Chapter 13: The Expert Team Takes Action—Is Su Chen Being Driven to the Brink?

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Chapter Thirteen: The Experts’ Operation—Su Chen Driven to the Brink?

Duan Yu’s words sent a shiver through every viewer in the livestream.

He had already guessed the truth.

[Holy crap, this is intense! What is Su Chen going to do now?]

[Is he finished? The search area has been narrowed down far too much this time. Aside from the few experts, the only people present were the hundred police officers...]

[Exactly. If they question everyone one by one, it won’t take long at all.]

[And there’s even a psychological expert on the team. I’m afraid she won’t let any lie slip past her!]

[Now that you mention it, Su Chen had better run. How could he possibly avoid revealing a flaw under questioning by five experts?]

Meanwhile, at the scene in the power distribution center, veteran detective Cui Liwan turned toward the young intern standing beside Director Huang Tao.

In a calm voice, he asked, “Young lady, you said you lost your internship certificate this afternoon, correct?”

The girl nodded nervously. It was the first time she had ever been questioned by a criminal investigator.

“Director Huang called us together for a brief meeting. Before it began, I checked and confirmed that I still had all my certificates. But after the meeting ended, it was gone.”

“So you lost it during the meeting.”

Cui Liwan nodded. His sharp eyes gleamed with keen intelligence.

The culprit was clever. He had deliberately chosen a crowded occasion to make his move and muddy the waters.

“Then try to remember. During the meeting, did you encounter anyone suspicious?”

“This...”

The girl sank into her memories. Suddenly, she hesitated, unsure whether she should speak.

Director Huang Tao immediately prompted her. “Xiao He, cooperate with the expert team’s investigation. Say whatever you know.”

The girl’s cheeks reddened slightly as she sighed.

“I chatted with a young man for a while. But he was an intern too. He said he worked in the power distribution department of the monitoring system.”

“An intern?!”

Director Huang’s eyes flew wide.

“The power distribution department of the monitoring system hasn’t hired any interns recently!”

In an instant, the realization struck everyone like lightning.

They understood.

This mysterious man was very likely the culprit!

At present, they had one enormous advantage: someone had seen what he looked like.

All they needed was a witness identification, and they would have a powerful lead in the investigation.

However, because eyewitness identification was heavily influenced by personal perception, it could not be used as evidence for a conviction.

Moreover, the entire identification process required extremely rigorous preparation, including psychological evaluations of the witness, anti-interference testing, and the collection of testimony concerning the witness’s recollection, among other procedures.

Completing everything would take at least five or six hours.

And at this moment, they did not even have a photograph of the suspected culprit for the witness to confirm.

Thus, faced with this hard-won lead, the expert team immediately began discussing their options.

“We can have this young lady identify everyone from the police force who participated in the program,” Duan Yu proposed.

If his guess was correct and the culprit had infiltrated their ranks, there was a good chance the witness would be able to identify him.

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“However, to ensure the accuracy of the identification as much as possible, we cannot omit the necessary testing and professional preparation for the witness.”

Veteran detective Cui Liwan’s face was alight with indescribable excitement. Every time he drew close to the truth, he felt this surge of hot blood coursing through his veins.

“Leave this to me,” he volunteered.

“Let the comrades at the power distribution center bear with us and stay here for now. I’ll remain here today, find everyone who saw this mysterious man, construct a suspect profile, and conduct identification sessions with multiple witnesses.”

The moment the viewers heard the phrase “multiple-witness identification,” they immediately realized how serious the situation had become.

[Multiple-witness identification! Su Chen is in danger. I remember that female security inspector saw him too!]

[Multiple witnesses identifying the same person gives the evidence considerable weight. Once Su Chen is singled out, the expert team can detain him as a criminal suspect!]

[Then won’t the case be solved? Identification procedures usually take five or six hours, but with an experienced expert like Old Cui, they might only need about three hours!]

[Three hours is far too little time. There won’t be enough time to do anything. If Su Chen doesn’t run now, he’ll be detained, the surveillance system will be restored, the evidence will be found, and the game will be over!]

[Good heavens, my palms are sweating just watching this.]

[The production team is unbelievably slow! Switch the livestream to Su Chen already. I want to see what that guy is doing!]

As the comments flew across the screen, the experts quickly finalized their next course of action.

As a veteran who had spent years working on the front lines of criminal investigations, Cui Liwan was thoroughly familiar with the procedures and handled them with ease.

Since he had volunteered to take charge, the other experts naturally had no objections.

Duan Yu nodded. “Then Old Cui will stay here. But our work cannot stop either. I suggest we immediately recall all the police personnel under the expert team.”

“We’ll conduct surprise interrogations about their whereabouts!”

“I’ll assist you,” Bai Su replied, folding her arms.

She knew that Duan Yu intended to make up for the time lag. The culprit had only just committed the crime and would not yet have had time to conceal the gaps in his movements, so they could catch him off guard.

She herself was a police interrogation expert and had full confidence in catching even the slightest flaw the culprit revealed during questioning.

Qin Ming said, “What if we alert him and the inside man escapes?”

Duan Yu smiled.

“That would be even better. We would only need to point to one name to confirm the culprit’s identity. Once his identity is exposed, wouldn’t he be much easier to arrest? The only thing we fear is that he won’t reveal himself.”

“If he chooses to flee, then he’ll be stepping directly into our area of expertise. With modern investigative methods, capturing a fugitive is a simple matter...”

Such meticulous planning prompted the livestream viewers to marvel.

[This is why experts are experts. Even after something this serious happens, they can keep their minds clear and calm, instantly turning the entire situation around.]

[I was very confident in Su Chen before, but now it seems that criminal cases really are these experts’ home turf. No wonder they caught the Crime Master after only a few days last time.]

[It’s honestly a little unfair. So many big shots are joining forces against one person. Few criminals anywhere in the world have ever received treatment like this.]

[If all they had was witness identification, perhaps he would still have time to think of a countermeasure. But now the situation is far too unfavorable for Su Chen. Those surprise interrogations will force him into a dead end!]

[Ugh, I have mixed feelings. We finally got such an exciting reality show, and now it’s about to end? I haven’t had enough yet!]

[Where is Su Chen? Switch the livestream over! I want to see Su Chen!]

[He probably doesn’t even know that disaster is about to descend on him!]

[Run, run! If I were Su Chen, I honestly couldn’t think of a better solution.]

[You think running means he won’t be caught? It’s only a matter of time before he’s arrested. Times have changed. Do you really think this is some fugitive novel?]

As if they had heard the viewers’ cries, the production crew promptly switched the livestream to Su Chen.

At that moment, Su Chen had changed into a police uniform. He was still wandering through the university district, stopping from time to time as though merely out for a stroll.

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He turned and walked into a small shop, leisurely browsing the merchandise.

He looked as though he had no idea that disaster was about to overtake him.

Although the viewers had expected this scene, their hearts still gave a nervous jolt when they saw it.

It was over...

Many people shook their heads at the screen and sighed, feeling it was a shame that someone as talented as Su Chen was about to be caught so soon.

But one person was the exception.

In the studio, Chief Director Chen Qiming let out a long breath, his face glowing with delight.

Yes. This was exactly the feeling he had been waiting for!

The careless culprit had finally revealed a weakness, while the police experts had used meticulous investigation to seize the breakthrough in the case.

Only then would the audience understand that they were watching a livestreamed manhunt.

Not some wish-fulfillment escape novel.

After a few minor... or rather, major, twists and turns, the program had finally returned to the right track.

What a relief!

And then—

On the screen, Su Chen suddenly made an unusual move. He raised something resembling a black earpiece to his ear.

Chen Qiming, who had already developed a touch of PTSD where Su Chen was concerned, felt his heart begin pounding again.

His instincts told him that any strange movement from Su Chen meant he was about to cause trouble.

“Quick, zoom in and see what that thing is!” Chen Qiming ordered in a panic.

The backstage operator immediately displayed a close-up of the object in Su Chen’s hand on the giant screen.

“It looks familiar. Is it a wireless earbud?”

“No... Wireless earbuds don’t have an antenna that large...”

Suddenly, the well-informed Chen Qiming seemed to remember something. His expression changed.

He hurriedly picked up the materials provided by the police for the production team and began flipping through them.

A moment later, Chen Qiming slowly raised his head, his face filled with horror.

“That isn’t an earbud at all. It’s a listening device!”

...

Elsewhere.

Inside a snack and convenience shop in the university district, Su Chen gently pressed the playback button on the listening device.

Duan Yu’s voice came through clearly.

After listening intently for a while, Su Chen murmured, resting his chin on his hand, “So they’re going to conduct surprise checks? To realize so quickly that there’s an inside man... They really are elites.”

“If I hadn’t slipped a miniature listening device into Officer Duan’s inner pocket when we brushed past each other at the elevator...”

“Then by now, I might have been facing disaster without even knowing it.”

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