Chapter 227: So It Turns Out Xu Mo Is the Cao Thief

"Smoke smell?" Han Fei said, "Is there a smell of smoke in this room? Are you sure it's not the smoke on us?"

As a lifelong heavy smoker, Han Fei had long been saturated with smoke.

His clothes and body were soaked with a kind of smoke odor that wouldn't come off even after washing.

Of course, he couldn't smell the smoke on himself.

Because he smoked for years, his sensitivity to smoke was very low.

He couldn't detect even a trace of smoke at all.

In fact, it wasn't just Han Fei.

Any veteran smoker couldn't smell the smoke on themselves.

Only those who don't smoke or smoke very little can detect it.

Shen Man Ni shook her head and said with great certainty.

"It's not on you; I'm sure it's the smoke in this room. The smoke is faint, but still detectable. Someone in here must have just smoked not long ago."

Hearing this, Han Fei turned his head toward the police officers behind him.

"Did you guys smell it?"

The officers, one by one, shook their heads like a clapper.

"What smoke smell?"

"We really didn't smell anything!"

After questioning the officers, Han Fei turned his head back to Shen Man Ni.

He was somewhat doubtful—maybe Shen Man Ni had misjudged.

"Are you sure you didn't mistake it, that it's not the smoke on us?"

Shen Man Ni nodded.

"I'm sure, it's the one in the room."

She paused, then added, "You all smoke often; it's normal that you can't detect a faint trace. If you don't believe it, you can test it—sniff your own clothes and see if you can pick up the smoke."

Police officers, especially the male ones, tend to smoke heavily.

They often stay awake for dozens of hours, even a full day and night, while investigating a case, and there aren't many things to keep them alert; cigarettes are one of them.

The more they smoke, the less sensitive they become to smoke.

The officers Han Fei brought out this time happened to all be smokers.

Not being able to smell the room's smoke is perfectly normal.

But Shen Man Ni doesn't smoke.

She's very sensitive to smoke!

She smelled the smoke as soon as she entered.

She originally assumed Han Fei could smell it too, so she stayed silent.

It turned out Han Fei hadn't noticed the smoke at all, even planning to pack up and leave, which finally made her speak up.

Han Fei lifted his sleeve and sniffed.

He didn't detect any smoke.

"I didn't smell anything; maybe I've smoked too much and I'm not that sensitive to smoke."

He no longer doubted Shen Man Ni's nose.

Among everyone he brought out, Shen Man Ni was the most sensitive to smoke.

She said there's smoke in the room, so there definitely is smoke.

Moreover, since the smoke hasn't dissipated yet, it shows the cigarette was smoked not long ago.

The time couldn't be more than twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes ago there was still someone in the house; now they're gone.

There can only be two possibilities.

One is that the person is hiding somewhere in the house and the officers haven't found them.

The other is that the person left the house before they arrived.

Thinking of this, Han Fei said to the officers.

"Check everything again carefully, see if anything was missed."

Then he looked at Chen Ke.

"Get the property management for a surveillance clip, twenty minutes… no, within half an hour, to see if those two left before we arrived."

…

Meanwhile.

Next door, Room 2010.

"Little brother, don't… don't get worked up. If there's something we can negotiate, whether you want to rob money or rob… you can, I promise to cooperate, just don't hurt me…" The woman who owned the room wore a terrified expression.

What frightened her was a young man opposite her wearing a duckbill cap.

She didn't even know when that cap‑wearing man had come in.

But she was too lazy to wonder how or when he entered.

At that moment she only thought: as long as this man doesn't hurt her, that's enough.

Moreover, to avoid being hurt.

She was already prepared for being robbed of money, or of… (sex), or even first money then… (sex).

In short, anything goes—robbery or… as long as it doesn't kill her, everything's negotiable!

The cap‑wearing man was Xu Mo.

Just now he heard the Investigation Team moving outside the door, and in his haste he climbed onto the balcony of 2011, then jumped from the balcony of 2011 to the balcony of 2010.

Before climbing onto the balcony, he also gathered up the few cigarettes he had just lit and, in passing, threw them off the balcony.

It's not that he's afraid the Investigation Team will discover that someone just came into the house.

It's mainly because he's afraid Han Fei, from the line of cigarette butts, will uncover the secret that a hidden room lies behind the wall.

He certainly doesn't want to set up the Investigation Team.

Xu Mo took off his cap.

He smiled at the lady owner of the house: "Don't worry, as long as you cooperate obediently, I guarantee I won't hurt you."

She saw Xu Mo's handsome, very youthful face hidden under the cap.

The woman suddenly felt… being robbed of both money and affection by such a little handsome guy didn't seem like a loss!

It could be said she spent money to get a handsome duck!

Thus, her gaze toward Xu Mo became a bit shy.

"I'll cooperate, I will definitely cooperate…"

Seeing this, the Water Friends in the Live Broadcast Room got excited.

"WTF, what a Xu Mo! Turns out he's the biggest Cao Ze!"

"Continue, continue, hurry up, no need to show me the plot, just start the action!"

"This woman isn't unattractive, she still has that lingering charm of an older lady… I really f***ing love this type."

"Do you only like this type? Which type don't you f***ing like? You pervert, I spit!"

"Whether I should say it or not, this is indeed good, no wonder that person earlier was willing to risk being caught just to sneak a bite."

"..."

Room 2011.

Another round of careful searching.

Still didn't find the person hidden in the room.

If no one was found in the room, they most likely have already fled.

But Han Fei couldn't be certain.

Whether the two actually ran away still needs to be confirmed by the surveillance footage.

It's also possible the two hid so well that they weren't found.

Just then, Chen Ke, who had gone out to look for the surveillance, returned.

He waved his phone at Han Fei: "The surveillance from Han Team is here, all copied onto the phone."

While saying that, he unlocked the phone, retrieved the surveillance just copied from the property, and handed the phone to Han Fei.

Han Fei took the phone and began to look.

While Han Fei was watching the surveillance, Chen Ke added from beside him.

"There's no hallway surveillance; the property said the hallway camera cable was recently chewed by a mouse and hasn't been repaired yet, only the elevator surveillance and the first‑floor unit door surveillance remain."

Upon hearing Chen Ke say the hallway surveillance was broken, Han Fei said nothing.

Surveillance damage is unavoidable.

But even if only the surveillance and the first‑floor unit door surveillance remain, that's sufficient.

All they need to do is check whether anyone took the elevator down from the 20th floor within half an hour, and whether anyone exited the first‑floor unit door during that period.

A quick scan will reveal the result.

If the two have indeed fled, then they'll trace them via the surveillance.

If they haven't fled, they're definitely still here, so just continue the search.