Chapter 203 He won’t live long anyway

That night, Guan Xia and Pang Le also spent the night in a complex mix of anticipation, anxiety, and uneasiness.

Even though there were occasional laughter and joyful chatter outside, fully expressing the relaxed and happy mood of the tourists, it did not affect the nervousness of Guan Xia and the others at all. After all, as time approached midnight, Xu Nian and the others were not far from departure.

What they discover tonight will determine the subsequent direction of this case.

But many things always happen unexpectedly. As the clock approached midnight, Guan Xia was sitting in her room, fidgeting and glancing at the time from time to time. Suddenly, Pang Le called out to her, "Guan Xia, come and see! The villa complex is on fire."

These words really surprised Guan Xia, and she was subconsciously stunned for a moment. Then she suddenly stood up and jumped to Pang Le's side.

In order to see more clearly, Pang Le had already pulled open the curtains and opened the window. Through the highly transparent glass, Guan Xia almost immediately saw the scene that Pang Le described. He saw a bright fire burning in the villa area located in the corner of the village, which seemed somewhat out of place with the whole village.

Guan Xia didn't even need to count which villa was on fire. Just by looking at the only villa with bright lights in the villa area, she knew that it was Li Feng and Li Miao's house that was on fire.

Guan Xia was baffled. "How could there be a fire? The fire looks quite large. Was it an accident? Or was it man-made?"

Pang Le stared at it for another two seconds, then reclosed the curtains and began to change his clothes. His expression was unusually serious as he spoke, "Something doesn't feel right. I remember half an hour ago, I lifted a corner of the curtain to check if Li Miao's drone was outside the window. There wasn't a fire half an hour ago, so how come it's so big now? I suspect it was man-made."

Guan Xia's first reaction was not surprising. She didn't know whether Xu Nian and the others had set off or noticed the fire in the villa area. So while changing her clothes, she called Xu Nian on speakerphone.

Xu Nian answered the phone quickly as usual. The first thing he said was, "Guan Xia, we saw the villa area on fire. We were just about to contact you when you called. We're heading there now. Please call Wang Yu too. We'll meet there."

The two words "we" fully indicate that he was with other people. It seemed that they discovered the fire while climbing the mountain.

Sure enough, when Guan Xia and Pang Le changed their clothes and called Wang Yu to rush downstairs to the villa area, they found several people in the crowd. Unlike the others who were just watching the fun, they were really worried that something might happen in the villa area, so their steps were particularly hurried.

Guan Xia and her friends were no less excited. They started to jog as they walked. Other tourists who went to check out the fire also started to run when they saw the fire was getting bigger and bigger.

Before she ran to the front, Guan Xia saw from afar the iron gate that was usually closed but was now opened by someone. At first, she thought that Li Feng or Li Miao had opened it to let others help put out the fire, but when she got closer, she found that the lock seemed to have been opened with a tool and thrown on the ground casually, and the marks of the clamping were very obvious.

Now is not the time to pay attention to this, so Guan Xia just took a look and looked away, then quickened his pace and ran towards the villa area where Li Miao lived.

Before she ran there, Guan Xia heard shrill screams and cries. The most important thing was that even though the voice was broken, she could tell that it was not a female voice but a male voice. And that voice was calling Li Miao again and again, urging and begging him to come out quickly.

Guan Xia's heart skipped a beat when she heard this. There were only two people living in that villa. Could it be that Li Feng escaped and Li Miao was trapped inside?

Guan Xia had a very bad premonition in her heart, and finally turned a corner and ran into the yard of Li Miao's villa. Then she saw Li Feng holding a black tablet and crying in front of the gate. He almost collapsed on the ground while crying, and kept calling Li Miao's name.

Seeing this scene, others felt sympathy for Li Feng, and the villagers and village cadres discussed how to break the door and rescue people, but Guan Xia felt a chill on her back. She was one of the few people who knew that Li Feng was not a good person, and she was really afraid that Li Feng would notice something and silence Li Miao.

This can also reasonably explain why the fire started so quickly, because it was not an accident but man-made.

If Guan Xia wasn't so eager to know Li Miao's safety, he would have wanted to rush over and arrest Li Feng on the spot.

After looking at him deeply, Guan Xia began to look around the entire villa to see where it was both safe and convenient for people to rush in. While she was observing, some villagers were already trying to break down the door with various tools.

But the big iron gate of Li Feng's house was really strong. Several people were busy at the gate for a long time. They could only hear huge banging sounds from time to time, but the door seemed to be still some distance away from being opened.

As time passed, the fire grew bigger and bigger. Even though Guan Xia was several meters away, she could still feel the heat waves in the air. Li Feng was still howling, but the village cadres were anxiously looking outside from time to time and making one phone call after another. Guan Xia guessed that they were contacting the fire department or other people who could put out the fire.

Another two minutes later, a few young men, looking a little dusty, finally came running. As soon as they entered the yard, one of them shouted, "Water, water, water! Put out the fire!"

These two sentences got almost everyone in the yard moving. They found buckets or basins thrown aside, as well as plastic hoses, and started to collect water to put out the fire.

Guan Xia also subconsciously wanted to find tools to put out the fire, and then he heard a noise and screams. He instinctively turned his head to look at the location of the sound, and then saw that the door was opened from the inside at some point. Through the gap in the crowd, Guan Xia saw Li Miao standing at the door. He looked very embarrassed, but his eyes were bright, with deep hatred, and his expression was a brilliant smile. He was looking down at Li Feng who was still crying and collapsed on the ground.

Guan Xia didn't know how to read three words from this expression: I won.

Li Miao's sudden appearance made everyone in the yard breathe a sigh of relief. The people surrounding the gate wanted to pull her out, but they stopped as soon as they stretched out their hands, because Li Miao raised her right hand, and in her right hand was a huge hammer.

This expression and this posture frightened the people at the door so much that they scattered like frightened birds. Guan Xia also heard someone shouting that Li Miao was crazy and wanted to kill people.

Because of this sudden scene, the originally busy crowd stopped again, looking at Li Miao in shock, fear or doubt. Only Li Miao's expression was calm. She still had a bright smile on her face, but she did not look at Li Feng who was lying on the ground. Instead, she searched the crowd and then landed on Guan Xia, and waved to Guan Xia.

Guan Xia sensed something and subconsciously took a step forward, but Pang Le grabbed her and whispered in her ear, "I'll go with you. You'll be behind me for a while. If something goes wrong, turn around and run."

Guan Xia nodded, but she had a hunch that Li Miao would not hurt her, but would tell her the truth.

Under the gaze of everyone, Guan Xia and Pang Le walked over. Xu Nian and the others had already arrived and were standing not far from Li Miao.

Perhaps he had noticed something. After Guan Xia and the others walked over, Li Miao suddenly smiled and said, "Don't worry, the fire started on the third floor and won't reach the first floor in a short time. So the first floor is very safe. I'll show you something."

Guan Xia quickly understood something from Li Miao's words. It seemed that the fire was not set by Li Feng, but by Li Miao, and the purpose might be to lure people over.

Guan Xia was thinking, and noticed the gazes falling on her, so she turned her head and exchanged a glance with Xu Nian.

Unexpectedly, Li Miao noticed something and smiled with satisfaction, saying, "It seems that you two are really in the same group. If that's the case, come in together."

After Li Miao finished speaking, he turned around and walked back with the huge hammer in his hand. Guan Xia looked at Li Miao's figure going away, and a doubt in her heart was resolved. It seemed that Li Miao had indeed been observing and suspecting them, but she didn't know where he was exposed. After all, it was only the second day they arrived in Lijia Village.

Qi Bai and Wang Yu were left outside watching while Guan Xia, Xu Nian and others walked through the gate amidst the puzzled or inquiring gazes of the people in the yard and followed Li Miao into the living room.

It was not until Guan Xia saw the place near the stairs where the altar used to be that she felt relieved.

I saw that the altar by the wall and the cushion not far away were gone. Except for the photos that were carefully placed on the coffee table, all other things were thrown aside rudely. There was a big hole in the intact wall, which was obviously caused by Li Miao hitting it with a hammer. In the hole was revealed a corpse that was barely put together into a human shape but with some parts dislocated.

Guan Xia knew who this was without Li Miao saying anything. This was her mother, Lu Xiangmei, also Li Feng's wife. Her body had not been seen in the light of day for more than 20 years. Now, Li Miao had finally broken open the steel and concrete covering her body, allowing her to see the light of day again.

Even though she was mentally prepared, Guan Xia was still shocked when she saw the skeleton. She really didn't expect that Li Feng would pile up the bones of his murdered wife behind the altar. So every time Li Feng knelt on the mat, he was actually worshiping her. Guan Xia couldn't imagine or understand Li Feng's train of thought.

Does he feel guilty and remorseful every time he pays homage? What does he say in his heart? Does he regret it? Or does he miss her? Does he feel afraid when he sees Lü Xiangmei's portrait? Coming in and out of this villa every day, looking at the face of his daughter who looks like his wife, doesn't he have nightmares in the middle of the night?

Guan Xia was genuinely confused, but then she came to her senses and laughed at her own childish thoughts. Li Feng wasn't a normal person; he was a murderer and a psychopath. How could she possibly use the same psychology as an ordinary person? After all, he was a murderer with countless lives on his shoulders. Perhaps his reason for burying Lü Xiangmei's remains in this place wasn't as complicated as Guan Xia imagined. Perhaps he was just trying to hide something hidden, because ordinary people wouldn't do that, so he did the opposite.

Several people were so shocked that they were speechless when they saw the corpse. It was not until a few seconds later that Xu Nian reacted first. He said to Jiang Yingyao, "Arrest Li Feng on the spot." Then he took out a pair of gloves from his pocket and began to put them on his hands skillfully.

Li Miao saw this scene and showed a clear expression. He said, "I knew you were police officers."

At this point, there was no need to hide anything any longer, so Guan Xia finally asked the question she wanted to ask, "How did you find out?"

Li Miao tilted his head and looked at Guan Xia, then shook his head and said, "I didn't notice. I just noticed you. I can't really explain the feeling. You seemed unremarkable at first glance, but after a second look, I realized you were very special. I immediately felt that you must be extraordinary. Perhaps you were here just for my mother's case."

Guan Xia couldn't help but frown when she heard this. What a weird statement. It was normal if the criminals thought she was special. After all, they all had souls that were obviously different from ordinary people. But what about Li Miao? The last time she shared the system's vision, she saw that Li Miao's soul light ball was indeed white, without any blood color. Could it be that she had killed someone in the past two days?

With such suspicion, Guan Xia turned on the system vision sharing again, but as expected, the soul light ball was still white. Guan Xia felt strange in her heart. After thinking about it, she could only guess that in the trial game with Li Feng, Li Miao gradually deviated from the track of normal people. She seemed normal, but in fact her mental state had changed. She may have had the idea of ​​killing Li Feng a long time ago, making her a potential criminal. This is why she noticed Guan Xia and resonated with her and discovered her specialness.

Putting these messy thoughts behind him, Guan Xia asked another question, "Did you set this fire tonight just to lure us here?"

Li Miao glanced at her and said calmly, "Your arrival was unexpected. I would have set this fire regardless of whether you came or not, but your coming did save me a lot of trouble."

Guan Xia thought she would go on to tell him about her plan, but after she finished speaking, Li Miao suddenly threw away the hammer, stretched out his hands towards her and said, "Catch me! I have a lot to say, but I don't want to say it here. I want to say it in the interrogation room at the police station."

Li Miao said with a somewhat creepy smile, "You don't know, I've always dreamed of sitting in the interrogation room of the police station. I've imagined it many times, it would be after I killed Li Feng. It's a pity, after all, I'm not hard enough. But it doesn't matter, he won't live long anyway."