Chapter 10: Committing crimes while on the move
Jiang Xia froze for a moment before realizing what he meant. She couldn’t help laughing.
Just how much of an impression had that lock-picking incident with the piece of wire left on her master? Now, every time he saw a lock, he assumed she wanted to open it?
This was physical evidence. Why would she tamper with it?
She only wanted to pick brand-new locks back at the station…
Walking over to the warehouse keeper’s desk just inside the entrance, Jiang Xia pushed the ledger lying in the middle of the desk aside as she said,
“Master, I just want to examine the lock to see if there’s anything unusual about it.”
As she spoke, she gently placed the padlock in the center of the desk, took off her shoulder bag, and pulled out a magnifying glass and a flashlight.
Hearing that, Chief Wu finally relaxed.
But before he had fully let out his breath, he saw what she had taken out, and immediately tensed up again.
“You brought all of the station’s precious equipment with you?”
He opened her bag and saw a measuring ruler, adhesive tape, brushes, a small container of aluminum powder, and other forensic tools. His face filled with concern.
“Be careful with these. If they get damaged, they’ll be almost impossible to replace.”
“Don’t worry, Master. I’ll be careful.”
Jiang Xia nodded obediently.
By modern standards, these tools were astonishingly primitive. But in this era, every one of them was a valuable piece of equipment. The flashlight alone cost about half a month’s salary.
She definitely had to handle them with care.
Taking a seat behind the desk, Jiang Xia composed herself.
She picked up the magnifying glass and examined the large padlock before her.
It was another padlock, only much larger—just over seven centimeters long. It had clearly been in use for quite some time. Some of the paint had worn away, but otherwise it was intact. There were no obvious pry marks visible on its surface.
Jiang Xia immediately understood.
No wonder Section Chief Liu was so convinced it had been an inside job.
Information was scarce these days, and most thieves weren’t particularly skilled. The few who knew how to open locks quietly usually relied on a crude method: inserting two wrenches into the shackle and using leverage to force the lock open.
But that technique would leave the area around the keyhole badly damaged, with unmistakable signs of forced entry.
This lock, however, had an undamaged keyhole and still locked normally.
To anyone who looked at it, the obvious conclusion would be that it had been opened with the proper key.
Of course, even if someone suspected the lock had been picked with a piece of wire, an ordinary person would have a hard time spotting any traces inside the keyhole.
But she could.
That was the beauty of the enhanced eyesight she had gained after the system upgrade.
Jiang Xia switched on the flashlight.
It was noon, and the sun should have been blazing overhead. Instead, the sky was gloomy, heavy clouds hanging low. Inside the warehouse, with its narrow windows, the dimness was even more pronounced.
Fortunately, darkness was exactly what Jiang Xia wanted.
She shone the flashlight on the lock and carefully examined the minute marks around the keyway through her magnifying glass.
Watching her work, Section Chief Liu suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right.
When Chief Wu had asked Jiang Xia for her opinion earlier, he’d assumed this was simply a master bringing his apprentice along for experience.
But after following them around the warehouse, he realized that Jiang Xia had been the one asking all the questions and conducting the inspection.
Chief Wu hadn’t done a thing.
So was this Chief Wu that Officer Chen recommended actually competent or not?
The humid, oppressive air grew increasingly stifling, making everyone more irritable by the minute.
Section Chief Liu hesitated several times before finally blurting out,
“Chief Wu… you’re just going to stand here and wait?”
Chief Wu nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“That’s right. I’ll wait here.”
Section Chief Liu’s face turned slightly green.
“This… isn’t that a bit…”
Chief Wu laughed. He knew exactly what Liu was thinking.
Pointing at Jiang Xia, he said,
“She’s one of the top graduates from Shannan Police Academy. Didn’t I tell you? Chen Dong specifically asked for her to come take a look.”
“What?”
Section Chief Liu blinked in surprise.
Officer Chen wanted her to come?
He looked at Jiang Xia again, his skepticism only deepening.
A top graduate might be talented, but she was so young. How much practical experience could she possibly have?
She probably wouldn’t be able to find anything at all.
Officer Chen is really making things harder. Sure, a warehouse theft isn’t as serious as those recent robbery-murders, but that’s no reason to fob us off on some rookie.
Completely unaware of the complaints forming in Section Chief Liu’s mind, Jiang Xia remained absorbed in her examination of the padlock.
After all, using a piece of wire wasn’t the only way to pick a lock without leaving visible damage.
Techniques such as magnetic impact unlocking or skillfully manipulating the shackle could achieve the same result.
The latter method usually left marks on the surface, which could be identified through direct inspection. But detecting traces left by a wire pick required examining the lock cylinder itself, which meant taking it apart.
Doing so would inevitably cause further damage to the lock and could easily destroy whatever evidence the thief had left behind.
So before resorting to such a destructive examination, Jiang Xia first needed to rule out the other, less invasive possibilities.
Holding the magnifying glass, she studied the lock.
Beneath the lens, the texture of the lock’s surface was magnified several times over. Combined with the enhanced eyesight granted by the system, she could clearly distinguish rust, chipped paint, gray scratches left by the lock striking the door hardware, and tiny flecks of green paint transferred during those impacts.
She adjusted the angle of the flashlight.
At certain angles, even the faintest scratches became much easier to see.
She examined the front of the lock, then the sides.
Nothing.
Then she moved to the inside of the shackle.
A scratch just over two millimeters long caught her attention.
It was pale rather than painted, with no flecks of green paint clinging to it. Instead, it had a faint silvery sheen, making it obvious that it was newly made—not the kind of mark left by the shackle knocking against the door hasp.
Could it be…?
Jiang Xia’s spirits lifted immediately.
She quickly examined the lower part of the shackle.
According to the mechanics of prying, a single prying action should leave two marks: one at the fulcrum, where the tool braced itself, and one at the point where force was applied.
This scratch was clearly the point where force had been applied.
That meant there had to be a corresponding fulcrum mark somewhere else.
Sure enough, she found a nearly identical scratch near the upper left side of the lock body.
“I’ve confirmed it.”
Jiang Xia looked up, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
“This lock was pried open. The goods weren’t stolen by an insider—they were taken by experienced outside burglars.”
“What?!”
Examining the lock had taken some time. Growing increasingly impatient, Section Chief Liu had eventually wandered outside the warehouse to squat by the entrance and smoke.
The moment he heard Jiang Xia’s declaration, his hand jerked in surprise.
He didn’t even bother finishing the half-smoked cigarette. He threw it to the ground, crushed it under his foot, and hurried back inside.
He asked anxiously, “It wasn’t opened with a key? Are you serious? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
“Although the marks are tiny, they’re consistent with pry marks. They’re located on the inside of the upper shackle and on the upper left side of the lock body. The thief most likely wedged two wrenches, or a wrench and a pair of pliers, vertically between the shackle, then gradually forced it open by applying upward pressure. That’s why the lock doesn’t show any obvious damage.”
As she explained, Jiang Xia demonstrated the burglar’s movements, pretending to grip the tools and pressing downward with her hands.
“If you don’t believe me, you can take a look yourself. Besides the lock, there’s something else that’s suspicious. If this had really been an inside job, why would the thief choose a stack that was scheduled to be shipped today? Wouldn’t that be practically inviting everyone to notice the missing goods and start looking for the culprit immediately?”
Without saying a word, Section Chief Liu took the magnifying glass and examined the two tiny pry marks.
Only after a long while did he raise his head, his expression complicated.
There was a trace of embarrassment at having his original theory overturned, but also a sense of relief—as though this explanation had answered doubts he’d been unable to resolve.
He let out a quiet sigh.
“To be honest, I can’t really make sense of those marks myself.”
Setting the magnifying glass down, he continued,
“But what you said makes sense, Comrade Jiang. I was being foolish. Who says a lock can only be opened with its key? Looks like I really did wrong those innocent people.”
After a pause, he turned to Chief Wu.
“Your apprentice is incredible. Those marks aren’t even as big as a grain of millet. I couldn’t have seen them if she hadn’t pointed them out, yet she could tell they were pry marks?”
Chief Wu looked rather pleased by the compliment to his apprentice.
“Well, that’s what you get from a top graduate.”
Then he smiled reassuringly.
“It’s perfectly normal. That’s how we all investigate cases—we ask questions, we follow leads. No real harm was done. Now that we’ve figured it out, those people have had their names cleared.”
“True enough.”
Section Chief Liu sighed again.
“But if we’re dealing with an experienced outside burglar, then this case just became a lot harder.”
“This isn’t an ordinary thief.”
At the mention of the case, Chief Wu’s expression also turned serious.
“They know a wide range of techniques, and they’ve got nerve. Before they even steal, they’re already planning how to cover their tracks afterward. You don’t become this skilled without committing a lot of burglaries. Most likely they’re a traveling professional thief, moving from place to place. That makes them very difficult to catch.”
Section Chief Liu understood the implication behind Chief Wu’s words.
The factory’s stolen goods were unlikely to be recovered.
After all, professional traveling thieves were constantly on the move. They might be in town today and gone tomorrow. Even if the police identified them, there was no guarantee they could catch them—let alone recover the stolen merchandise.
He understood that.
But he was still unwilling to give up.
Looking at Jiang Xia, he asked,
“Comrade Jiang, do you think we can keep investigating? We can’t just stop because they’re difficult to catch.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jiang Xia replied. “We’ll investigate as much as we can.”
She couldn’t make any promises.
Standing up, she said, “Let’s check outside first and see if there are any more clues.”
Section Chief Liu nodded repeatedly.
“I’ll have Xiao Zhang ask around too—see if anyone noticed any suspicious people near the factory these past few days.”
As the head of the factory’s security force, Liu possessed solid investigative instincts. Now that the direction of the investigation had changed, he immediately knew what needed to be done without Jiang Xia having to remind him.
While Xiao Zhang led several security officers to question nearby residents, Jiang Xia walked over to the factory’s outer wall and carefully examined the marks on its surface.
The main gate was guarded, so the thieves must have climbed over the wall.
If so, they might have left useful traces there.
The entire wall was painted a dull grayish white, and to most people, the streaks of dirt looked identical.
To Jiang Xia, however, every mark told a different story.
These straight vertical streaks were caused by rainwater.
Those slanting to the right were left by the north wind.
The splattered spots near the bottom came from muddy water someone had thrown here the other day…
As she sorted through the countless marks, she soon spotted several fresh abrasions along the top of the wall.
These were left by burlap-wrapped bundles scraping against the wall!
Jiang Xia’s spirits instantly lifted.
Seeing that there were few footprints on this side of the wall, she quickly climbed onto her bicycle and rode around to the opposite side.
A narrow dirt path ran along the outside.
Plenty of people had walked through during the day, leaving a confusing jumble of footprints.
But by paying attention to the direction they were facing, Jiang Xia quickly picked out several footprints near the wall that looked suspicious.
At last—
her greatest skill could finally come into play.
Breaking a small branch off a nearby tree, Jiang Xia drew a circle around what she believed to be one of the thieves’ footprints.
Chief Wu, who had followed her over, instinctively glanced at his watch.
“You found footprints already? That fast?”
Jiang Xia answered casually, “You know what they say—practice makes perfect.”
The last time had been her first real field investigation, so she’d worked more cautiously and slowly. This time, not only did she have experience, but her abilities had also been upgraded. And she was searching for footprints near the wall, where there was relatively little interference.
It would have been strange if she hadn’t found them quickly.
Before long, Jiang Xia had marked out the thieves’ movements, as well as the tracks left by the bicycle they had used to transport the stolen goods.
Standing beside the tire tracks, she took a notebook from her pocket and began writing as she spoke.
“Judging from the traces at the scene, this was a group operation. There were three thieves in total.”
“One was around nineteen years old and was mainly responsible for keeping watch.”
“Another was about twenty-one and did most of the climbing over the wall and moving the stolen goods.”
“And the third was roughly thirty-two or thirty-three. He appears to have been the ringleader.”
Section Chief Liu had just returned after giving Xiao Zhang his instructions.
Hearing Jiang Xia’s analysis, he blinked in confusion.
“Comrade Jiang… you’re talking about the thieves?”
Jiang Xia nodded.
“That’s right.”
Section Chief Liu was even more bewildered.
Wait… how on earth can you tell all that?
One look at his expression told Jiang Xia exactly what he was thinking.
“This is a criminal investigation technique called footprint analysis,” she explained.
“I found the thieves’ footprints and used them to estimate their ages, heights, and body builds. You’ve probably heard of it before.”
Now that she mentioned it, Liu vaguely remembered hearing something about it during a training course at the municipal bureau years ago.
But as far as he recalled, footprint analysis was mainly about identifying shoe tread patterns.
Since when could it reveal a suspect’s age and physical characteristics?
Must be some new technique…
The way he looked at Jiang Xia became noticeably more respectful.
A top graduate really is something else. She knows so many specialized techniques.
Chief Wu thought for a moment before asking, “Xiao Jiang, besides their ages and builds, can you tell us anything even more distinctive?”
Jiang Xia examined the footprints several more times before shaking her head helplessly.
“That’s all I can get.”
A hint of frustration crept into her expression.
If there were a ranking for the kinds of criminals police officers liked to catch most, those with obvious distinguishing features would be at the very top.
Whether someone had only one eye, was completely bald, was bow-legged, or had six fingers—people like that were few in number and easy to recognize.
They were the easiest suspects to find and arrest.
Ordinary-looking people, on the other hand, were another story.
They were everywhere.
Even determining whether someone was the right suspect could take an enormous amount of time and effort.
Unfortunately, these three thieves were completely ordinary.
Even with estimates of their ages, heights, and builds, the pool of possible suspects was still far too large. Tracking them down would only be slightly easier than searching for a needle in the ocean—
more like searching for a needle in an entire river system.
Either way, the overall difficulty was still off the charts.
If only one of them had been lame…
With that thought, Jiang Xia sighed helplessly.
“No… that’s all.”
Chief Wu pondered for a moment before glancing up at the increasingly dark sky.
“Then let’s leave it at that.”
“Xiao Jiang, give the information you’ve written down to Section Chief Liu. It looks like it’s about to rain, and we don’t want to get caught in it on the way back. We’d better head out now.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Xia froze.
Wait… the case hasn’t been solved yet.
Why is Chief Wu already talking about leaving?
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