Chapter 28: Even the smart ones have stooped to flattery

Xiao Yu spent an entire hour meticulously inspecting the crime scene, examining every nook and cranny of the sixth floor and the attic. However, he couldn’t find anything significant.

Impossible!

Xiao Yu furrowed his brow, finally standing in front of the hall’s window. With his previous life’s experience in solving cases, any clue left by the murderer was seldom missed by him. Yet, at this crime scene, there was no trace of a ‘fifth person’ entering.

Right, if there was another murderer involved, besides the three family members and the prime suspect, there definitely should have been a fifth person entering.

Was this even plausible? If it was not plausible, then it was terrifyingly horrifying. 

Xiao Yu’s mouth twitched slightly. But, just because ordinary people couldn’t find traces, didn’t mean he was out of options.

Falcon Eyes… activate!

In an instant, Xiao Yu’s eyes transformed. His pupils dilated and contracted rapidly, emitting a sharp glint.

His vision altered. The world altered.

It was as if Xiao Yu had opened a new world, seeing everything differently.

He could distinctly observe the dust particles on the floor, the strands of hair left on the sofa, and even some previously invisible details.

Upon activating the “Falcon Eyes,” Xiao Yu revisited the scene for a thorough reexamination.

Eventually, he found himself again in front of the attic’s floor-to-ceiling window, his gaze fixated on the sliding door handle. There, he noticed a spot — its color closely resembling the white of the door but with a slightly different hue.

Crouching down, Xiao Yu’s eyes narrowed on this small mark. A slow smile crept across his face as if a bolt of lightning had cleared the fog in his mind.

So this was how you entered the victim’s home?!

***

In less than half an hour, the entire task force arrived, their expressions a mix of skepticism and solemnity as they regarded Xiao Yu.

“Did you bring the things?” Xiao Yu asked Niu Peng.

“Yes.” Niu Peng nodded and handed Xiao Yu a toolkit.

Upon opening the toolkit, it revealed disposable rubber gloves and a set of specialized criminal investigation tools.

Wearing the gloves, Xiao Yu picked up a pair of small tweezers and approached the sliding door again. Focusing on that peculiar ‘dot’ on the door, he extended his hand with the tweezers.

Gently, the tweezers’ tips grasped the ‘dot’, and Xiao Yu carefully pulled. A thin, white plastic strip, over an inch long, emerged.

Everyone looked puzzled.

Was this the so-called clue? The reason they were called here?

The looks they cast at Xiao Yu held a tinge of skepticism, almost as if they felt played.

Was Xiao Yu pulling a prank? 

No, he nonchalantly set the tweezers and the plastic strip aside. Crouching, he peered closely at the small hole that had pierced the sliding door.

In his past life, Xiao Yu had handled a peculiar case of residential burglary. Such a minor case usually wouldn’t require his involvement, but this particular one escalated into something much larger.

A burglar had managed to commit over thirty crimes in just two months, a truly alarming feat.

Breaking it down, there was a burglary every two days. Due to the significant monetary value involved in these cases, many investigative units failed to solve them, eventually passing them to him.

But why couldn’t they solve it? Wasn’t it just a case of breaking and entering? The issue was that until the thief was caught, no one knew how he managed to enter the victims’ homes. Intriguing, isn’t it?

Because for many burglary victims, even when their homes were empty, all doors and windows remained securely locked. The main doors showed no signs of forced entry or tampering, yet possessions still went missing.

How then did the burglar gain entry?

With just a piece of wire and a hand drill. The burglar first drilled a tiny hole in the French window door of the victims’ homes. Then, using a piece of wire, he easily opened the doors and windows to commit the thefts.

The most cunning aspect of this thief was that after the burglary, he meticulously erased all traces of his entry, restoring the doors and windows to their original state. Lastly, he plugged the drilled hole with a plastic strip matching the door’s color, leaving no trace behind.

It took Xiao Yu half a month to crack this series of burglaries, and the experience was both frustrating and amusing. Facing the captured thief, he extended his thumb in admiration and simply said, “Impressive!”

Xiao Yu never expected that after his transmigration, he would encounter someone in this world using the exact same method for home invasions. 

Standing up, he cast a look at his task force colleagues, all bewildered. He thought to himself, ‘Even if I explained, with your level of understanding, you probably wouldn’t get it. So, continue with your confusion.’ 

Then, Xiao Yu took a coil of steel wire from the toolkit and performed a demonstration for the task force members. When they witnessed how he effortlessly opened a locked door using just a small hole and a wire, shock was evident on everyone’s faces. 

Their astonishment wasn’t about Xiao Yu’s skill in picking locks. Instead, it was the realization that Xiao Yu was demonstrating how the real culprit had entered the victim’s home without leaving a trace. 

The balcony?

Regaining his composure, Niu Peng joined Xiao Yu on the balcony, looking up at the awning above. Niu Peng’s mind raced, picturing a scenario. The criminal must have climbed to the rooftop of the residential building, then used the victim’s awning to access the balcony. Using a hand drill to make a hole and a wire to unlock the door, the intruder entered the home to commit the crime.

Impressive!

Niu Peng’s gaze at Xiao Yu was complex, as if to say, ‘Are you some kind of monster to have thought of this?’

Xiao Yu seemed to understand the implication in Niu Peng’s look and just smiled in response. 

If even the smart ones have stooped to flattery, what else can’t happen in this world?

The only way to counter a cunning mind is with cunning of one’s own. Xiao Yu, of course, wouldn’t admit to being devious. It was called being smart. Ever heard of it?