Diary of a Criminal Investigator

After entering the building, Lu Chuan didn’t take the elevator but instead took the stairs to the staircase between the first and second floors.

From the surveillance check just outside the door, there was a rain shield above the building entrance, directly facing the window of the staircase.

If the theft suspect didn’t exit through the building entrance after committing the theft, could it be possible they climbed out through the ventilation window between the first and second floors to avoid surveillance at the entrance?

"We’ve checked here as well. The window can be opened from the inside and someone can go through it, but there are no climbing marks, it’s very clean."

Yuan Shaokang saw Lu Chuan going upstairs and knew what the other wanted to see.

The people from the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team were no dummies and had checked almost everything after receiving the report.

Lu Chuan put on gloves and inspected the window himself, confirming there were no signs of climbing, and there was a layer of dust without any human interference.

Yuan Shaokang continued to explain, "The owner lives on the 8th floor. We checked all the windows from the 8th floor down but found no clues."

"Also the roof. This building is 11 stories high, and you can directly access the roof from the 11th floor."

"However, to get to the roof, you have to go through the top floor apartments. There have always been people in the two apartments, so it’s impossible for the suspect to cross to other units without anyone noticing."

"There are only a few exits in the entire building, we checked them all, but found nothing."

This is interesting.

"Let’s go to the crime scene first."

Considering what we know so far, since it’s impossible for the suspect to leave the building without leaving a trace, does this mean the suspect might actually live in this unit?

Putting this suspicion aside, Lu Chuan, Zhang Hui, and Yuan Shaokang took the elevator to the eighth floor.

"There are no signs of forced entry on the door lock."

Lu Chuan took out a magnifying glass and a strong flashlight from his crime scene investigation kit.

There were indeed no signs of forced entry on the lock, but under the magnifying glass and flashlight, Lu Chuan did find something interesting.

"High-strength gel."

There was a shiny reflective layer on the lock hole, which Yuan Shaokang also noticed at this point.

"What is high-strength gel?"

He hadn’t heard of this stuff before.

Lu Chuan didn’t know about it either, but the intermediate crime scene investigation skill card included methods for discovering and using this special material.

"Think of it as a different kind of glue that becomes very hard when it dries."

"The suspect surely didn’t use force to open the lock. They must have injected high-strength gel into the lock via a syringe, waited for it to dry and harden, and then used it as a key."

Lu Chuan didn’t explain further. This gel isn’t commercially available and must be self-prepared.

How did the suspect master this formula?

According to the information Lu Chuan had, such materials are usually only used by magicians in performances.

Because this gel is transparent, you can’t see it from a distance.

Upon entering the room, Lu Chuan understood why the owner reported the crime immediately.

Some burglary cases aren’t that hard to solve; it mainly depends on when the owner discovers the theft. In most cases, it’s much delayed.

People usually only realize something is missing when they need it.

A normal person doesn’t check if the cash under the bedside table is still there the moment they come home.

But this case was different; the whole room was turned upside down.

Clothes were scattered everywhere, and books from the bookshelf were mostly overturned on the floor, even the bed was completely flipped over.

"This place was really hit by a thief."

Since joining the police, Lu Chuan had witnessed many murder crime scenes, seeing all kinds of disgusting and horrifying scenarios.

But such a messy burglary scene was something he encountered for the first time.

"Did the suspect leave no traces at all?"

Yuan Shaokang nodded: "None, we found nothing."

"We only collected the footprints and fingerprints of the owner, their spouse, and their child in the room."

"We’ve also ruled out the possibility of an inside job."

This situation wasn’t unheard of.

Yuan Shaokang had handled such reports before where the owner claimed money was stolen, but it turned out they had taken it themselves.

The reason was simple, the wife controlled the money too tightly, the husband had no choice but to steal the family’s money and report it.

"The husband had been on a business trip out of town for a week, we have verified this, with flight tickets, etc. The employer confirmed there were no issues."

"The wife had been staying at her parent’s home and hadn’t returned at all."

"Captain Yuan, let me take a look."

Since the possibility of an internal job was ruled out, it must have been an outsider.

If the suspect entered and exited this room, they must have left traces, though they must have taken measures to minimize these traces to a tiny degree.

Just because the people from the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team didn’t find anything, doesn’t mean Lu Chuan won’t.

The floor was Lu Chuan’s focal point.

Theft is one of those crimes that never cease, regardless of how the economy develops, theft persists.

Moreover, theft methods seem to be evolving into more advanced techniques.

Clearly, there are almost no more theft cases that leave fingerprints nowadays.

The simple-minded thieves have almost all been caught, leaving only the smarter ones.

They know to wear gloves during the crime to avoid leaving fingerprints, reducing the chance of being caught.

However, it’s impossible not to leave footprints at a crime scene.

The suspect couldn’t have just floated in.

Some meticulous ones would clean their footprints before leaving, but this place was different. The suspect didn’t clean the floor, yet the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team didn’t collect any footprints, which is strange.

If it wasn’t an inside job and the suspect left no footprints, how did they get into and out of the scene?

Inside the room, the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team had laid down clear stepping boards, and the scene was well protected.

Lu Chuan got down on the ground to observe carefully.

The crime scene floor was marble tiles; directly looking at them you couldn’t see anything, but when catching the light at an angle, you could see many footprints.

The footprints were chaotic, but there seemed to be only three types, likely belonging to the owner and his wife and child.

The footprints overlapped, and you could clearly identify the overlapping foot markings.

In many cases, suspects wear deliberately large flat shoes without patterns to cover their tracks, leaving only a large pressure plane at the scene that’s hard to detect.

But here...