Chapter 183 Spontaneous Combustion Capsule
"What? You mean there are nine more lamps like this in the pavilion?"
As soon as Xia Lili finished speaking, a wisp of black smoke came out from the lamp in front of them.
Mo Cheng's face turned pale. "Why is this lamp smoking? It's just an antique decoration, it doesn't have a wick!"
Fire Chief Shang Zhihui had already told the two men to step back: "Get away from this light!"
Xia Lili quickly took Professor Mo aside.
Shang Zhihui, already wearing fireproof gloves, disassembled the exquisitely crafted antique palace lantern and simultaneously notified the firefighters through the intercom on his chest: "Quick, go to the exhibition hall and find the nine antique palace lanterns. They are the source of the fire. Put it out!"
Mo Cheng realized that the lantern would spontaneously combust. He turned around and tried to run back to the exhibition hall, his face filled with heartache. "All my collections are still in the exhibition hall!"
Xia Lili grabbed the man and said, "Professor Mo, you can't enter the exhibition hall now. It could catch fire at any time. It's very dangerous!"
"Let's hand the scene over to the professional firefighters first."
Mo Cheng was so emotional that he couldn't listen to Xia Lili's words. He wanted to break free from Xia Lili's shackles.
But Xia Lili had great arm strength, and the old man Mo Cheng was not tall, so she managed to pin him down and prevent him from moving.
Mo Cheng was furious, his face flushed red. "What did you eat to grow up like this? You're so strong!"
"Professor Mo, wake up!" Xia Lili grabbed Mo Cheng's shoulders, shook him back and forth a few times, and forced him to calm down: "What you need to do now is to carefully recall where the other nine palace lanterns are placed."
Mo Cheng felt dizzy after being shaken by Xia Lili. After he stopped, he actually calmed down a lot.
As one of the exhibition organizers, he was very familiar with the placement of the ten antique palace lanterns, and immediately reported to Shang Zhihui the areas where the other nine antique palace lanterns were placed.
Shang Zhihui looked at Xia Lili in surprise. This girl was calm and composed, and was a great help.
Soon, the antique palace lantern in front of the three people was disassembled by Shang Zhihui using tools.
After studying it carefully for a while, Shang Zhihui suddenly raised his voice: "I found the reason why the palace lanterns spontaneously combusted!"
Xia Lili and Mo Cheng looked over at the same time.
"There's no danger now, you can come closer."
Shang Zhihui pointed to a burnt part of the palace lantern's lampshade and said, "There's a capsule hidden inside the shade. The capsule contains white phosphorus. It's like putting a timed self-ignition chemical device inside the lampshade."
Xia Lili was puzzled and surprised: "The capsule is the one we usually take medicine with."
"Yes." Shang Zhihui nodded: "Yes, the shell of this capsule is probably made of a layer of sugar coating."
"The icing will slowly melt in the air."
Xia Lili immediately understood: "White phosphorus is a chemical that will spontaneously combust upon contact with air. The murderer used a sugar coating to cover it. The white phosphorus is temporarily sealed from air and won't burn immediately."
"That's right!" Shang Zhihui's eyes flashed with admiration. "Professor Mo's exhibition hall has a temperature control system. The murderer knew the temperature of the room and could calculate how long it would take for the icing to melt."
"Once the sugar coating completely melts, the white phosphorus will be exposed. Upon contact with air, it will instantly ignite and burn through the lampshade from the inside, causing a fire!"
Shang Zhihui took a deep breath, lamenting the meticulousness and viciousness of the person behind the scenes: "The murderer behind the scenes made a timed self-ignition capsule."
"The timing doesn't need to be very precise. Professor Mo will need a long time to sort out the exhibits that have been disorganized."
"The murderer only needs to ensure that the palace lantern will spontaneously combust within this time frame."
Upon hearing this, Xia Lili couldn't help but speculate, "The arsonist who placed the self-igniting capsule must be very familiar with Professor Mo's exhibition hall and even knew the temperature settings of the temperature control system."
"He must have done this experiment many times in advance to calculate the melting time of the sugar coating, just to ensure that the sugar coating would melt at a specific time."
After hearing this, Mo Cheng's face lost all color.
Xia Lili patted his shoulder soothingly and said, "So, Professor Mo, who made the phone call that just informed you that the exhibits in the exhibition hall were disrupted by the logistics staff?"
"Yes..." Professor Mo's lips moved: "It's the exhibition hall manager Peng Ze."
He pulled his hair dejectedly and slowly squatted down, his face looking as if he had been deeply shocked: "But...how is this possible? How could he hurt me?"
Xia Lili said in a serious tone, "Professor Mo, this matter is of great importance. It would be better to let the police intervene. Should we call the police now?"
Mo Cheng nodded, his face full of complexity.
Xia Lili sent a message to Li Qihan, reporting the currently known information, and emphasized that the exhibition hall manager Peng Ze was a major suspect in the crime, and asked the police to keep an eye on him first.
After a while, the firefighter's voice came through the intercom on Shang Zhihui's chest: "Captain Shang, the nine fire sources have been completely controlled. The exhibition hall is now safe."
"Only nine exhibits were damaged or destroyed, and some were blackened by smoke..."
"Do you want to ask Professor Mo to come over and confirm the damage?"
When Mo Cheng heard that the exhibition hall was safe, he quickly stood up and said, "I'll be there now."
Xia Lili accompanied Professor Mo into the exhibition hall, and was greeted by a smoky smell.
When the firefighters saw them, they said sternly, "Professor Mo, the fire protection conditions in your exhibition hall are completely unqualified. When the fire alarm was pressed, the fire sprinklers didn't respond at all. After inspection, we found that key parts were missing from the sprinklers."
"How is that possible?" Mo Cheng responded in disbelief. "Our exhibition hall has always attached great importance to fire safety conditions and conducts regular inspections."
"Especially since the exhibition is going to be held tomorrow, and the exhibition hall manager reported to me yesterday that the fire inspection has passed..."
Speaking of the exhibition hall manager, Mo Cheng frowned.
He first went to check the burnt exhibits. The painting "Ink Mountain and Autumn Chrysanthemums" that Xia Lili mentioned was half burned.
Xia Lili couldn't help but feel heartbroken. She wasn't completely lying when she spoke pitifully about the painting of autumn chrysanthemums. She was interested in painting and when she was fourteen years old, she really wanted to see the painting with her own eyes.
I didn't expect it to be half burned.
"Wait..." Mo Cheng paused as he held the scroll. "This painting... is a fake!"
Xia Lili was also stunned.
She thought of the antique exhibits that were burned in the fire in her hallucination, and the reports of Professor Mo's mental disorder, and suddenly thought of a possibility: "Professor Mo, please quickly check to see if the other items in the exhibition hall are fakes!"
Upon hearing this, Mo Cheng carefully examined the antiques in the exhibition hall one by one. His expression became more solemn with each item he looked at.
"Fake……"
"Fake……"
"They're all fake..."
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