Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  “The police took the surveillance footage. Unfortunately, Jingtian was sitting at a blindspot on the second floor, so they could only see her suddenly catching fire but was unclear on how it started at all. Still, they did see a suspicious character coming down the stairs and leaving the bar surreptitiously when the fire was happening. The police suspected that the person had something to do with the fire, and they are currently investigating the matter now.”


  “How did she catch fire?”


  “Through on-site investigation, they determined that Jingtian’s body was spilled with ethanol. They also found remains of a lighter at the scene.” The producer relayed the result of the police investigation to her.

  From their inspection of the remains of the victim’s clothes and the lighter, they established that the fire was no accident.

  Clinging onto Lu Jingtian’s clothes was flammable liquid, residue from a large amount of ethanol. Coupled with the ZIPPO lighter, the police surmised that the open flame had directly ignited the ethanol substance in the fabric. As a result, fire rapidly enveloped her.

  “Ethanol?”


  “Yes, it will burn quickly when encountering flame; plus, with Jingtian wearing black stockings, the fire spread even faster.”


  The actress was so alarmed by what she heard that she was struck speechless for some time.

  “Isn’t this murder?”


  “It’s too early to tell, but the probability is high.”


  “What about that person?” She persisted with the question. “Was the face caught on camera?”


  Ji Lin shook his head. “No. That person was wearing a cap, so the face came unclear. The person’s outfit also lacked any distinguishing features. Nobody would notice such a person in a crowd.” As the actress remained silent, he continued speaking. “Now, the police can only proceed with their investigation starting from the fingerprints found at the scene. Hopefully, the lighter will lead to some clues.”


  She nodded. “How is Lu Jingtian now? Is she still in the emergency room?”


  “Eh,” he responded, “it’s unclear if she can survive, actually.”


  “Is it so serious?”


  The actress recalled how her father had gone through a similar life-threatening situation, where every minute and second felt like torture as she stood guard outside the ER.

  “This is too cruel. Why did the person have such a cruel thing on her? It must be hell to be set on fire like that.”


  “The doctor said that the surface area burned might go as high as eighty-five percent, but that’s just an estimation. She may be suffering more than that.”


  “Eight-five percent?!”


  What did it mean to suffer such an extensive burn? One would probably have no skin left intact afterward.

  She could not help shuddering at the thought of the perpetrator’s cruelty.

  “I saw a bunch of paparazzi thronging the entrance when I came in earlier. It appears that you can’t leave here tonight.”


  “Those people get their news fast.”


  “The media trade is fiercely competitive nowadays; coupled with the decline in the market over the years, various news orgs will do anything to get an explosive scoop just to increase their portal’s traffic and click-through rate. It’s hard to stop them,” explained the man, adding, “Shishi, you have to watch out for your safety, too. The company will be sending people to protect you. I have to rush back to the office now for a meeting. With Jingtian in this state, we need to settle our PR stuff.”


  “Okay, and be safe!”


  After the producer left, she sat on the long bench in deep thoughts. Her brother saw her depressed look and quietly picked up a dumpling to stuff in her mouth.