Chapter 132 Change the hammer

He looked in the direction of her gaze.

It was a protected footprint on the ground.

“It rained on the day of the crime, so these footprints are very likely his.”

Since there was an opponent present, the name Li Jiahao was replaced with 'him' or 'her' in their conversation.

“Previously, it was impossible to identify the killer based on these footprints alone.”

“But we can; we can compare this footprint with him.”

The meaning of comparison was very simple.

First, comparing the size.

If the foot size matches Li Jiahao's from three years ago, it naturally points to the answer.

“Can we find out about this?”

Chen Mo asked and answered himself.

In both his past and present lives, he didn't know much about orphanages, only having scrolled past them occasionally online.

He would subconsciously swipe away quickly to keep looking for the gossip he wanted to see.

“If the teachers were familiar enough with him, it should be possible.”

He was a bit uncertain.

But Liu Fengxia gave Chen Mo a reassuring answer.

“Children in orphanages have regular check-ups.”

“The infirmary will definitely have relevant records.”

“Moreover, when he left the orphanage, he must have taken commemorative photos with teachers or friends.”

After hearing her words, Chen Mo rubbed his temples; he surprisingly hadn't realized this immediately.

“You're right, there must be group photos.”

With their thoughts aligned, they set this matter aside for a moment.

They continued their search.

“According to the crime scene photos from back then.”

“Cui Shengli and his wife were both in their sleep when they died.”

“In that case, neither of them resisted.”

Chen Mo said this simply to tell Liu Fengxia that there were no other clues here.

“Then what do you mean?”

“Was there someone who wasn't killed in their sleep?”

...

A moment later, the two arrived in a very small room.

Judging by the size, it should be a servant's room.

“The victim in this room was named Sun Cuihong, forty-five years old, and had worked in Cui Shengli's home for many years.”

“She was talking to her daughter before she died, making her the only one killed while awake.”

As Liu Fengxia introduced the details, Chen Mo sized up the room.

To be accurate, the room was only about thirty square meters. There was a single bed on the left and a table on the right; those were all the items in the room.

What attracted his attention most was the blood spatter on the wall!

When the carotid artery is severed, blood sprays out instantly.

Similar situations existed in basically every victim's room.

“This is the photo taken of this room at the time.”

Liu Fengxia handed the photo to Chen Mo.

She had just seen it; the victim was sitting on the floor with her back against the bed, her line of sight directly facing the blood sprayed on the wall.

“The person was standing while alive, then the killer slit her throat with a knife. Blood sprayed on the wall, and then she clutched her neck and sat on the floor until she died.”

Liu Fengxia briefly reconstructed the situation at the time.

“Yes, I can see that.”

Chen Mo pointed his finger at the right side of the wall, where there was a mark where no blood had sprayed.

It looked as if a large patch of blood had sprayed out.

But the blood at the edge had been blocked by an arm.

Consequently, it formed this scene that looked like a piece was missing.

“According to the victim's daughter, she heard someone knocking on the door at the time, and then her mother went to open the door with the phone.”

“After that, she heard her mother's scream, followed by a strange sensation of the throat being squeezed, making it impossible to produce sound.”

Chen Mo nodded; in that case, it matched up.

“Sun Cuihong's height was 1.7 meters, and based on the height of this arm mark, the killer isn't short.”

Chen Mo gently closed his eyes and made a motion as if holding a knife and slashing at the neck of a person 1.7 meters tall.

“Based on the thickness of the arm, this person isn't physically strong. In local terms, they're as thin as a bamboo pole.”

“As for height, they should be similar to me, in the range of 1.78 to 1.85 meters.”

Liu Fengxia nodded and recorded these two points as well.

This way, once they went back, they just needed to take Li Jiahao's photos from when he was eighteen and compare them one by one.

“Are we still investigating?”

She closed her notebook and asked Chen Mo.

Currently, if all of this could be matched with Li Jiahao, it would be enough to serve as evidence.

“No more investigating. Call the orphanage and ask, while I contact Xu Wenguang on my end.”

Both of them pulled out their phones at the same time.

A moment later, they put them down.

“The orphanage has photos of Li Jiahao with the teachers.”

“Xu Wenguang told me he never took any photos with him.”

Chen Mo shook his head and laughed; it was impossible that they hadn't taken any.

He just didn't want to sell out his brother.

Fortunately, since the orphanage had them, there was no need to make things difficult for him.

They went from the third floor down to the first floor.

They saw Xu Lingyun and the others still analyzing the traces in the surroundings.

They brushed past them.

“Leaving so soon?”

“How is the situation on your end?”

Xu Lingyun took off his gloves and asked.

Theoretically, everyone was currently in a state of mutual competition.

It would be fine if he didn't say anything; that would follow the rules.

But Chen Mo thought about it and decided to reveal their current progress.

“We are just one step away from the killer, just waiting for verification.”

Upon hearing this, Xu Lingyun's gaze lingered on Chen Mo's face for a long time.

Realizing the other party wasn't just trying to mess with his head, but was truly only a step away, he finally sighed.

“If you gave me more time, I could actually do it too.”

“The pity is that you people are too fast.”

A look of regret appeared on Xu Lingyun's face.

As a Trace Technician, he really couldn't compete with these Reasoning guys.

Everyone's role was actually equally important.

If this case required trace analysis everywhere, then he would definitely take first place.

But unfortunately, only this one place needed trace analysis; other places required using one's brain to analyze the case.

This wasn't exactly his weakness, but compared to Chen Mo and Xu Qingqing, he fell short.

“Every profession has its specialty. I believe the clues you've obtained here are also quite numerous.”

Xu Lingyun was a talent, and Chen Mo liked chatting with talented people.

Someone like him would go far in the police world in the future and hold a high position, just like himself.

This could be considered getting to know a future big shot in advance.

Of course, he was one too.

“Do you want to exchange?”

“ I really do have a major discovery here.”

Xu Lingyun spoke straightforwardly.

He didn't want to admit defeat so easily.

After all, the problem wasn't on his end; he had just said that the clues he discovered through traces were far more than those of the other three teams.

“Sorry, we don't need to.”

Before Chen Mo could speak, Liu Fengxia, who was beside him, spoke up to refuse.

They were already at the threshold and about to identify the killer.

Exchange? Exchange my foot!

Doing so would simply be giving the opponent information.

It wouldn't be an equal exchange.