26: Three days? You think you're some kind of god descended from heaven!

The phone had completely turned into a piece of scrap metal, and the last wisp of blue smoke dissipated into the cold air of the art gallery.

Zhao Dahai felt his heart sink into a bottomless abyss along with that wisp of smoke.

The lives of everyone in the city.

Three days.

A cold case that had been sealed for five years and defined by the neighboring city's police as a "supernatural event."

These three phrases combined Li Ke three insurmountable mountains, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.

"Chen Mo..."

Zhao Dahai's voice was as dry as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper. He looked at the abnormally calm young man, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Just now... were you being too impulsive?"

With a month's time, they might still have had some room to maneuver.

Three days?

This wasn't confidence anymore; this was actively stretching one's neck under the opponent's guillotine!

"It's not impulsive."

Chen Mo shook his head and threw the scrap metal onto the ground.

His gaze swept over the shaken SWAT Officers and Su Qingxue's face, where worry was impossible to hide.

"This is a psychological war."

His voice wasn't loud, yet it acted Li Ke a stabilizing pill, causing all the anxious emotions at the scene to freeze.

"A person Li Ke 'The Emperor' enjoys the feeling of being in control above all else. He gave us a month because he wants to watch us spend that month running around Li Ke headless flies, finally yielding to him in despair."

"What he wants to admire is our fear."

Chen Mo turned around and met Zhao Dahai's gaze.

"By compressing the time to three days, I'm going to disrupt his rhythm."

"I want to turn him from a high-and-mighty game-maker into a gambler betting against me."

"I want him... to start feeling nervous as well."

Zhao Dahai's mouth opened slightly. Looking at the twenty-two-year-old young man before him, he felt a chill surge from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

What on earth was inside this kid's head?

He was actually engaging in a silent slaughter on another dimension with that devil who hadn't even shown his face!

"Fine!"

Zhao Dahai gritted his teeth, the hesitation in his eyes replaced by a ruthless determination to burn his bridges.

"Damn it! It's a bet!"

He grabbed his walkie-talkie and roared into it.

"I don't care what method you use, now! Immediately! Right away! Contact the Linhai City Public Security Bureau in the neighboring city for me!"

"Tell them that the Jiangcheng police are taking over the 'Ghost Bus Case' from five years ago! Tell them to transfer all the case files to me, without missing a single hair!"

...

Half an hour later.

The Municipal Bureau Chief's Office.

The ashtray was already piled high with cigarette butts.

After hearing Zhao Dahai's report, the Chief seemed to age ten years in an instant. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the ceiling.

"Zhao Dahai, oh Zhao Dahai, you've really found me a 'good' soldier."

His voice was filled with endless exhaustion and... fear.

The Cold Case Investigation Team had been established for less than three days, and it had already drawn a terrorist organization to Jiangcheng capable of overturning everything.

"Chief, this matter..."

"You don't need to say anything!"

The Chief suddenly sat up straight and slammed his palm on the desk.

"You recruited the person, you built the team, and you're the ones who talked big!"

He pointed at Zhao Dahai's nose, his eyes so red they looked Li Ke they might drip blood.

"I'll give you three days! I'll bet my police uniform to play along with your madness for three days!"

"If after three days, Jiangcheng loses even a single hair because of you!"

"You, Zhao Dahai, and that kid named Chen Mo, can both get lost together!"

"Yes, sir!"

Zhao Dahai snapped to attention and gave a standard salute.

He knew this was the greatest support the Chief could provide.

Just then, the office phone rang.

The Chief picked up the phone, and after listening for only a few seconds, his expression became incredibly grim.

He hung up the phone, looked at Zhao Dahai, and gave a cold laugh.

"Linhai City has replied."

"They said the case files can be given, but we must send someone to collect them in person."

"The call was made personally by Zhang Haifeng, the captain of their Criminal Investigation Detachment. He also asked me to pass a message to you."

The Chief mimicked the other's tone, speaking sarcastically:

"'Welcome the "Great Detectives" of Jiangcheng to Linhai City to guide our work. We've been unable to crack this tough nut for five years, so we're waiting for you to perform a miracle for us in three days.'"

Zhao Dahai's face instantly turned the color of pig liver.

This was an insult!

A blatant insult!

...

One hour later.

A black police van drove onto the highway leading to Linhai City in the darkness before dawn.

Inside the vehicle, all five members of the Cold Case Investigation Team were deployed together for the first time.

The atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

Li Ke's hands were flying across his laptop keyboard. The screen was filled with all the public reports on the 'Ghost Bus Case,' each one exuding an air of eeriness and insolubility.

Li Hu held a submachine gun, his muscles tensed Li Ke stones.

Su Qingxue was repeatedly wiping her service pistol, her gaze as cold as a Siberian wind.

Chen Mo leaned against the window with his eyes closed, seemingly resting.

But only he knew.

His consciousness was immersed in the system space.

[host: Chen Mo]

[sin value: 440,000 points]

[Core Functions: Thought Synchronization (Intermediate), Heartbeat Localization (Intermediate), Memory Retrospection (LV1)]

[Memory Retrospection (LV1): Can consume 100,000 sin points to perform a deep retrospection on a single piece of evidence, seeing a complete memory sequence related to that evidence occurring around the time of the crime.]

This was his true trump card that allowed him to make such a bold claim!

As long as he could find any remnant of that bus, he had the confidence to bring those missing five years back before his eyes!

...

Two hours later.

Linhai City Public Security Bureau.

When Chen Mo and his group of five walked into the Criminal Investigation Detachment building, travel-worn and weary,

They immediately felt what it meant to be "playing on away ground."

In the corridors and offices, all the Linhai City police officers were pointing at them as if they were rare animals.

Those looks were filled with undisguised ridicule and hostility.

"Look, it's them, the 'Great Detectives' from Jiangcheng."

"That pretty boy? I heard he's the team leader? He looks Li Ke a gust of wind could blow him over."

"Solve the Ghost Bus Case in three days? Who does he think he is? A god descended from the heavens?"

"Just wait to see the joke. Our Captain Zhang isn't someone to be trifled with."

*Squeak—*

A door with the sign "Detachment Captain's Office" was pushed open.

A thin, veteran criminal investigator in his fifties with sunken eyes walked out.

He had an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth and scrutinized Chen Mo's group of five with a searching gaze.

He was the Captain of the Linhai City Criminal Investigation Detachment, Zhang Haifeng.

"Oh, you're here?"

Zhang Haifeng's voice was hoarse, Li Ke two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.

"Which one is the 'King of Cold Cases' from Jiangcheng, Team Leader Chen Mo?"

His gaze finally landed on Chen Mo, the contempt in his eyes almost overflowing.

"I am," Chen Mo replied calmly, meeting his gaze.

"Heh."

Zhang Haifeng sneered and turned toward a massive Archives Office.

"Follow me, 'Great Detectives.'"

He pushed open the door to the Archives Office.

In the next second, even Su Qingxue and Li Hu, who were used to big scenes, couldn't help but gasp.

There were no case files inside.

Only rows of massive iron shelves reaching up to the ceiling.

The iron shelves were piled high with cardboard boxes of all sizes.

On every box, the words "Ghost Bus Case" were written in marker.

From scene investigation records to thousands of interview notes, to countless screening reports...

All the efforts and all the failures of the Linhai City police over these five years were piled here.

Li Ke a tomb... built from despair and futility.

"There."

Zhang Haifeng patted the nearest cardboard box, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He looked at Chen Mo with a smile that was almost cruel.

"These are all the case files you wanted."

"We spent five years and mobilized thousands of people, nearly turning that mountain upside down, and in the end, all we got were these scraps of paper."

He walked up to Chen Mo, almost pressing against his face, the smell of stale tobacco breath blowing into Chen Mo's face.

Word by word, he spoke in a tone filled with malice and mockery:

"Now, all these scraps of paper belong to you."

"You have three days."

"The clock starts... now."

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