Chapter 170 Criminal Genius

"Because she did me a favor yesterday."

The last little nurse pursed her lips and finally revealed the reason in her heart.

"It was around two o'clock. My period started and my stomach wasn't feeling well, so I asked Nuannuan to help me change the IV bags for my patients. Later, when it was almost time to get off work, I even said thank you to her."

"So, when you asked me, I said she was at the hospital the whole time. Because from what I saw and thought, she had never left."

These words reached Chen Mo's ears, and he nodded calmly.

"Thank you for your cooperation; it's very helpful to our work."

Upon hearing this, the two expressed their thanks and bolted out of the meeting room.

"These three weren't lying."

Chen Mo shared his assessment with the group.

He then added, "The first two reasons are easier to handle, but this last one is too subjective. There's no need to waste effort on it."

The reason he felt this way...

Was mainly because the time Xiao Nuannuan left the hospital was currently uncertain.

It could have been any time between starting her afternoon shift and getting off work.

And combined with what the last nurse said...

She only saw Xiao Nuannuan at two in the afternoon and when it was almost time to clock out.

In other words, she had no solid grounds to be certain that Xiao Nuannuan had never left the hospital.

Therefore, her reasoning could be discounted.

However, it wasn't a pointless inquiry, and time hadn't been wasted.

Because from the last nurse's words, a very important clue had emerged.

Namely, Xiao Nuannuan was at the hospital at 2:00 PM, and she was also there near clock-out time.

Based on this, it wasn't hard to judge that the time Xiao Nuannuan left the hospital was within this window.

"Nurses usually work in three shifts. Looking at Xiao Nuannuan's clock-in and clock-out times yesterday..."

"From 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM."

Four o'clock!?

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

Long Hao also froze for a moment after those words were spoken.

"Didn't you guys know?"

He then saw several people shaking their heads.

He slapped his forehead.

"I've actually always known the nurses' working hours, but I assumed you all knew too."

Long Hao wore a helpless expression.

Outsiders rarely bothered to learn about nurses' schedules.

Not just nurses—most people don't like to learn about things that don't concern them or that they aren't interested in.

And nurses' working hours fell into both categories.

"I only just realized it myself."

"If Xiao Nuannuan was still at the hospital at 2:00 PM and she was back before 4:00 PM..."

"Then her window for the crime can only be the one hour between two and four!"

Chen Mo rubbed his temples.

He had always assumed nurses worked the same hours as normal jobs.

Like 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

But now it seemed he had been mistaken.

The reason he felt a headache coming on...

Wasn't just because of a simple misunderstanding.

The deeper reason was: 4:00 PM!

She got off work so early.

Who knows if she met Wen Guodong after she clocked out?

The investigative path they had worked so hard to establish was now an uncertain factor again.

There were two paths before him.

First, confirm that she left the hospital during work hours to meet Wen Guodong.

Second, she met Wen Guodong after getting off work.

Compared to the first, the second path was undoubtedly much harder to investigate.

Because the situation would be the same as trying to investigate whether Xiao Nuannuan was at home at night.

Without surveillance cameras, trying to track every minute and second of a person's movements outdoors was very difficult, almost impossible to achieve.

"This is trouble."

A sigh echoed in the meeting room.

Hearing the discouraged tone, Chen Mo quickly rubbed his cheeks with both hands.

He had to do something right now.

Otherwise, the team's morale would crumble.

Sometimes solving a case is about holding one's breath.

Once that breath is let out, you'll be like routed soldiers on a battlefield, capable only of fleeing.

"Don't worry, let me think of something."

He signaled for everyone to calm down and settle their minds.

Then, his index finger began to tap rhythmically on the table.

It made a very faint 'tick-tick' sound.

He closed his eyes gently. At that moment, the 'Clear Mind' in his brain began to work once more.

He broke down the new dilemma laid out before him.

After a moment of thought, a single question appeared before him.

Once the mystery of this question was solved...

It would be equivalent to re-establishing the investigative route.

The question wasn't complex, nor was it profound.

Namely: from Xiao Nuannuan's perspective...

Was it safer to leave during work hours to meet Wen Guodong, or was it safer to meet him after work!

On the surface, after work was obviously safer.

But as mentioned before, that was only surface-level.

Looking deeper, meeting Wen Guodong during work hours was actually the safest and most secure approach.

Granted, she would have to deal with the difficulties of patients, colleagues, and supervisors.

But Xiao Nuannuan didn't go to find Wen Guodong for a chat or coffee.

She went to commit murder and frame him!

From their perspective as police officers...

If Xiao Nuannuan went to kill him after work...

No one could prove she lacked the opportunity during that time period.

Conversely.

If Xiao Nuannuan went out during work hours to kill and frame him...

Then the three little nurses who had just come in...

Would all become direct witnesses for her alibi.

And the law is built on evidence.

Clearly, the scale now tipped toward Xiao Nuannuan having never left the hospital.

"Chen Mo, for real? Is she really that meticulous?"

Long Hao showed a hint of surprise. To calculate things so perfectly meant she had predicted their current investigative direction from the very start of the crime.

In short, at the moment she acted, she saw the present.

A wave of hair-raising chills instantly shot up Sun Yi's back.

She suddenly felt that at this moment, a pair of eyes had pierced through the void from the past to look at the present.

And the owner of those eyes was none other than Xiao Nuannuan.

"To be honest, I only just thought of this point too."

"I have to say, Xiao Nuannuan is indeed very formidable."

Even though she was an opponent, Chen Mo still gave her a very high evaluation.

A C+ case is indeed difficult!

The difficulty of solving it was rising exponentially.

"In that case, our previous investigative logic wasn't actually wrong."

"Then we'll follow the original plan: analyze what those two said and strive to find traces of Xiao Nuannuan's deception within."

Long Hao stood up from his chair and clapped his hands, signaling for his people to follow him.

Just then...

There was a sudden knock on the door.

Everyone looked over with grave expressions.

This meeting room wasn't soundproof. If someone had been eavesdropping outside...

Then everything they just said would have been leaked.

They were in a competition right now; every single clue affected the final ranking.

They couldn't afford not to be nervous.

Fortunately, after the knock, the sound of the doorknob turning followed.

To be so informal...

It was clearly one of their own.

Sure enough, the person who walked in was none other than Xu Qingqing, who had gone out to investigate earlier.

Returning so suddenly, combined with the expression on her face...

It wasn't hard to guess she had found something.

"One piece of good news, one piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

As she spoke, she pulled out a chair and sat down.

Even during the day, Xining was quite hot.

The team members who followed her in were also panting from exhaustion and followed her lead, plopping down onto seats.

"Let's hear the bad news first."

Chen Mo replied.

In choices like this, he always preferred to hear the bad news before the good.

It had nothing to do with anything else; it was simply that hearing good news after bad news made for a better mood.

Hearing good news then bad news might not seem very different, but in actual experience, there was a subtle distinction.

"Bad news first, then: we didn't find any evidence that can definitively identify the killer as Xiao Nuannuan."

While Xu Qingqing was out investigating what leverage Xiao Nuannuan held that could have forced Yan Lili to jump, their information had been synced.

Therefore, she was also aware of the progress Chen Mo's team had made while she was out.

"And the good news?"

Chen Mo leaned back in his chair.

Long Hao and the others also showed looks of interest.

They waited quietly for Xu Qingqing's narration.

"The good news is that we've found a clue."

"It was found in Yan Lili's bedroom."

"A torn dress."

As soon as she finished speaking, a team member pulled a white dress in a sealed bag out of a backpack.

"The dress is torn, which wouldn't normally catch our attention, but the material of this dress is a bit different. Someone with little strength wouldn't be able to tear it at all."

"Generally speaking, only a physically strong male could tear it apart with brute force in a sudden burst of muscle power."

As Xu Qingqing spoke, she pulled the sealed bag toward her.

Her index finger pointed to three gaps in the white dress.

"Based on the investigation by our Trace Technicians, we can basically confirm that this garment was torn while the victim was wearing it."

"Furthermore, based on the shape of the gaps and the points of stress, it can be seen that the clothing was torn from the outside."

"The clothes were on Yan Lili's body and then torn from the outside. Under what circumstances do you think that would happen?"