Chapter 45, Class C Case! Freak!

"Wooo-woo-wooo." The sound of police sirens blared outside the courtyard.

It drew frequent glances from the surrounding crowd.

Long Hao stood in the courtyard with his team, signaling the forensics officer to go in and take photos first.

This way, when they entered later, they wouldn't have to worry about destroying any evidence.

"I was wondering why I didn't see you at the police station. Here, breakfast."

Long Hao handed the steamed buns and soy milk he was holding to Chen Mo.

He had lost a bet earlier, so he was treating Chen Mo to breakfast for a month.

"Hmm, I won't stand on ceremony with you then."

I hadn't eaten this morning, so this comes right on time.

[New melon detected: 'The Vanishing Freak'. Do you want to eat it?]

[Melon Name]: Freak.

[Mission Rating]: C-Grade (Case promoted).

[Mission Reward]: 1-10000 melon points.

[Mission Deadline]: 24 hours (timer started).

Chen Mo, who had just taken a bite of the steamed bun, froze when he saw the mission rating.

C-Grade!?

It had always been D+ level before; he didn't expect it to suddenly jump to C-Grade this time!

Case ratings were judged based on multiple factors.

From the cruelty of the perpetrator to the impact of the case on society, and then to the difficulty of solving it, among other aspects.

So, which aspect of this case was more serious than the previous ones?

His expression couldn't help but darken; the difficulty was being ramped up on him again.

His gaze fell on the challenge card.

If it were still a D+ rating, he would have the confidence to obtain 'Krav Maga' as well.

But this was the first time he had encountered a C-Grade, and for a moment, he didn't dare to start the challenge recklessly.

Once he failed, this challenge card would be wasted.

"Xiao Liu."

Uncle Wang's kindly voice rang in his ears.

But when he saw Xiao Liu take out the handcuffs, it turned into nervousness and anxiety!

"Xiao Liu!"

"We're old acquaintances, look at you, let's skip the handcuffs."

As he said this, he patted his shoulder, acting as if they were close friends and that doing this made him very sad.

"Alright."

Xiao Liu put the handcuffs away.

Then, remembering something, he asked, "What do you want to eat tonight? Still having sweet and sour pork tenderloin?"

For the past few days, the two of them had been eating dinner together.

After eating at the cafeteria, he would always bring a portion back according to Uncle Wang's request.

That was why he asked; after all, even a murderer had the right to eat, not to mention someone like Uncle Wang who was only slightly suspected.

"Sweet and sour pork tenderloin again!?"

Uncle Wang's face showed a look of distress.

"I've been eating it for days, let's change it up. If you ask me, your police station's cafeteria is really lazy, serving the same few dishes every day. Let's have some shredded potatoes."

"Fine, I've noted it down."

"You didn't give my bed to anyone else, did you? I'm used to sleeping there, and I'm a bit particular about my bed."

"..."

Watching the two leave, Chen Mo and Long Hao simultaneously withdrew their gazes.

At this moment, the forensics officer also walked out of the living room.

"Captain Long, Brother Mo, you can go in now."

In many places within the room where there was suspected evidence, a numbered sign had been placed next to it.

These were to remind those entering later to be careful not to touch them.

Long Hao, combining Chen Mo's account with the situation in the living room, quickly sorted out his thoughts.

"It really looks like a human trafficker's crime, doesn't it?"

"The beer bottle must have been used to hit the child. Was the kid disobedient when being abducted? Yelling and screaming?"

Not just him; any normal person seeing this situation would think the blood on the floor belonged to the child.

"It could also be from a struggle or something similar. According to the neighbor, they only heard the sound of a bowl shattering, not any screaming."

As his voice faded, a line of subtitles floated before his eyes.

[Clear Mind triggered automatically!!!]

In an instant, Chen Mo felt as if he had eaten a hundred peppermint candies.

His brain felt incredibly comfortable; to describe it in one word, it was clear!

This feeling was amazing.

He also felt his thinking speed up quite a bit.

After adapting to this state, he turned his focus back to the case itself.

"It could also be from a struggle. According to the neighbor, they only heard the sound of a bowl shattering, and didn't hear any screaming."

And the sound of the bowl shattering was likely this beer bottle.

As for the sound coming from the kitchen, the beer bottle was located at the kitchen entrance.

"Do you have any thoughts at the moment?"

There were only so many clues in the living room.

The shattered beer bottle and the palm-sized bloodstain.

It could only explain that when the child was abducted, they had been hit by the trafficker.

As for other clues, there were none at all for the time being.

"I actually have a discovery that our forensics team hasn't found."

Chen Mo said, his tone calm.

On the side, Long Hao and the forensics officer both showed expressions of surprise, looking at him in unison.

Huh!?

There were other clues that hadn't been discovered?

The forensics officer couldn't help but become nervous.

This meant he hadn't done his job well; wouldn't he get scolded?

He also didn't doubt for a second that Chen Mo might be bragging.

Because in his heart, Brother Mo was not the kind of person to brag.

(Nervous GIF!)

Chen Mo walked to a spot two meters in front of the kitchen; it was quite close to the bloodstain on the floor, only an arm's length away.

He slowly crouched down and pointed at half a footprint that was so faint it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Being able to find this footprint was thanks to his LV5 Trace Investigation skill.

He had been leveling up this skill, and this was the first time it had come in handy.

Sure enough, it wasn't that the skill was useless, just that the level wasn't high enough.

Before LV4, it hadn't been of much use; he had just leveled it up to LV5 yesterday, and today it had already proven effective.

"Huh, there really is one!"

The forensics officer held a magnifying glass and looked for a long time before finally managing to see the outline of half a footprint.

At this moment, his mood was no longer about fearing a scolding.

But rather, he was amazed that he couldn't see it clearly even with a magnifying glass, yet Brother Mo had seen it with his naked eye.

Everyone has two eyes, one nose, and one mouth, so how are you so amazing!

"Chen Mo, you... I don't even know what to say to you anymore."

Long Hao had also been holding a magnifying glass and searched for a long time before finding it.

Could he blame the forensics officer?

He probably couldn't blame him.

He could only say that Chen Mo's eyes were a bit outrageous, comparable to having eyeballs with a built-in magnifying function.

"I also had to search for a long time to find it."

Chen Mo couldn't be bothered to explain and just found a random excuse to brush it off.

"Based on this footprint, the trafficker must have done some cleaning before leaving. The spot where he was standing at that time must have been here."

"The beer bottle hit his head, and then this pool of blood flowed out."

Long Hao nodded, listening to Chen Mo's analysis.

Wait...

A look of surprise appeared on his face. What did he just hear? The trafficker was standing here, and then a beer bottle hit his head, and then blood flowed down?

"What do you mean? The blood belongs to the trafficker?"

"The child is only four years old!"

"No, a four-year-old child is capable of throwing a beer bottle."

"But that's not right either."

Long Hao felt that his train of thought was being led astray by Chen Mo.

Weren't they just thinking that the blood belonged to the child?

Because they were disobedient, and then beaten by the trafficker.

How could they overturn the previous speculation just because of a footprint and a pool of blood next to it?

"The reason I judge that the perpetrator was standing here and got hit is because he must have had an evasive maneuver at that time. You can understand it as: if a beer bottle flew towards you, you would make a move to dodge."

"So?"

"So, a normal person would subconsciously exert force with their feet at that moment, just like when you crouch down, your feet are also exerting force."

"And the trafficker wiped away the other footprints; this is the only one that is the deepest. He wiped it, but didn't wipe it away completely."

Listening to the analysis, Long Hao subconsciously made a dodging gesture, and indeed one foot was exerting force. He thought to himself, that makes sense.

Especially when combined with the bloodstain on the side.

In that case, the trafficker didn't completely dodge it at the time, which is why this pool of blood appeared.

"But why didn't he wipe away the bloodstain as well?"

"And what does it mean that he left these behind?"