A few minutes later, inside the city bureau's conference room.
Shi Feng sat at the head of the table, glanced at Luo Zheng beside him, his face darkened, and then looked at the colleagues seated below him. In a deep voice, he said, "There are only two days left before the case is solved, but we have no leads. I know you're all tired and sleepy, haven't closed your eyes for three days, but the case is serious. I won't say any pleasantries; you all know the situation. I'll just make one request: hold on for these two days and focus on your work. If there's still no result, I'll take the responsibility, so don't be stressed. Today, we're fortunate to have our old friend here; most of you know him, we're all familiar. Major Cris Unit, go ahead and introduce the case."
"Yes," replied a capable policeman quickly, nodding to Luo Zheng and continuing to speak to everyone, "Director Shi, everyone, I won't hide the truth. We have no leads on the case so far; we've done everything we could. Next, we plan to expand the scope of our investigation, toÂ..."
"Wait a minute, before we talk about what to do next... Forget it, let explain," Director Shi interrupted, looking at Luo Zheng to explain, "Here's the situation: The Heavenly Pearl exhibition has the highest security level set. The exhibition hall is equipped with surveillance caras, motion sensors, infrared detectors, and even the protective cover is bulletproof. It has a fingerprint password lock with a sensor inside, and any forced entry triggers an alarm. Outside are a dozen guards, all ard police, switching posts every two hours. The defense is so tight, yet the item vanished overnight."
"Interesting, anything else?" Luo Zheng's curiosity was piqued, pondering and asking further, thinking that the opponent was anything but simple if they could steal under such tight security, arousing his competitive spirit.
"The scene has been checked, no fingerprints left, and the surveillance footage provides no clues. The ard police never left their posts, so the likelihood of an inside job is low. The item seems to have vanished into thin air. We've investigated all visitors during the day and checked surveillance footage, finding no clues. We also looked into recent outsiders and immigrants but found no suspicious targets," Shi Feng explained.
"It seems like a master. Ordinary thieves wouldn't have such skills. Soone who can do this must have extensive experience in covering their tracks. Investigating outsiders and immigrants is pointless; we won't find anything," Luo Zheng advised.
"Yes, but with no concrete leads, we can only investigate in hopes of finding sothing. We can't just wait around. Do you have any ideas?" Shi Feng explained, exasperated.
"There's a saying among hunters, 'look where you lost it'. Since the item went missing in the exhibition hall, we should search there. But before that, let see the day's surveillance footage, only from the hall where The Heavenly Pearl was, forget the rest. Also, arrange for to visit the scene after I've watched the footage," Luo Zheng instructed, having no specific leads, he could only start from scratch.
"No problem," Shi Feng agreed wholeheartedly and imdiately had soone play the video.
Soon, the surveillance footage appeared on the electronic screen. Everyone silently watched the screen, despite having seen it many tis, no one dared to let their guard down. Luo Zheng also stared at the people on the screen, paying close attention to the visitors' eyes, knowing that a thief would have different intentions in their gaze.
Ti ticked by, and two hours unknowingly passed. The video finished, but there were no findings. Luo Zheng pondered for a while and then looked at Shi Feng, saying, "Let's go to the scene."
"Alright," Shi Feng agreed, calling a few mbers of the Major Cris Unit to join them. They all drove straight to the scene.
On the way, Shi Feng saw Luo Zheng deep in thought and didn't disturb him, patiently waiting. The convoy arrived at the exhibition center unnoticed. Police were enforcing tight security outside and let them pass upon seeing Shi Feng. Luo Zheng didn't walk inside directly; instead, he started observing the exhibition center: a cuboidal building, structured and formal, surrounded by tall buildings—such a room is easy to infiltrate. Luo Zheng thought about it from the thief's perspective: if he were the thief, where would he enter from?
The ground wasn't feasible with security guards outside and ard police inside, leaving only aerial or underground routes. With many tall buildings nearby, one could easily glide to the gallery or even fly over in a wingsuit. Once he had an idea, Luo Zheng heard Shi Feng urging him and replied before heading inside.
Soon, they arrived at the exhibition hall, which was on the second-floor lobby with stairs and escalators leading straight up. Luo Zheng looked around in doubt, slowly approaching an exhibit platform still covered with a glass case, but the item inside was gone. Surprised, he checked the platform and the fingerprint-coded lock beside it, deep in thought.
Next to him, Shi Feng explained, "The fingerprint-coded lock shows no signs of tampering and no traces, yet it's still locked, but the item is gone. This situation is bizarre. At the ti, ard police manned the first-floor security while exhibition security was outside. The place isn't large, yet the thief took the item without anyone noticing."
"A skilled expert," Luo Zheng muttered, deep in thought. "The item couldn't have disappeared without reason. There's only one explanation: it was stolen. With security outside, the thief couldn't have taken it through the ground. No destruction in the area could rule out an underground escape, leaving the highest possibility of an aerial route."
"We've thought about this too and checked the entire building but found no footprints," Shi Feng explained, annoyed.
"Just because there aren't footprints doesn't an no one's been here. The thief must have been good at disguising. Take to the rooftop," Luo Zheng said flatly, scanning the surroundings and piecing the environnt together in his mind.
"Alright," Shi Feng agreed without hesitation, leading Luo Zheng to the elevator.
The exhibition center has only ten floors; the elevator reached the top quickly. They exited and climbed the stairway to the rooftop terrace. The terrace had a concrete floor raised with a layer of waterproof hollow bricks and then covered with concrete slabs—safe to walk on. Luo Zheng didn't look at the ground; since the police already swept for clues, there certainly wouldn't be any. Instead, he focused on the thief and continued his speculative reasoning.
With nurous tall buildings nearby, any of them could serve as aerial entry points. However, the thief wouldn't want to expose themselves, so to minimize exposure, they would complete the infiltration in the shortest ti. This suggested the closest high-rise was the most likely. Luo Zheng quickly surveyed the nearby tall buildings and pointed to the closest one, asking, "What does that building do? Has it been checked?"
"It's been checked, nothing found," Director Shi quickly replied.
"How about the other high-rises? Have they all been checked?" Luo Zheng continued questioning.
Director Shi looked at the Major Cris Unit leader, who pondered for a mont before saying, "We've checked the five closest buildings, but not the three further ones."
"Then hurry up and check them! Rember to pull up the surveillance footage," Shi Feng shouted, dissatisfied.
Dear readers, an early book by author Old Wolf has also made its way into Shu Cheng, "The Most Powerful War God". Friends experiencing a reading drought can check it out. Thank you!
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