15: Solve a case in three days? I only need three sentences!

Su Qingxue's breathing suddenly caught.

The look she gave Chen Mo could no longer be described as mere shock.

It was a kind of... reverence.

Reverence for a monster who trampled all impossibilities underfoot.

Outside the door, the few police officers guarding the scene, who had been whispering moments ago, were now all like ducks whose necks had been wrung.

Their mouths were agape, their faces filled with horror and disbelief.

This pale young man, who looked like a gust of wind could knock him over,

had just stood there, retched a few times, and then, with an understatement, overturned the conclusion that the entire Municipal Bureau expert team had spent a month failing to refute?

"Let's go!"

Zhao Dahai didn't hesitate, grabbing Chen Mo's arm with a surprisingly gentle motion.

"Back to the bureau! There's no need for us to stay here any longer!"

He knew that the most crucial battlefield was no longer at the scene.

It was inside Chen Mo's mind!

...On the way back to the Municipal Bureau.

Inside the police car, the atmosphere was so heated it felt explosive.

"That was incredible! Chen Mo, how did you spot that? That scratch was thinner than a hair!" Zhao Dahai's excitement was palpable.

"And that poison! Old Zhang from the Forensics Center was practically losing it on the phone, saying that without your reminder, they wouldn't have found it even if they dissected the body ten more times!"

Chen Mo leaned back against the seat, his face still pale, but his spirits much better.

"I'm just... sensitive to traces and smells," he offered a vague explanation.

Su Qingxue sat beside him, silent.

She just watched him quietly, an unusual brilliance flickering in her cold eyes.

Every time, this man redefined her understanding of the word "genius."

As soon as the car drove into the Municipal Bureau compound,

Zhao Dahai pushed open the door, jumped out, and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Stop standing around! We have a case!"

"Technical Team, take this diagram and turn over every craftsman's shop in the city that can make precision instruments!"

"Intelligence Group, investigate! Find the source of this neurotoxin! Whether it's a domestic lab or an overseas black market, don't let a single lead slip by!"

"Also! Pull up surveillance footage from all intersections around the villa on the day of the crime, and screen every single delivery person who passed by!"

The entire Criminal Investigation Detachment, like a war machine injected with adrenaline, instantly began operating at high speed.

Everyone sprang into action, their faces bearing a long-lost excitement and fervor.

Inside the Serious Crime Unit One office.

Gao Fan listened to the commotion outside, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

"Captain Gao, they... they seem to have really found a new lead," a subordinate whispered.

"What if they did?"

Gao Fan sneered, slamming a document onto the desk.

"Investigate craftsmen? Investigate poison? Investigate delivery people? Which of these isn't looking for a needle in a haystack?"

"The director only gave them three days. I refuse to believe that based on a few fanciful speculations, he can actually drag a ghost out into the open!"

...Time passed, second by second.

One day.

Two days.

The Criminal Investigation Detachment was brightly lit, and everyone had bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep.

However, the investigation had hit a dead end.

The craftsman who made the tool could not be found; the precision of that tool exceeded the manufacturing capabilities of ordinary artisans.

The source of the neurotoxin also could not be traced. No domestic institution had relevant records, suggesting it likely flowed in through special overseas channels.

The delivery person on the day of the crime was untraceable. He had obviously used fake identification and perfectly avoided all high-definition surveillance.

Only the last day of the three-day deadline remained.

The atmosphere of the entire detachment gradually shifted from initial excitement to anxiety and oppression.

The voices of doubt began to quietly spread again.

"I knew it. There's no way he's that miraculous. In the end, evidence is what matters."

"What good are beautiful speculations? If you can't find the person, it's all useless."

"Captain Gao was right. This is completely looking for a needle in a haystack. Captain Zhao was really dragged down by that newcomer this time."

The Director's office.

The Director's expression grew gloomier by the day.

He had withstood immense pressure from the city and the media, putting all his chips on Zhao Dahai and the newcomer named Chen Mo.

Now, it seemed he had lost the gamble.

"Zhao Dahai, tomorrow is the final deadline."

Over the phone, the Director's voice was weary and cold.

"If there is no breakthrough progress, you know the consequences."

Zhao Dahai hung up the phone and slammed his fist hard onto the desk.

He hadn't closed his eyes for two days, and his throat was hoarse from shouting.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Chen Mo; he was just... anxious.

He pushed open the door to his own office and walked in.

Chen Mo hadn't gone anywhere for the past two days.

He was sitting on the sofa in the office, with the case files of all the suspects laid out before him.

The victim's two sons, one daughter, and three main business rivals.

Everyone had an alibi, and none of them seemed capable of committing the crime.

"What's the status?"

Zhao Dahai's voice was slightly hoarse.

Chen Mo slowly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was exceptionally bright.

Instead of answering Captain Zhao's question, he countered, "Captain Zhao, do you believe that perfect crimes exist in this world?"

Zhao Dahai was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

"Perfect crime, my foot! If a person did it, they absolutely must leave a trace!"

"Exactly."

Chen Mo nodded and picked up one of the case files.

"We've been searching for the physical traces left by the killer, but we overlooked the most important thing."

"What is it?"

"Psychological traces."

Chen Mo's finger tapped the photograph of a man in the file.

The man was about thirty, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and looked gentle and refined.

Zhou Tian, the eldest son of the victim Zhou Hongfa, and the CEO of a multinational company.

"Him?"

Zhao Dahai frowned. "He has the most perfect alibi. At the time of the crime, he was on an international flight ten thousand meters in the air. Dozens of people can testify for him."

"Sometimes, an alibi is also a performance."

Chen Mo's voice was very soft.

"I reviewed all his information. He is a person who is extremely arrogant, highly controlling, and possesses a histrionic personality."

"What he enjoys is not killing his father, but the thrill of having orchestrated this 'perfect murder' and playing games with all of us."

"An ordinary killer uses guns or knives. Only someone like him would design such a complicated locked-room setup and poisoning method to demonstrate his intellectual superiority."

Zhao Dahai was confused, but he grasped the main point.

"You mean, he is the mastermind? He hired that delivery person?"

"That's right."

"Where is the evidence?" Captain Zhao pressed.

"The evidence..."

Chen Mo closed his eyes, his fingertip gently touching the photograph of the crime scene again.

[Ding! Do you wish to spend 10,000 Sin Points to perform Deep Cognitive Synchronization on the target evidence?]

"Yes."

*Buzz—!*

The familiar roar exploded once more!

This time, what he saw was no longer the killer's perspective.

But the perspective of the... victim!

He "sat" in the executive chair in the study, watching a man in a delivery uniform walk in.

The man handed him a document and asked him to sign it.

Just as he lowered his head to sign,

a poisonous needle, as thin as an ox hair, sprang silently from the tip of the signing pen in the man's hand, piercing the back of his hand.

He didn't see the killer's face.

But he smelled an odor.

An extremely unique, elegant, and lingering scent wafting from the delivery person.

Agarwood.

And it was the extremely rare, Vietnamese Kyara agarwood.

The hallucination receded like a tide.

Chen Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He flipped open Zhou Tian's case file and pointed to a line of record.

"The evidence is this."

Zhao Dahai leaned over to look. It was a record concerning Zhou Tian's personal hobbies.

[Hobby: Incense appreciation. He is particularly fond of Vietnamese Kyara agarwood, having spent a fortune building a professional constant temperature and humidity incense room at home, where he must burn incense for at least one hour daily.]

Zhao Dahai's pupils suddenly contracted!

"That killer must have met Zhou Tian before carrying out the act."

Chen Mo's voice was like a judge delivering a verdict.

"He went to retrieve the poison needle and receive the final instructions. Zhou Tian's expensive and unique scent rubbed off onto him."

"He thought he was flawless."

"But he didn't know that the taste he was most proud of ultimately betrayed him."

Zhao Dahai's breathing became incredibly heavy.

He stared at Chen Mo, his lips trembling for a long time, unable to utter a single word.

Solve the case in three days?

This young man used only three sentences to drag out a devil hidden behind a perfect alibi!

"I... I'll go apply for the arrest warrant right now!" Zhao Dahai spun around abruptly.

"It's too late."

Chen Mo shook his head.

"He is an extremely arrogant person. Now that the three-day deadline is approaching and we have made no progress, in his eyes, he has already won."

"What he needs to do now is go enjoy the fruits of his victory."

"Check his schedule for tonight."

Zhao Dahai immediately dialed a number.

A few minutes later, he hung up, his expression becoming extremely grim.

"He... at seven tonight, he has a private yacht departing from Jiangcheng Port for the high seas."

"He's running!"

Chen Mo slowly stood up and walked to the window.

He looked at the sky outside, which was already beginning to darken.

"No, he's not running."

"He is inviting us to his... victory party."

He turned his head and looked at Captain Zhao.

"Captain Zhao, it's time to close the net."