Chapter 203: Unraveling the Truth

Chapter 203: Unraveling the Truth

"What do you mean? Arresting me is one thing, but now you're even going after our captain? Have you lost your mind? Who do you think you are?" Cui Chengye exclaimed angrily as he was escorted to the surveillance room, directing his anger at Lu Heng.

Captain Yu Zhanyu, the guard, hurriedly restrained him and said, "Calm down. We're all here to investigate the case. Once we clear things up, we'll be released."

After calming down his guards, Yu Zhanyu approached Lu Heng and asked, "Do you really suspect me? Whether you believe it or not, I still have to say that investigating me is a waste of time."

Instructor Liu was also puzzled and asked, "Comrade Lu Heng, we really don't have time to waste."

Lu Heng stood up, organized his thoughts, and said, "In that case, I'll keep it brief. I do suspect Captain Yu Zhanyu, and I even think the hard drive is on his person."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present showed expressions of astonishment.

Captain Yu Zhanyu widened his eyes in disbelief and refuted, "Have you gone mad? Come on, you can search me and see if I have the hard drive. Here's the key to my duty room and locker. Go check them right away."

"There's no need. They've already been searched, and it's not there," Lu Heng replied.

When Lu Heng had returned from the bathroom earlier, he had whispered a few words to Su Muyu, asking her to search the guard duty room and locker. However, the missing hard drive was not found.

Cui Chengye was both amused and annoyed. "You're hilarious. It's clear that Engineer Liu took the hard drive out, and it was most likely taken by the spy in the alley behind the Academy. How could you possibly think that the hard drive is with the captain? Your line of thinking is truly laughable."

Engineer Liu, who had been silenced, did indeed leave the Academy and was found silenced in an alley a street away.

Following the normal line of reasoning, the hard drive should have been taken by the person who killed him.

Lu Heng nodded and said, "I thought so at first, but there's one issue. Engineer Liu actually committed suicide by shooting himself."

Cui Chengye continued, "What's the problem with that? The other party has mind control abilities, so they controlled him to commit suicide. Isn't that possible?"

Lu Heng went on, "Of course, it's possible. But if the hard drive was handed over in person, why didn't this mind controller just shoot him or use a knife to silence him? Why use mind control?"

"You may not know this, but the Mind Control skill allows the controller to gain partial access to the controlled person's five senses, including vision, hearing, and touch."

"In other words, when using mind control to make someone commit suicide by shooting themselves, the sensation is almost indistinguishable from doing it yourself, except for a less intense pain sensation."

"There was a simpler method, yet they chose to use mind control to silence him. I believe this mind controller never appeared in the alley but rather silenced him from a distance."

"If it was a remote silencing, then where did the hard drive go? There's only one possibility: the hard drive was never taken out of the Academy."

"Engineer Liu's movements within the Academy were all captured on surveillance, except for one spot where there's a one-second gap."

"This one-second gap is actually very short, so short that it's almost negligible."

"It wasn't until I visited the bathroom and walked around that I realized the key to this."

Everyone listened quietly, eager to hear Lu Heng's explanation, as the current clues did not seem to support his theory.

Li Zhaofeng stared at the surveillance footage but couldn't spot any issues.

Seeing that no one was refuting him anymore, Lu Heng continued, "There's a cylindrical stainless steel trash can at the bathroom entrance, which everyone should be aware of."

Cui Chengye scoffed, "Weren't the contents of the trash can handed over to the Iron Blood for examination? If there was a problem, they would have arrested someone by now. Why waste time here?"

"Hold on," Lu Heng said as he picked up the examination report and showed a photo of the trash can on it. "At first, I didn't think there was a problem either, but then I noticed the rust marks on the floor beneath the trash can."

"Due to the humidity in the bathroom, many of the tissues and cotton pads thrown into the trash can are wet."

"Over time, a circular rust stain formed beneath the trash can."

"When I was outside the bathroom, I noticed that a portion of the rust stain was exposed outside the trash can."

"Initially, I was concerned that the trash can might have been moved during the Iron Blood's evidence collection, causing the rust stain to be exposed."

"So, I checked the photo in the examination report, which was taken before evidence collection. The photo clearly shows that a portion of the rust stain was already exposed."

"This indicates that someone moved this trash can during the fifteen minutes before the Iron Blood sealed off the scene for evidence collection."

This deduction seemed reasonable, but it also seemed to have flaws.

Cui Chengye immediately questioned, "What if a janitor moved the trash can while cleaning?"

Before Lu Heng could respond, Li Zhaofeng spoke up, "That's not possible. I've checked the bottom of the trash can, and there's only one rust stain.

"This means the janitor was very thorough and always put the trash can back in its original position, precisely covering the rust stain. This way, multiple overlapping rust stains wouldn't form.

"It's not difficult to verify; we can just ask the janitor, but I don't think it's necessary.

"Lu Heng's deduction is correct. These clues can lead to the conclusion that the trash can was moved."

Captain Yu Zhanyu asked with a serious expression, "What does this prove? Are you saying the hard drive was placed in the trash can? If so, the hard drive would have come into contact with the trash and tissues inside, and the examination report would have detected it."

Lu Heng responded, "No, the hard drive wasn't placed inside the trash can, but rather outside it."

Captain Yu Zhanyu shook his head and smiled, "That's even more impossible. After the incident, I and Cui Chengye weren't the first group to pass by the bathroom; there were guards who went through earlier."

Cui Chengye pointed at the surveillance footage on the screen and argued, "Look for yourself, there were six guards, divided into three groups, who passed by the bathroom one after the other. We were the second group. No matter how suspicious it seems, there's no way we could be suspected."

"If the hard drive was really placed outside the trash can, how could the previous guards not see it?"

The surveillance footage at the bathroom entrance had been playing on a loop, and no one had paused it.

Lu Heng nodded and said, "Yes, they couldn't have seen it."

The other four guards who had passed by the bathroom entrance were also called over, and one of them interjected, "We're not blind. How could we not see such a large object placed outside the trash can?"

Lu Heng corrected him, "To be precise, the hard drive was placed behind the trash can. That's why the trash can was moved, to hide the hard drive behind it. The hard drive isn't thick, less than two centimeters. If you don't look carefully, it's easy to miss it."

Upon hearing this, the guards who had expressed doubt exchanged glances and did not argue further.

If the hard drive was hidden behind the trash can, it would indeed be easy to overlook it while running past.

Lu Heng continued, "Engineer Liu was only out of the surveillance range for one second at the bathroom entrance. He definitely didn't have time to go inside, but it would have been easy for him to slip the hard drive behind the trash can."

Guard Captain You Zhanyu then questioned, "Okay, let's say your deduction is true. Where is the hard drive now? Who took it? Was it me? I didn't even have the chance to take it."

Cui Chengye chimed in, "Exactly! I was walking with the captain past the bathroom. If he had taken the hard drive, how could I not know?"

You Zhanyu took over the conversation, pointing at the surveillance footage, "This footage has probably been played dozens of times, right? Does my body look like it could hide a hard drive?"

The guards' uniforms were tight-fitting, tucked into their pants, and there was no part of their bodies that could conceal a hard drive.

If a hard drive was hidden on their person, it would be clearly visible when the footage was zoomed in.

Li Zhaofeng had been watching the zoomed-in surveillance footage, and not only did You Zhanyu not have a hard drive, but none of the six guards who passed by the bathroom entrance had any place to hide one.

Lu Heng nodded and said, "I had my doubts at first because there really was no place on your body to hide the hard drive, until I thought of another possibility..."

Everyone present was curious about what possibility he was referring to.

Lu Heng didn't answer but instead smiled, slowly raising his right hand. He flipped his palm, and a pistol appeared in his hand. He twirled the gun, then flipped his palm again, and the pistol disappeared.

Everyone present understood what this meant.

Metahumans had an inventory where they could store weapons and equipment.

However, not all items could be stored in the inventory.

To store items from Blue Planet in the inventory, one needed to assimilate the fundamental laws of the items.

Lu Heng smiled and said, "Do you understand now? Captain You indeed had no place to hide the hard drive, but you could have put it in your inventory with just a bit of divine energy.

"For such a dangerous espionage mission, spending a little divine energy to ensure the success of the mission is not a loss."

You Zhanyu's eyebrows furrowed, "Even if that's the case, it doesn't prove it was me. Any metahuman could have done it, and most of the guards are metahumans."

Lu Heng nodded and said, "Yes, I was also thinking about who it could be at first. But one of your actions made you a suspect in my eyes.

"When I said I was going to check the bathroom entrance, you volunteered to come with me for supervision.

"As a guard captain, you could have just sent two guards with me. There was no need for you to personally accompany me.

"When I was checking the trash can, you seemed to stand there casually, but you kept glancing over at me.

"Later, when I reviewed the surveillance footage, I indeed found that during that time, you were one of the guards who passed by the bathroom entrance."

As the reasoning progressed, You Zhanyu's suspicion gradually increased.

Cui Chengye frowned, puzzled, "That's not right. I was walking with the captain, and if he took the hard drive, how could I not know?"

Lu Heng reminded him, "You forgot one thing. He has a mind control skill, and controlling you for a second would be simple."

Cui Chengye immediately refuted, "No, the captain doesn't have mind control skills."

He pointed at the guard's information and continued to defend his captain, "Didn't you look at the guard's information? The captain doesn't have mind control skills. All three skill slots are full. Can't you see that?"

Lu Heng had indeed looked through all the guards' information and couldn't find any issues.

Guard Captain You Zhanyu did have three skill slots, and none of them were psychic skills.

However, skills could change.

As long as one completed the world quest in the Abyss Battlefield, there was a chance to change skills.

Whether it was deleting a skill, adding a skill slot, or drawing a skill to replace an original skill, the original skills could be altered.

Lu Heng didn't offer any further explanations but instead smiled and looked at You Zhanyu, asking, "Do you have it?"

You Zhanyu fell silent.

Lu Heng continued, "Your denial is useless. Find a higher-level psychic interrogator, and you won't be able to hide anything."

The emergence of superhuman abilities gave metahumans more ways to commit crimes, but it also provided investigators with more means to solve cases.

Li Zhaofeng smiled and said, "There's no need to call a psychic interrogator. I can do it. Captain You Zhanyu, please answer, do you have mind control skills?"

At this point, there was no turning back.

You Zhanyu smiled bitterly, helplessly lowering his head in admission, "It was me."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end