lu Chunqiu and an actor. The magician, by virtue of his profession, understood some physics and chemistry and had the skills to prepare explosives. The actor’s family ran a fertilizer business; after terminating his contract, he returned to help run the family shop, so he had access to materials.

When the police arrived, the former actor had just woken up and hadn’t processed what was happening. After questioning, they learned that the magician had purchased a batch of ammonium nitrate from them not long after his contract ended.

The magician claimed he was researching a new magic trick. Since they were acquaintances and had traded before, the actor hadn’t thought much of it and sold him the chemicals.

“How much did you sell him?”

“Uh…not much, I think…” He pondered, then answered, “Altogether, maybe seventy or eighty pounds.”

“You call that not much?!” The officer wanted to pry open his head and see what was inside.

Modern black powder consists of about seventy-five percent saltpeter, ten percent sulfur, and fifteen percent charcoal. Using the earlier example of the thermos bomb containing 600 grams of powder, eighty pounds of ammonium nitrate could make nearly ninety bombs of similar power. How many had they found and detonated so far?

How much of the raw materials were left? All of it was a safety hazard! There was no way that lunatic would just get tired halfway through and throw it all away.

“Ammonium nitrate is easily affected by moisture—if it gets damp, it’s useless. He only bought ten pounds at a time, always saying he hadn’t finished using it before it spoiled. I lose stock to humidity all the time!” The man sounded aggrieved as he spoke.

A ton of ammonium nitrate only costs a few thousand; selling small quantities brings no profit at all. He was merely helping out a fellow struggler trying to make a name for himself—how could he have known the bastard would do something so inhuman!

“Officer, this stuff isn’t illegal; it’s just fertilizer here, right? It depends on the user, doesn’t it?”

The officer closed his notebook, forced a smile, and said, “Selling dangerous goods privately, and you think there’s no problem? Take him away.”

Crimes as egregious as this were rare; they felt no thrill at making history, only the anger of public servants witnessing the law being trampled.

The officer escorted him to the police car. Just as the vehicle started, a massive explosion erupted at the fertilizer shop’s warehouse. The shockwave shattered the police car’s windows, orange-red flames shot skyward, thick black smoke billowed into the distance, and the sharp stench of chemicals filled the air.

There were three officers and a civilian in the car, all terrified by the sudden chaos. The officer in the passenger seat clutched his ears, blood seeping between his fingers, still shouting, “Is everyone okay? Are you all alright?!”

The others held their heads, taking several seconds to recover. The driver tried to steer the car out of the blast radius, while the other two officers immediately began reporting and calling for backup.

The fertilizer shop owner, regaining his composure, waved his arms and shouted, “There are people! There are people still in the warehouse!!”

This explosion was nothing like the previous minor incidents. The perpetrator had blown up an entire fertilizer-filled warehouse. If the shop hadn’t been situated far from residential areas, the damage would have been unimaginable.

The middle-aged gatekeeper had been lured away the previous night by false information, and this blast resulted in four minor injuries.

“This person isn’t out for revenge against society,” Officer Tang said, his whiteboard now displaying the magician’s photo.

They could now confirm that the mastermind behind both the bombing and illegal detention cases was this magician.

He had deliberately lured the gatekeeper away, proving his main goal wasn’t to kill. But in making explosives, human life clearly wasn’t his priority either.

“This man’s name is Zhao Chengye, male, thirty-five, local.” A female officer reported, holding the file. “Lost his mother as a child, raised by his father. Participated in several magic competitions and won prizes as a boy. His father returned to the countryside when he reached adulthood; Zhao never married, and has been performing in shows and commercial events, hoping to make a name for himself.”

“So the manager breaking his contract triggered this little prodigy’s sensitive nerves?” A young officer’s expression was especially mocking. “What’s he planning? Going for a grand performance?”

“That’s possible,” Officer Tang nodded.

The female officer, monitoring the short video platform, raised her phone. “He’s updated again.”

“This time, his message is…” She hesitated, then read aloud, “‘Let the world hear my voice,’ accompanied by a picture of the fertilizer shop explosion.”

“Damn.” The young officer rolled his eyes. “Mr. Wang won’t rest in peace now.”

An older officer scolded him, “Watch your mouth.”

“He’s started a livestream!” The female officer’s expression turned to surprise. “He’s showing his face!”

Everyone immediately opened their phones to check. On screen, an ordinary-looking man stood on what seemed to be a rooftop, peering over the railing.

When he faced the camera, the only striking feature appeared—a ring of yellow tape formed into a cylindrical object strapped around his body.

A collective gasp echoed through the station.

What was he planning?

Officer Tang wasn’t watching Zhao himself, but staring intently at the background on the screen, trying to determine Zhao Chengye’s location.

Before he could recognize it, someone shouted outside the conference room, “Where are you going?!”

Officer Tang looked up just in time to see Mo Fei’s figure disappearing like a gust of wind.

He almost instinctively stood and called, “Follow him!”