Chapter 38.1: Everyone wants to change careers?
Li Jinfu looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.
There were countless things he wanted to say, but after glancing around and seeing that everyone around him was a police officer, he silently swallowed them all.
It was probably just luck.
Li Jinfu silently reassured himself.
Women had nimble hands, after all, and she wasn’t particularly strong. It just so happened that she could take her time working on the lock, and with a bit of luck, it was perfectly normal for her to pry it open in one try.
It wasn’t as though she could open it every single time.
While Li Jinfu was comforting himself, Huang Xueling, standing by the door, was somewhat puzzled. Looking at the lock that had been pried open in the same manner, she asked curiously, “Jiang Xia, isn’t this method too slow? It feels like it wouldn’t be very useful.”
The moment she said this, Li Jinfu immediately pricked up his ears.
The police were studying how to catch him! He had to remember this carefully!
“No. I’m just slow at it.”
Jiang Xia put both wrenches into her left hand, then removed the lock she had just pried open with her right hand.
“Besides, this method is actually very useful to burglars.”
“Look. This method causes very little damage to the lock. Not only does it leave almost no trace, but the lock itself isn’t broken either, so you can lock it again afterward. When someone sees that the door is perfectly intact, they’ll assume nothing happened and, as a result, miss the best opportunity to discover that the place was broken into.”
As she spoke, Jiang Xia handed the lock to Huang Xueling so she could examine it carefully.
“It can actually be done like this?”
Huang Xueling suddenly understood. She took the lock and examined it as she spoke.
“At first glance, you really can’t see any traces.”
“Hmm… Come to think of it, someone who even thinks ahead about how to cover their tracks after stealing something is either extremely meticulous, or they’ve done this so many times that they’re experienced. That would make them a habitual offender.”
“Exactly!”
Jiang Xia snapped her fingers.
“That’s the idea. Traces can reveal a person’s behavior. From their behavior, we can infer a range of information about them—their general characteristics, personality, even their occupation, and so on. That allows us to gradually narrow down the scope of the investigation.”
“Take the way the lock was opened, for example. If it was pried upward and downward like this, we can suspect that the person has a criminal record.”
As she spoke, Jiang Xia looked up at Li Jinfu, who was approaching her. There was a very meaningful look in her eyes.
Li Jinfu, who had been listening, felt a chill run down his scalp when he caught that look. He took a step back and gave her an ingratiating smile.
How strange. This policewoman was clearly so young, so how did she manage to look so intimidating? It was almost as if she knew everything.
“What you’re saying makes perfect sense.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded in agreement, then sighed. “But come to think of it, we never used to have thieves this clever. They were all the type who only cared about the beginning and forgot about the end, leaving footprints all over the place. They were ridiculously easy to catch. But nowadays… honestly, all kinds of weirdos are popping up.”
Jiang Xia couldn’t help thinking to herself, This is nothing yet!
It’s only the beginning. Twenty years from now, that’s when you’ll really see the cream of the crop—uh, no, the whole horde of demons running wild!
“Can’t be helped. These thieves have started getting smarter too.”
Jiang Xia said, “We have to keep up with them.”
“That’s right.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded slightly. “Don’t let me interrupt you. Carry on.”
Carry on picking the lock?
That obviously wouldn’t work anymore.
Jiang Xia sighed inwardly.
A chance to rack up this many points was incredibly rare. She really wanted to pick a few more locks. Unfortunately, she couldn’t come up with a better excuse, so she could only force herself to hold back.
Jiang Xia turned to Li Jinfu.
“Didn’t you say you also know how to pick locks with a hook? Come open one with that method too.”
Picking locks with a hook was Li Jinfu’s special trick. He never demonstrated it in front of ordinary people.
Of course, the main reason was that once other people found out about it, he was liable to get beaten up.
Originally, he’d wanted to keep this trick hidden, but now that the police had already asked him about it, he had no choice but to give them a demonstration.
Li Jinfu looked around, then spread his hands helplessly.
“Boss, I need a specially made hook for this. It’s made by bending a thicker piece of rigid wire, and you don’t have anything like that here. I can’t do it without the right tool.”
“I’ve got something.”
Hearing this, Lu Yixing stepped forward and pulled a paper packet from his pocket.
“These are tools we confiscated from several habitual burglars.”
As he spoke, Lu Yixing opened the packet.
The moment Huang Xueling heard there were more tools, she immediately turned around and craned her neck to get a look.
The paper packet wasn’t very big, but it contained quite a few tools. They were all small, and could be divided into three types.
The first consisted of iron hooks of various lengths. The second was made up of strips of metal about as wide as a child’s fingernail. Some were straight from end to end, some had a raised section in the middle, and others had been bent into a shape resembling the number “7.”
Besides those, there were two other specially made tools. One was a thick piece of wire bent into a wave pattern, looking rather like a little wavy rake. The other was a strip of hardened metal that had been deliberately sawed into sections, resembling a shortened, widened miniature metal comb. It was impossible to tell what either of them was supposed to be used for.
While Huang Xueling was examining them curiously, Li Jinfu walked over to Lu Yixing’s side. The moment he saw the contents of the packet, his eyes lit up.
“Well, I’ll be damned. You’ve got quite the complete set here.”
These were all tools of the trade, and there were so many of them. Li Jinfu’s fingers practically started itching. He struggled to suppress the urge to pocket one for his collection, then disdainfully pushed aside the wavy rake and little metal comb.
He picked out an iron hook and metal strip similar to the ones he had used in the past. After fiddling with them for a few moments and deciding that they felt about right, he turned and walked over to the door.
There was a hint of confidence in his heart.
When he used a wrench to pry a lock open, the damage was left on the shackle, so it was hardly surprising that the police could detect it.
But this time, he was inserting the hook directly into the keyhole. Even if the police shone a flashlight inside, all they’d see was darkness. There was no way they could make anything out.
In other words, the police still couldn’t crack his signature trick!
With that thought in mind, Li Jinfu inserted the metal strip as a support and slipped the iron hook into the keyhole. He adjusted it up and down, and after only seven or eight seconds, there was a sharp click.
The lock popped open.
He took the lock off himself and, grinning, turned to the two police officers standing in front of him.
“Heh heh, boss, it’s open.”
After watching the whole thing, Huang Xueling’s expression had gone somewhat numb.
Wait, she could understand how the lock had been pried open with a wrench. She understood the principle of leverage, after all. The lock was so small, and with that much force applied to it, it was perfectly normal for it to break.
But this time?
The man had simply poked it a few times with a little piece of wire, and the lock had just… opened!
It opened!
Was there even any point in locking the door anymore?!
Huang Xueling had never encountered anything like this before, and her entire worldview felt like it was collapsing. She clutched her head in disbelief.
“Wait, it’s really that easy to open these locks?!”
Although she was only a young police officer who obviously hadn’t seen much of the world, seeing how shocked she was still made Li Jinfu feel rather smug. He grinned.
“Of course not.”
There was a distinctly self-satisfied note in his voice.
“This is my special trick. I’ve practiced it for a long time.”
His words did little to make Huang Xueling feel any safer.
In her mind, with this habitual burglar wandering into the residential compound, he could basically go into whichever home he pleased. The more than two hundred yuan in wages she’d painstakingly saved inside her pillow could be searched out and stolen in a matter of minutes!
It was infuriating. Wasn’t there any way to guard against people like this?
Huang Xueling pressed her lips together, staring at the lock as her brows gradually furrowed.
“Wait, Jiang Xia. He picked the lock with an iron hook, and the traces are inside the lock where we can’t see them. So how are we supposed to identify the suspect?”
Seeing her troubled expression, Li Jinfu felt another wave of smugness rise in his heart.
See? He’d told them. The police couldn’t figure out his special trick!
By this point, Jiang Xia had already walked over to Lu Yixing.
She was examining the tools. Hearing Huang Xueling’s question, she casually looked up and said in an easygoing tone,
“Oh, that’s no problem.”
“An iron wire scraping across the lock will definitely leave traces. They’ll just be shallower. If we actually encounter a burglary case and can’t find anything on the outside, we can take the lock apart and examine the cylinder. If the naked eye can’t make anything out, use a horseshoe magnifier. If that’s still not enough, bring out your master’s precious microscope and take a look. We’ll definitely be able to see them.”
The smile on Li Jinfu’s face instantly froze.
What? They can take the lock apart and examine it under magnification?!
Good grief, I’ve really met my match this time!
“Take apart the lock cylinder to look for scratches left by the wire?”
Trace Examiner Li was stroking his chin. A vague idea flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it, so for the moment, he focused on the marks left on the lock.
After pondering for a moment, he said, “That idea could work. The wire has to exert quite a bit of force to manipulate the lock cylinder, so it will definitely leave marks on it. Especially since the cylinder is made of an alloy that doesn’t change easily, the marks should remain for a longer period. Even if they’re faint, that doesn’t matter. We can shine a light on them. Even the shallowest scratches will show up under proper lighting.”
Not bad at all. Despite never having formally studied the subject, Trace Examiner Li had managed to figure out the general method based solely on experience.
Jiang Xia immediately gave him a thumbs-up.
“As expected, you’re the expert, Teacher Li.”
“Go ahead and flatter me.”
Trace Examiner Li chuckled and shook his head.
“You young people know so much more these days. You can even come up with methods like this.”
Listening to the two of them heap praise on each other, Li Jinfu felt increasingly numb.
The two of them spoke with such confidence and authority that it actually sounded like they could really investigate this kind of thing.
It’s over. My special trick is useless now!
What am I supposed to do from now on?
While Li Jinfu was still worrying about his future, Jiang Xia stopped flattering the trace examiner. She took the paper packet from Lu Yixing and looked at the two other tools inside besides the iron hooks and prying strips. Her eyebrows lifted slightly.
A wavy rake and a comb-shaped pick? They already had these this early?
These two tools were essentially advanced versions of the hook. They were easier to use: a thin metal strip bent into a wave pattern could rapidly manipulate the pins inside a lock cylinder. As long as the user mastered the right amount of finesse, a few back-and-forth movements would make the lock pop open on its own.
The comb-shaped pick was even simpler. It was essentially the prototype of a universal key. The spacing between its teeth corresponded exactly to the spacing of the pins inside the lock cylinder. Once inserted and pushed in, as long as it was positioned correctly, you could basically turn the lock cylinder and open the lock.
Jiang Xia blinked a few times, and another idea came to her.
“Li Jinfu.”
Keeping a straight face and pretending she didn’t know anything, Jiang Xia asked, “Do you know what these two tools are?”
“I…”
Li Jinfu really wanted to pretend he didn’t know, but for some reason, he had a feeling that this young policewoman would definitely see through any lie he told.
So he could only answer with a look of disdain.
“I know.”
“These are tools made by a bunch of people who haven’t properly learned the craft. They’re nothing but crooked shortcuts. They don’t have any of the finesse of the old-school professionals!”
Chen Dong, who had been quietly watching the whole time, nearly lost his composure when he heard that. He looked utterly speechless.
“You’re a burglar who breaks into people’s homes, and you’re calling other people crooked?”
“Well, I spent years painstakingly mastering my skills too.”
Li Jinfu sounded genuinely aggrieved when he brought this up.
“They can pick up these tools in just a few months. That’s way too unfair to me!”
Chen Dong was almost laughing from sheer exasperation.
“You’re seriously asking for fairness?”
“Brother Chen, you’ve got to admit, though, their techniques really have advanced quickly.”
Jiang Xia brought over two more old locks.
“Li Jinfu, demonstrate how these two things are used.”
“They’re pretty similar to the hook. You just push the pins inside the lock cylinder.”
Li Jinfu sighed. He took the lock and picked up the wavy rake first. Using the metal strip as a spacer, he inserted it into the keyhole and began pulling it back and forth, testing the feel as he explained:
“With an iron hook, you have to test the pins one at a time, and you have to use just the right amount of finesse. But with this thing, you sweep the whole row at once and push all the pins together. As long as you control the force properly, you can hit the pins that actually release the lock and open it.”
As he spoke, the lock in Li Jinfu’s hand went click.
Just like that, it popped open with ease.
He put the wavy rake and metal strip back into the paper packet, locked the lock again, then picked up the comb-shaped pick and pushed it back and forth like a key.
“This one is even simpler than the last. You just use it like a key. There’s basically no skill involved. Give an ordinary person a few days of practice, and they might be able to do it too.”
By this point, Huang Xueling was completely numb.
Chen Dong was frowning as well.
“That’s not good news.”
Simpler tools and a lower barrier to learning meant that, sooner or later, more and more thieves would learn this method of picking locks. Wouldn’t that mean that residential burglary cases would only become more common?
“Can’t be helped. People these days are getting smarter, but they just don’t seem interested in using their brains for anything proper.”
Jiang Xia also wore a helpless expression. Holding the lock, she curiously picked up the other comb-shaped pick from the paper packet. Mimicking Li Jinfu’s movements, she twisted it back and forth seven or eight times.
Click.
The lock popped open too.
Only this time, the system’s voice clearly wasn’t as cheerful as before. There was even a strong hint of perfunctory indifference in it.
[Congratulations, Host, you have successfully picked a lock. Experience +1]
Jiang Xia fell silent.
Emmm… This lousy system. Just because it wasn’t a lock attached to a door, it only gives me one point? At least I did it in front of all these police officers! How is that worth only one point?!