Crime Spree

Jiang Xia froze for a second, then caught on and almost laughed. Did her lock-picking stunt with a wire leave that big an impression on her mentor?

Now every time he saw a lock, he thought she'd try to open it? This was evidence — she wouldn't mess with it. She only wanted to check new locks back at the station.

Walking to the warehouse manager's desk behind the door, Jiang Xia pushed aside the logbook and said, 'Mentor, I just want to see if this lock's been tampered with.' She set the lock gently on the desk, unzipped her shoulder bag, and pulled out a magnifying glass and flashlight.

Wu Suo relaxed, but then saw what she'd brought and tensed up again. 'You brought all the station's precious gear?' He peeked into her bag and spotted a precision ruler, tape, brushes, and a small can of aluminum powder.

'Be careful with those — if they break, it's a pain to replace!' 'I will, Mentor,' Jiang Xia promised. By modern standards, these tools were primitive, but back then they were gold.

A single flashlight cost half her monthly salary. She sat on a stool behind the desk and adjusted her focus. Picking up the magnifying glass, she examined the big padlock.

It was a standard lock, over seven centimeters long, worn from use with some paint chipped off, but intact — no obvious signs of picking. Jiang Xia understood why Liu Kezhang was so sure it was an inside job.

Back then, information was scarce, and most thieves were dumb. The few who knew how to pick locks silently usually used two wrenches placed parallel inside the shackle, using leverage to force it open.

That method would shatter the keyhole edge, leaving obvious damage. But this lock's keyhole edge was intact and it locked normally — anyone would assume a key was used.

Even if someone suspected wire picking, it was hard to see marks on the keyhole. But she could. That was the perk of her upgraded eyesight from the System!

Jiang Xia turned on the flashlight. It was noon, but the sky was overcast, clouds pressing down, making the narrow-windowed warehouse even darker.

Perfect — she needed dim light. She shone the light on the lock and carefully examined the tiny marks through the magnifying glass.

Liu Kezhang watched her and started feeling uneasy. Earlier, Wu Suo had asked Jiang Xia questions, and he thought it was just a mentor-apprentice thing.

But now she was the one asking and investigating, while Wu Suo didn't even move? Was this officer Chen Dong recommended really competent or not?

The humid air made everyone restless. Liu Kezhang opened his mouth several times but held back, finally blurting out, 'Wu Suo, you're just going to wait here?' Wu Suo nodded matter-of-factly.

'Right here.' Liu Kezhang's face turned green. 'You're — this is too —' Wu Suo chuckled. He knew exactly what Liu Kezhang was thinking.

Pointing at Jiang Xia, he said, 'She's a top graduate from Shannan Police Academy. I told you, Chen Dong sent her to take a look!' 'What?' Liu Kezhang was stunned.

Officer Chen Dong sent her? He looked at Jiang Xia, his suspicion deepening. A top graduate might be talented, but she was so young — how much experience could she have?

She probably couldn't find anything! Officer Chen Dong was just making trouble. The theft wasn't a big deal compared to the recent robbery-murder case, but you couldn't send a rookie to fool around!

Jiang Xia had no idea Liu Kezhang was grumbling. She was completely focused on the padlock. Non-destructive lock-picking wasn't limited to wires — magnetic bumping or skilled manipulation of the shackle could also work.

The latter left marks on the surface, easy to spot, but wire-picking marks required examining the cylinder, which meant dismantling the lock. That would cause secondary damage and might destroy the thief's traces.

Jiang Xia needed to rule out other methods first before resorting to destructive inspection. Holding the magnifying glass, she saw the lock's surface texture magnified several times.

Her System-enhanced vision clearly distinguished rust, chipped paint, gray scratches from hitting the door, and green paint spots from impacts. She adjusted the flashlight angle.

Light from certain angles made tiny scratches more visible. She checked the lock face and sides, finding nothing unusual, until she reached the inner side of the shackle.

A scratch about two millimeters long caught her attention. It was white, with no paint spots, but had a slight silver sheen — clearly new, and not from the door ring.

Could it be? Jiang Xia's spirits lifted. She immediately looked below the shackle. According to leverage principles, one prying action leaves two marks: the fulcrum and the point of force.

This was clearly the force point, so there had to be a fulcrum! Sure enough, she found a similar mark on the upper left of the lock body.

'Confirmed — this was picked!' Jiang Xia looked up, her voice tinged with excitement. 'The goods weren't stolen by an insider.

It was an outside professional!' 'What?' Liu Kezhang had been waiting impatiently, squatting outside the door to smoke. Hearing Jiang Xia's words, his hand jerked.

He threw the half-smoked cigarette to the ground, stomped it out, and rushed back. 'Not opened with a key? Really? You're not messing with me?' 'The marks are tiny, but they're clearly pry marks — on the inner top of the shackle and the upper left of the lock body.

The thief probably used two wrenches, or a wrench and pliers, placed vertically in the middle of the shackle, applying upward force to slowly pop it open. That's why there's no obvious damage.' Jiang Xia mimicked the thief's motion, pretending to press down with a wrench.

'If you don't believe me, take a look. And besides the lock, there's another suspicious point: if it were an insider, why would they pick a stack being shipped today?

That's practically asking to get caught!' Liu Kezhang took the magnifying glass without a word and examined the two tiny pry marks. After a long moment, he looked up with a complicated expression — a mix of embarrassment at being wrong and relief at the truth.

He sighed. 'Honestly, I can't really read these marks.' He set down the magnifying glass. 'But Comrade Jiang, you have a point.

I was stupid — who says a lock has to be opened with a key? I've been wronging good people!' He paused, then turned to Wu Suo.

'Your apprentice is really something. Those marks are smaller than a grain of rice — I couldn't even see them, but she recognized them as pry marks?' 'That's why she's a top graduate,' Wu Suo said with some pride, then comforted him.

'It's normal, normal. We all investigate this way. Asking questions doesn't hurt. Now we've found the truth, and we can clear their names.' 'True.' Liu Kezhang sighed again.

'But if it's an outside professional, this case gets harder.' 'This thief is no ordinary one,' Wu Suo said, his expression turning serious. 'Skilled, bold, and thinking ahead about how to cover his tracks.

He's probably done this many times — likely a traveling criminal. Hard to catch.' Liu Kezhang understood the subtext. The stolen goods would be hard to recover.

Traveling criminals might be in town today and gone tomorrow. Even if they identified them, catching them was another story, let alone getting the goods back.

Knowing that didn't make it easier to accept. He looked at Jiang Xia. 'Comrade Jiang, can you keep investigating? We can't just give up because it's hard!' 'I'll do my best.

I'll find what I can.' Jiang Xia couldn't make promises. She stood up. 'Let's check outside for more clues.' Liu Kezhang nodded eagerly.

'I'll have Xiao Zhang ask around about any suspicious people near the factory these past few days!' As an Economic Police officer, Liu Kezhang had basic investigative skills. Once the direction was right, he knew what to look for without Jiang Xia's prompting.

Xiao Zhang from the security team took people to ask around. Meanwhile, Jiang Xia walked to the outer wall, carefully examining the marks.

The entire wall was grayish-white, with mud stains that looked identical to the untrained eye, but to Jiang Xia, each had its own story. The straight vertical streaks were from rain, the ones slanting right were from the north wind, and the dotted spots on the ground were from someone splashing muddy water a few days ago.

As she analyzed, she quickly found several fresh scratches on the top of the wall. These were from fabric rubbing against it!

Jiang Xia's spirits soared. Seeing no footprints on this side, she hopped on her bike and circled to the other side. That side was a dirt path, with many footprints from daytime passersby.

But based on the direction, Jiang Xia quickly spotted several suspicious footprints near the wall. Her strongest skill was finally usable!

She broke off a twig and drew a circle around the suspected thief's footprints. Wu Suo, who had followed, instinctively checked his watch.

'You found footprints that fast?' Jiang Xia shrugged. 'First time's the hardest.' Last time was her first real operation, so she'd been cautious and slow.

Now she had experience and upgraded skills, plus the footprints near the wall had few distractions — of course she was fast. She quickly traced the thieves' movement patterns and a bicycle used to transport the loot.

Standing by the tire tracks, she pulled out her notebook and wrote as she spoke. 'From the scene, it's a team of three. One is about nineteen, mainly keeping watch.

Another is around twenty-one, the main climber and carrier. The third is about thirty-two or thirty-three, likely the ringleader.' Liu Kezhang had just finished instructing Xiao Zhang and came over.

Hearing Jiang Xia's words, he was stunned. 'Comrade Jiang, you're talking about the thieves?' Jiang Xia nodded. 'Yes.' Liu Kezhang was even more confused.

How did she know that?! One look at his face and Jiang Xia knew what he was thinking. 'It's a forensic tracking technique called footprint analysis,' she explained.

'I found the thieves' shoe prints and deduced their age, height, and weight from them. You've heard of it?' Liu Kezhang vaguely remembered hearing about it during a city bureau training session long ago.

But he recalled it was mainly about shoe sole patterns — when did it start including age and height? Maybe it was a new technique.

He looked at Jiang Xia with newfound respect. No wonder she was a top graduate — she knew so much! Wu Suo pondered and asked, 'Xiao Jiang, besides age and height, can you find any more distinctive features?' Jiang Xia looked again and shook her head helplessly.

'No.' She felt a headache coming. If there were a standard, police would love criminals with obvious traits — one eye, bald head, bowlegs, six fingers.

Those were limited in number and stood out, making them easy to find and catch. But ordinary people were everywhere, a dime a dozen.

Just confirming whether someone was the culprit took ages. And these three thieves were perfectly ordinary. Even with age, height, and weight, the pool was still too broad.

Finding them was only slightly better than looking for a needle in a haystack — more like a needle in a river. The overall difficulty was still sky-high.

If only one of them had a limp! Jiang Xia sighed in frustration. 'Nothing else...' Wu Suo thought for a moment, looked up at the darkening sky, and said, 'Alright then.

Xiao Jiang, give the info to Liu Kezhang. It's about to rain, and we don't want to get caught in it. Let's head back early.' 'What?' Jiang Xia was taken aback.

The case wasn't solved yet — why was Wu Suo already leaving?