37: Found the thief's house? Search it!

The young Police Officer sneered again.

"Before you prove you didn't steal that painting, of course we can't let you go."

"..."

Lin Pei wanted to cry but had no tears.

On what grounds?

Didn't that mean he had no idea how long he'd be stuck in the police station?

That wouldn't do.

Amidst his distress, he thought of the System that always saved him from suffering in critical moments.

Lin Pei called out inwardly.

"System, help, I need a brocade pouch."

However, after waiting for a long time, he didn't hear that "ding."

Lin Pei was puzzled; why had the System's reaction time become so sluggish?

So he called out a few more times.

But to his surprise, the System remained unresponsive.

Lin Pei was a bit dazed.

What was the meaning of this? Was the signal in his brain bad now?

Several more minutes passed... Having no way to appeal to the System, Lin Pei covered his chest with his hand, which was wearing silver bracelets, feeling like he was about to faint.

"Hiss."

Why did his chest hurt so much?

Oh, there seemed to be something in his shirt pocket pressing against him.

He struggled to pull the object out.

It was a key.

This model looked like a spare key for a combination lock.

Looking at this small object, Lin Pei remembered.

When the "water lily" was stolen, the scene was filled with smoke, and he felt a stranger brush past him.

So he instinctively reached out.

He didn't catch the person, but he skillfully swiped this item from them.

Could this be the key to the thief's house?

Opposite him, Xu Feng stared at the key for a moment.

"What's this? A key?"

"Yes, Captain Xu, this is very likely the key to the thief's house."

"Oh? Where did it come from?"

"Cough... I swiped it from the thief."

He could only tell the truth; he couldn't just pick up a random key at the scene and claim it belonged to the thief, right?

The young Police Officer was stunned.

"And you still say you didn't steal? If you're not a thief, how can you be so skilled at searching someone?"

Lin Pei struggled to explain.

"It's precisely because I didn't catch the person that I ended up swiping something from them. That's reasonable, isn't it?"

Seeing this key, an idea formed in Lin Pei's mind.

If they followed this key and caught the real thief, wouldn't his suspicion be cleared?

"Officer, Captain Xu, since there are no clues now, why not trust me and start by investigating this key?"

Xu Feng pondered over the key for a while.

"I think I can trust you once."

"However, finding a specific address from this key won't be easy."

"It's expected to take many days to get results."

As someone who possessed the "Empty Hand of Wonder" skill, Lin Pei had a lot to say on the matter.

"Captain Xu, look, the brand of the combination lock this key corresponds to is 'Xiaogu'."

"Looking at its shape, it's the F500 series, the latest generation of 'Xiaogu' combination locks."

"The mechanical locks of this series have specific codes marked inside."

"We can ask the merchant to check the code and assist in finding the purchase and installation information, thereby finding the corresponding address."

Xu Feng and the young Police Officer glanced at each other.

The young Police Officer's gaze immediately changed.

It had to be said, this guy really had some skills.

After Lin Pei said this, what was originally planned to take many days was now estimated to be finished within a day.

Xu Feng was also somewhat moved.

"Lin Pei, if you can still clear your suspicion this time, why don't you consider coming to our station to be a Police Officer?"

"If you become my apprentice, we don't need to worry about seniority."

He pointed to the young Police Officer beside him.

"Although I've been training Officer Chen for longer, you can call him your junior brother."

"Or we can ignore the master-apprentice relationship and have him call you 'Senior Uncle'."

Lin Pei refused again.

"No need, Captain Xu."

Be a Police Officer?

After being brought in several times, he now had a psychological shadow regarding police stations and interrogation rooms.

After getting out this time, he hoped never to return.

The young Police Officer, Officer Chen, sat nearby, his eyes widening slightly, clearly questioning his life.

After a while, his expression calmed down significantly.

He silently picked up the mechanical key on the table and went out to look for clues... With the assistance provided by Lin Pei, the efficiency was indeed remarkably high.

The Police Officers found the address where the combination lock was installed the very next day.

However, upon investigation, the homeowner information left in the installation records was fake.

An hour later, two vans parked far away from a secluded villa.

Lin Pei sat in the car, and Xu Feng was holding up his phone to show him a video inside.

The reason they brought Lin Pei along was also because he had seen the "water lily" painting.

If there were stolen goods at the scene, he could recognize them quickly.

The video they were watching had just been filmed by a Criminal Police Officer in front of the villa.

Through the glass door of the house, Lin Pei recognized it at a glance.

The scroll on the table was a unique style of the Hengcheng Museum; how could a private individual have it?

It seemed they had found the right place.

However, there was no painting on the table; perhaps the thief had already swapped the scroll to sell it.

Currently, the villa door was locked, and there was clearly no one inside.

After Lin Pei confirmed it repeatedly, Xu Feng requested instructions from his superiors.

A few minutes later, they were granted permission to enter the house and search.

A Police Officer reported to Captain Xu by the car window.

"Captain Xu, all the circuits in the house have been cut."

Captain Xu nodded.

This way, the surveillance cameras inside and outside the house would not work.

But this required them to act fast.

After all, if it were international thieves, they would monitor their home surveillance at all times while out.

Soon, two teams of Criminal Police Officers got out of the cars.

An accompanying official female reporter also excitedly got out of the car and followed.

This case was very likely the work of that legendary group of international thieves, so it might even involve many major international cases.

The search process, of course, had to have a video record.

However, it couldn't be broadcast live yet; it needed to be filmed in secret.

After all, if these thieves saw their home being "stolen," why would they come back and wait to be caught?

For this reason, they had to enter and search quietly, without making much noise.

To avoid alerting the enemy.

At the door, a Criminal Police Officer from the technical department had been standing there for five minutes.

However, cracking a combination lock to open the door, rather than forcing it open, didn't seem that easy.

Everyone waited in the shadows, feeling a bit anxious.

At this rate, they would easily be discovered.

Lin Pei applied to Captain Xu.

"Captain Xu, let me try."

Xu Feng was a bit surprised.

"Lin Pei, you can open this too?"

"I should be able to."

"Captain Xu, don't misunderstand, I just learned about lockpicking and such online for the requirements of a role in a production."

But I've never stolen anything."

Xu Feng was somewhat skeptical of Lin Pei's words.

Does the internet teach these things in detail?

He always felt that the internet Lin Pei used was different from theirs.

"Fine, go and try."

Time was pressing; they had to enter and search as soon as possible.

Having received permission, Lin Pei walked quickly to the door.

"Officer, let me try."

That Criminal Police Officer from the technical department was already covered in sweat.

As expected of the Dragon Country's number one electronic lock, the security level is indeed high... "Beep."

Before he could finish his thought, the door in front of him opened with a "click."