Chapter 38.2: Everyone wants to change careers?
Whatever. Even a mosquito-sized piece of meat was still meat. She wasn’t going to complain.
Still grumbling inwardly about the system, Jiang Xia stared at the lock she had just opened. She froze for two seconds before looking slightly surprised.
“Wait, seriously? This lock is that easy to open?”
Li Jinfu was stunned too.
The comb-shaped pick was indeed a handy tool, but it still required some technique to use. Pure brute force wouldn’t open the lock. And judging by the look of it, this policewoman had never practiced before.
So how had she managed to open it again?
She must have gotten lucky. Just a coincidence. She happened to hit the pins in the right way. That’s perfectly normal. The real challenge is being able to open it every single time!
“Seriously?”
Chen Dong was surprised as well. He held out his hand.
“Here, Jiang Xia. Let me try too.”
Jiang Xia handed the lock and comb-shaped pick over to Chen Dong.
Chen Dong took the pick and lock and started wrestling with them. He twisted the pick back and forth, but the lock simply wouldn’t open.
“This is getting more and more terrifying the more I hear about it.”
Huang Xueling muttered as she casually took another lock and comb-shaped pick and started trying to open it herself.
“Is this lock really that easy to open?”
She twisted it left and right, but the lock showed no reaction whatsoever. Her fingers were even turning white from the strain.
“Is this lock really that hard to open?”
Trace Examiner Li became interested too. He picked up another lock.
“Let me try.”
With that, he began attempting to pick the lock as well.
He tried twice, then quickly realized what he was doing wrong. Instead of simply twisting it as hard as Chen Dong and Huang Xueling had, he gradually worked his way toward the pins. When he felt the resistance disappear, he tried turning the pick clockwise.
With a familiar, faint click, the lock opened.
The whole thing had taken less than two minutes.
Trace Examiner Li couldn’t help marveling.
“I have to admit, with this tool, the lock really is quite easy to open.”
“Wait, you could open it too, Master?”
One person being able to do it was one thing, but now even her master could open it. Huang Xueling’s competitive spirit instantly kicked in.
She continued trying. Suddenly, the comb-shaped pick happened to strike the right pin. The resistance in her hand instantly disappeared. She followed the momentum and—
Click.
The lock opened too.
“Oh my god, it’s really that easy?”
Seeing that both Trace Examiner Li and Huang Xueling had managed to open their locks, Jiang Xia couldn’t help smiling.
If she were the only person in the department who knew how to pick locks, that would be pretty conspicuous.
But if everyone in the department knew how to do it, wouldn’t she look completely normal?
At most, she just happened to know a few more tricks than everyone else!
“See? I think it’s way too easy too.”
Jiang Xia picked up the wavy rake again and, pretending to be curious, began trying it out once more.
“This tool is seriously scary.”
“Tell me about it.”
Seeing what Jiang Xia was doing, Huang Xueling also picked up a wavy rake and metal strip and imitated her, trying to open another lock.
This time, Jiang Xia kept up the act a little longer. She spent more than fifty seconds adjusting the tool back and forth before finally—
Click.
The lock opened.
“Oh? Jiang Xia, you opened it again?”
After spending quite a while trying without success, Chen Dong finally gave up. Seeing Jiang Xia open another lock, he couldn’t help teasing her.
“You’ve really got nimble hands. You’d be good at picking locks.”
As he spoke, Chen Dong suddenly became interested.
“Speaking of which, why don’t you try picking one with a hook?”
“Sure.”
She couldn’t let her ability to pick pockets become too obvious, but demonstrating her lock-picking skills wasn’t much of a problem. Besides, everyone could pick locks now. So Jiang Xia casually picked up a hook and, pretending to be curious about the limits of her abilities, began fumbling around with it like a complete beginner.
Her clumsy movements immediately caught Li Jinfu’s attention.
“I’ve got to say, bosses…”
He sounded rather helpless.
“That hook isn’t like those other tools. It takes real skill to use. How could you expect it to work just like that?”
It had taken him years of practice to master this technique. How could this young policewoman possibly manage it?
If she can open that lock, I’ll eat my words!
But the moment he finished making that vow to himself, Li Jinfu suddenly heard a familiar sound.
Click.
The lock opened.
Li Jinfu was instantly dumbfounded.
Chen Dong looked at Jiang Xia in surprise.
“Huh? It actually opened?”
“It did!”
Jiang Xia put on her best performance, staring at the lock in equal surprise. She turned it over and examined it from every angle.
“This thing is pretty easy to use, isn’t it?”
“It’s probably just luck! Luck! You happened to get it right by chance. There’s no way you’ll be able to open it a second time!”
Li Jinfu absolutely refused to believe that such a young policewoman could have practiced lock-picking. He immediately came up with an explanation.
But when he thought about it, she’d already opened four locks in a row using different tools, and she’d opened every single one of them.
There was no way all of that could simply be explained by luck.
He thought carefully for a moment and soon figured it out.
This policewoman just has incredibly nimble hands!
Thinking this, Li Jinfu added, “But you’ve really got nimble hands, boss. You learn quickly too. You’re practically born for our line of—”
“What?”
Chen Dong and Lu Yixing immediately looked up and stared straight at him.
This ex-convict really had no idea how to compliment people. “Born for his line of work”?!
Was Jiang Xia crazy? Why would a police officer quit the force to become a thief?
That said, Jiang Xia really did have nimble hands. Chen Dong couldn’t open a single lock, yet she’d managed to open one with an iron hook.
But that wasn’t anything special. Trace Examiner Li was pretty good with the wavy rake too!
Thinking this, Chen Dong turned to look at Trace Examiner Li.
He was currently locking the lock he’d just opened again, then using the wavy rake to pick at it back and forth. Right before Chen Dong’s eyes, the lock went click and popped open.
Chen Dong fell silent for a moment.
He had to admit, their Technical Division really was full of talent.
An assembly of the finest minds!
Li Jinfu realized he’d misspoken. Seeing the two police officers staring at him menacingly, he instinctively took a step back and hurried to clarify.
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, her hands are really nimble. Someone like her is genuinely suited to picking locks. With a little practice, she could open practically any lock. Even a safe wouldn’t be a problem…”
“Enough. Shut up!”
Even Trace Examiner Li couldn’t listen to this anymore. He cut Li Jinfu off, then glanced at the lock he’d just opened and suddenly felt that something was a little strange.
Wait a minute. Wasn’t I supposed to be here to watch someone else pick locks? How did I end up studying it myself? And why am I getting so good at it?
He coughed, put the lock down, and spoke with a serious expression.
“Anyway, I think we’ve seen enough of this lock. What do we do next?”
“I think that’s enough too.”
Jiang Xia’s abilities had already been established as something she could openly demonstrate. Besides, she still needed to examine the marks inside the lock cylinder. There would be plenty of opportunities later to subtly rope everyone around her into trying things and quietly rack up more experience points.
She put down the lock in her hand.
“Let’s put these locks away for now and take them apart back at the office to examine the marks. For now…”
She looked toward the window.
“I think we can skip smashing the window. There’s no need to try wrapping the glass with tape either; those methods leave pretty obvious traces. But we should take a look at prying the window latch with a metal strip.”
“I agree.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded. “I haven’t seen this one before.”
Well, the police had spoken. Li Jinfu could only pick up the metal strip and use it to lift the window latch from the edge.
A latch was one of the most common security devices at the time. It consisted of a sliding bar and a latch socket. The bar was moved into the socket to secure the window in place.
Under normal circumstances, this type of mechanism, installed on the inside, could effectively prevent someone outside from prying the window open.
But Li Jinfu managed to work the metal strip through the gap, lift the latch little by little, and push it inward. Aside from taking a little time, it really did allow him to force the window open.
Even more impressively, after opening it, he took an iron hook, hooked the sliding bar with his left hand, and pushed it back into place with his right, restoring the window exactly as it had been.
As expected of someone trained by a master—he really had plenty of special tricks!
“Well, this really is the first time I’ve seen someone do it this way!”
Trace Examiner Li felt like he’d had his eyes opened today. After examining the window from outside, he went inside to take another look. After studying it for quite a while, he finally said, “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would’ve thought you could close the latch backward like that! It barely leaves any traces either. There’s just a few scratches on the latch, and they’d be incredibly easy to overlook if you weren’t paying attention!”
“Exactly.”
Jiang Xia carefully wrote down the trick Li Jinfu had just demonstrated.
“Now that we’ve seen it once, we’ll know what to look for in the future. If we encounter a similar residential burglary, we’ll have to check the window latches too.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded repeatedly.
“Exactly, exactly!”
The most important techniques had basically all been demonstrated. What remained was opening the main door and locked drawers. This time, Jiang Xia had Li Jinfu use different tools for each. She and Trace Examiner Li examined the marks and drew conclusions from them, while also taking the opportunity to teach Xueling.
“Look. These scratches are all parallel, and you can see stepped pry marks. The area showing compression and deformation is quite small. In other words, the tool’s contact surface must have been relatively flat, and force was applied using the principle of leverage. So it was probably a pry bar with a flat bottom.”
Jiang Xia continued explaining at an unhurried pace. Huang Xueling felt incredibly fortunate to be receiving instruction from both of her mentors at once, and with questions being thrown her way from time to time, her eyes grew increasingly bright and focused.
Meanwhile, Li Jinfu, who was fortunate enough to remain there as an observer because they hadn’t finished examining all the locks yet, was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Good heavens! Just by looking at the marks, they can tell exactly what kind of tool I used?
These police officers are this capable? How am I supposed to make a living after this?!
When I get out, I’d better find some legitimate work. Even becoming a locksmith would be better than getting arrested again!
After all the locks had been picked, Li Jinfu was taken back to the detention center.
Jiang Xia spent ages explaining everything, then stayed in that room for another three days, drawing all the pry marks from multiple angles.
…
After applying fixative and letting the drawings dry, Jiang Xia happily returned to the office carrying more than thirty sheets of sketches.
The moment she stepped through the door, she was startled by what she saw.
There was now a pile of locks on Trace Examiner Li’s desk. At a rough estimate, there were nearly thirty of them, along with all sorts of lock-picking tools. Even his precious microscope had been brought out and placed right in the middle.
He was holding a lock and turning it over repeatedly, his face full of worry.
When he saw Jiang Xia, his expression brightened. He immediately waved her over.
“Jiang Xia, you’re finished with your work, right? Come over here and help me figure this out. How are we supposed to take this lock cylinder apart?”
Jiang Xia had been busy these past two days, but he hadn’t been idle either. Team Two had taken on a case in the commune, so he’d had to go along to inspect the scene and had spent two days there before returning. His plans to examine the lock cylinders had been delayed as a result.
But that worked out rather well, because while he was away, he remembered what he’d been trying to figure out earlier.
Three years ago, there had been a case where they couldn’t determine who had opened the door, and because they couldn’t identify the culprit, it had become a cold case.
Now that he finally had some time, he’d been thinking about whether they could make a breakthrough from this angle, so he’d brought in a whole bunch of old locks.
“To take the lock cylinder apart, you first need to grind away the sealing paint around it, exposing the Phillips-head screws. Then you can take it apart.”
As Jiang Xia explained, she stepped closer and asked, “What made you think of examining the lock cylinder?”
“I remembered an old case.”
Trace Examiner Li said, “It happened three years ago. A young couple had a little girl, only two years old. Both parents worked, so the grandparents normally looked after her. One day, the parents had somewhere to go. They saw that the child was asleep, so they locked the door and left. When they came back and opened the door, the whole house had been ransacked. Their money and ration coupons were gone, and the little girl had been strangled to death. They never managed to find out who did it.”
Jiang Xia couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath.
A two-year-old child…
Whoever had done that really had been capable of such cruelty.
After thinking for a moment, she asked, “The grandparents came back together, and the lock was still intact when they returned?”
“No. The grandmother came back first.”
Trace Examiner Li shook his head.
“But the lock was confirmed to be completely intact.”
Jiang Xia was silent for a moment before asking anyway, “Is it possible that the grandmother did it?”
“They suspected her at the time, but after interrogating her, they found that she didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crime.”
Trace Examiner Li said, “So the killer had to be someone else. We just don’t know who. I want to see if we can find a breakthrough by examining the lock.”
“Hmm…”
Jiang Xia pondered this.
“If it was a burglary, the thief might have seen the child and been afraid she’d wake up—or perhaps she’d already woken up and started crying. In a panic, the thief could have lashed out and killed her… If the lock was still intact, then they probably picked it with a hook, right?”
“Exactly.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded slightly and pointed at the locks on his desk.
“That’s why I need more locks that have been opened with a hook. I was planning to have that Li Jinfu open all of these for me.”
Oh, there was no way she could let Li Jinfu have all those valuable experience points!
“I don’t think that’s enough.”
Jiang Xia pondered for a moment.
“If we only have marks from hooks, we won’t have anything to compare them against. We can’t prove that other tools wouldn’t leave the same kind of marks.”
“I think we should also make some marks with the comb-shaped picks and wavy rakes and use those for comparison.”
“And… if the thief really did kill the child accidentally, their mental state sounds a lot like that of a novice. Their lock-picking skills might not have been particularly good either. It would be best to have a beginner try opening a few locks as well.”
Trace Examiner Li lowered his head in thought, then nodded in agreement.
“That makes sense.”
But immediately afterward, he found himself facing another problem.
“Experienced burglars are easy enough to find. But where are we supposed to find a beginner?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Jiang Xia picked up two old locks.
“Come to think of it, I really do seem to have some talent for this.”
As she spoke, she lightly tossed another lock in front of Huang Xueling.
“Come on, Xueling. You try opening a couple with the comb-shaped pick too.”
Huang Xueling had been staring so intently at fingerprints that her eyes were practically going crossed. When Jiang Xia handed her a new task, she immediately hopped over and picked up the comb-shaped pick.
Great! No more looking at fingerprints!
“Picking locks? This is actually pretty interesting.”
Reading the newspaper all day was boring too. Hearing that everyone was picking locks, Photographer Zhao also became curious. He put down his newspaper and held out his hand toward Jiang Xia.
“Jiang Xia, give me one too. Let me study it.”
“Sure thing, Brother Zhao.”
Jiang Xia cheerfully tossed him the simplest lock and a comb-shaped pick.
Photographer Zhao held the lock and began studying it carefully.
Meanwhile, Jiang Xia picked up an iron hook and metal strip and returned to her own work. Leaning back in her chair, she leisurely began working on the lock.
Hahahahaha!
She was finally picking locks openly in the department!
There was only one word for it.
Awesome!
Even in her excitement, Jiang Xia remembered to maintain her persona. She deliberately suppressed the corners of her mouth from curling upward, occasionally furrowing her brows, and spent quite some time without managing to open the lock.
“Why was it so easy to open last time?”
“Why isn’t it working like this?”
“I remember it was supposed to take this much force…”
…
Jiang Xia muttered to herself, gradually deciding that she’d acted for long enough. She was just about to open the lock when the door to the technical department suddenly swung open with a click, startling her so badly that she jerked.
Wait, who is that? Can’t they knock before coming in?!
Jiang Xia looked up and saw that it was Section Chief Liao.
Oh. In that case, it made sense.
Jiang Xia thought the situation was perfectly normal.
Liao Zhongsheng, however, felt that something was very wrong.
He swept his gaze around the entire office. Aside from Forensic Examiner Sun and Yang Lihua, everyone had several locks sitting in front of them, and every single person was holding something that wasn’t a key and using it to pick those locks.
Then, right in front of him, the lock in Huang Xueling’s hand went click and popped open!
Liao Zhongsheng’s expression instantly froze.
What is going on?
Did I wake up too early today? Am I still dreaming? Why does it look like most of the people in the department are picking locks?!
What happened? Is the pressure of work so great that everyone wants to change careers?
<< _ >>