novelraw Chapter 260 : Check Personal Information
Chapter 260 : Check Personal Information
Chapter 260: Check Personal Information
This was the second winter vacation of college, and Chen Fan still couldn't accompany Su Ruochu to go home together.
One reason was that Su Ruochu's mother would definitely pick her up at the station, and the other was that Chen Fan still had a lot of things to deal with here and couldn't leave for the time being.
So after the two dawdled at the station for a long time, Chen Fan reluctantly saw Su Ruochu off as she boarded the train.
Returning to Yunhai alone, Chen Fan began making preparations for the New Year.
After a year, his business had advanced another step.
The two internet cafes had completely gotten on track.
Ever since Luo Wenjie and Zhou Honghai left to focus on running the studio, Chen Fan had recruited two more managers, and he seldom went to the internet cafes unless there was nothing else to do.
Since the winter vacation was the most profitable time for games, after some discussion, Luo Wenjie and Zhou Honghai had decided not to go this year and would spend the New Year at the studio instead.
On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the three of them met, split the last bit of money, and then had a meal together.
Afterwards, Chen Fan went to the Medal Club.
All the club's projects had now been fully rolled out. In the span of a year, apart from the few million spent on purchasing land, the money earned had basically recouped the initial investment in opening the club.
What surprised Chen Fan, though, was that even though the New Year was approaching, the notice about the West City renovation still hadn't come down yet.
He didn't know if it was because the higher-ups had delayed their actions or if he had gotten the timing wrong.
In the meeting room, he held a meeting with all the managers, and then had Ding Dian take out a list of New Year bonuses.
All the club's employees, including ordinary staff like the receptionists, received an end-of-year bonus, and the amount was not small.
In this era, the concept of year-end bonuses didn't exist yet for private enterprises.
Chen Fan's move naturally won the acclaim of all the employees.
Their regular salaries were already much higher than Yunhai's average, and now with such a generous boss giving out bonuses, everyone naturally became even more supportive of the club and cherished their jobs more.
As for Feifan Technology, Chen Fan didn't go there but just had an online chat with Liang Shichu to discuss how much would be an appropriate year-end bonus.
After dealing with all of this, it was almost the 26th of the twelfth lunar month.
Chen Fan packed his luggage at his apartment, preparing to return home.
But things took an unexpected turn that very morning when the internet cafe he trusted the most ran into trouble.
The problem occurred at the Starry Sky internet cafe.
By the time Chen Fan rushed to the scene, all the customers inside the internet cafe had already been evacuated.
The door had a large seal pasted on it, and a fire truck was parked nearby, about to leave after completing the rescue.
Seeing Chen Fan's arrival, the cafe manager, who had been on the job for just over a month, hurried over with an anxious expression.
Chen Fan suppressed his anger and asked in a deep voice what had happened.
The manager nervously explained, "The fire started from the men's restroom. The initial judgment is that someone was smoking inside and threw an unextinguished cigarette butt into the trash can."
"Fortunately, the employees discovered it in time and quickly evacuated all the customers. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Chen Fan entered and surveyed the scene.
At this moment, the entire hall was in disarray, with traces of the fire hoses everywhere and puddles of dirty water on the floor.
Some of the computers in the hall had also been affected, all of them soaked.
As for the restroom, it had been completely charred black.
However, none of this mattered much to Chen Fan. What truly shocked him was the fact that it was fortunate the fire didn't escalate, or else... as the manager had said, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
It could be said that the fire safety measures Chen Fan had consistently emphasized had played their role.
When the fire broke out in the restroom, the employees had used fire extinguishers to put it out in advance. Otherwise, by the time the fire truck arrived, it wouldn't have been contained to just this small area.
In the hall, in front of all the employees, Chen Fan didn't hold back this time and lost his temper, giving the manager a stern dressing-down.
The manager looked aggrieved, but he really couldn't argue about this incident since he couldn't exactly follow people into the restroom.
After giving him an earful, Chen Fan then asked who were the first two employees that had responded to the fire.
The two stepped forward.
Chen Fan directly told the manager to give these two employees an outstanding employee bonus of 5,000 yuan.
After consoling the employees, Chen Fan then inquired if the arsonist had been identified.
The manager explained nervously, "We were in such a rush to put out the fire earlier that we didn't have time to check the surveillance footage."
"Then go check it immediately. I'll wait here for the results."
The manager wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly went to the monitoring room with two employees.
Half an hour later, there were results.
From the surveillance footage, they could see the half hour before the fire started, during which a total of six people had entered the restroom.
"Based on the speed of how the fire spread, these first three are the most likely suspects."
"But all six of them are suspicious, especially this one."
Chen Fan pointed at the man in the gray down jacket on the screen.
This guy had even put on the hood of his down jacket when he entered the restroom, keeping his head down and acting suspiciously, as if he was afraid of being recognized.
Soon, an employee discovered new clues.
This man in the gray down jacket was actually not even a customer there.
Because after entering through the entrance, he didn't pay the fee or go online, but went straight into the restroom.
Now, the situation became clear.
"It...it was arson."
The manager was startled.
This was much more serious than an accidental fire.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
Chen Fan's expression darkened. "We'll do what needs to be done. You immediately report to the police and let them investigate."
"Keep an eye on the surveillance footage to hand over to the police later."
Chen Fan glanced at the hall.
This internet cafe would likely be unable to reopen until after the New Year, and with such a serious incident having occurred, the fire department had even posted a seal.
After the holidays, renovations would be needed, and they could only reopen after passing the fire department's inspection.
With all the back and forth, it would take at least one to two months.
Factoring in the renovation and lost business, the damages would likely reach tens of thousands.
But fortunately, no one was hurt.
Since that was the case, Chen Fan went ahead and gave all the employees time off, letting everyone go home for the New Year.
Before leaving, Chen Fan also requested another copy of the surveillance footage.
With this incident, he couldn't return home today.
After going out, Chen Fan called Feng Pojun.
Half an hour later, Chen Fan met Feng Pojun at the university cafeteria.
After learning about what had happened, Feng Pojun spoke directly.
"The boss suspects it was arson."
Chen Fan narrowed his eyes, "Can't judge for sure yet, but don't rule out that possibility."
"Boss, have you offended anyone recently?"
Chen Fan immediately thought of Zhao Longqi.
The grievances between this guy and himself were almost irreconcilable, and he also had connections.
He was undoubtedly the most suspicious.
Chen Fan thought for a moment and then asked, "If we need to find this person, can you do it?"
Feng Pojun pondered, "The other party has covered his tracks well. We can only start from the nearby surveillance footage, but finding people isn't really my area of expertise..."
Suddenly, Chen Fan thought of something.
"Do you know any private investigators?"
Feng Pojun grinned, "I actually do know one."
"This guy used to be a comrade-in-arms of mine. After retiring, he started his own private investigation firm."
"If we let him handle it, the time needed could be greatly reduced."
Chen Fan quickly asked, "Could you have him come over?"
"Sure, let me give him a call and ask."
Chen Fan gritted his teeth.
"The sooner the better."
"I need to know if this was truly an accident or if someone did it intentionally."
Feng Pojun took out his phone.
"I'll call him right now."