Chapter 429: Four Suspects

It's not just Chief Gao; after hearing Xu Mo's words, all the officers in the station were in a rather bad mood.

It seems the gun‑stealing thief came from within.

Earlier, because there were other suspects, the officers held onto a sliver of hope, thinking the gun thief might not be a fellow officer; now that last thread of hope has been shattered, and the thief is among them.

No one can accept such a thing.

A thief has turned up among the colleagues he works with day in and day out!

Especially since they are police officers—a profession that stands for justice—it's even harder to swallow.

"Any suspects?" Chief Gao asked after a long silence.

Xu Mo shook his head, indicating there were none for the time being.

A gun theft always has a motive.

Xu Mo had previously suspected that someone inside the station might have a grudge against Hao Qi, stealing his gun to frame him.

But that hypothesis was ruled out; Hao Qi has a good reputation in the station, no enemies, and gets along smoothly with everyone.

If it's not to frame someone, then what's the motive for stealing the gun? Xu Mo wondered.

While pondering the question, he also scanned the officers at their desks.

His sharp gaze lingered on each officer for a moment.

An ordinary person, stared at like that by Xu Mo, would surely show a guilty expression.

But everyone present are officers; their mental resilience isn't that weak, and after a round of observation, Xu Mo didn't spot any officer avoiding his gaze out of guilt.

"How do you plan to investigate?" Han Fei looked at Xu Mo at that moment.

After returning to the Police Station, Han Fei also noticed the problem: the officers' mental fortitude is so strong that it's hard to read any hidden intent from their facial expressions.

Finding out who stole Hao Qi's sidearm will likely require some effort.

"First ask who had contact with Hao Qi after he returned from the mission; the suspect is among them," Xu Mo replied.

Xu Mo summoned again the officers who had previously gone on a mission with Hao Qi.

"When you returned from today's mission, who did you interact with?"

The three officers thought briefly, then each began to answer.

"Who we interacted with… Lao Zhou, Xiao Li."

"Also the newcomer, named… Su Chen."

"And gate guard Lao Zhang."

"Just these four?" Xu Mo asked.

The three nodded, "Yes, just these four; the other colleagues were busy at the time."

Only four people—that makes it easy.

The suspect must be one of those four.

"Then question the four of them in turn," Han Fei said. "Please go fetch those four."

As soon as Han Fei finished speaking, Xu Mo waved his hand.

"Don't rush yet, you first give me a brief rundown of those four's situation," Xu Mo said, looking at the three officers.

One of the officers spoke up.

"Lao Zhou isn't a regular officer; he's an auxiliary police, a veteran of our station. He was here before I even joined. He's quite diligent, jumps at any task, a good‑natured and warm‑hearted person. When I first arrived, I went to him with any questions I didn't understand."

"I'm not that close to Xiao Li; he doesn't talk much, a bit shy, a tech‑nerd. Few people in the station can click with him, Hao Qi being one of them. They get along well, and their relationship is quite good."

"I don't know Su Chen well either; he's a newcomer, just graduated from the Police Academy, still interning, and has been at our station for maybe a month or so… His defining trait is an overwhelming sense of justice—a fresh graduate, you know, full of hot‑blooded zeal. Oh, and he's very interested in guns, has tried more than once to get a feel for one, but he's still a rookie, hasn't even completed his internship, so that's against the rules."

"Gate guard Lao Zhang is also a veteran of the station; he was here before I arrived and has worked at our station for over ten years. He gets along well with every officer. Lao Zhang used to be an officer; he says he injured his leg in a previous operation—walking is fine, but he can't run, so he couldn't chase criminals. He resigned and became a gate guard."

After the officers gave a brief introduction to the four, Xu Mo summarized.

Auxiliary police Lao Zhou: honest, diligent, warm‑hearted, a veteran of the station.

Officer Xiao Li is a tech‑nerd, rather shy, not talkative, somewhat low‑profile.

Intern Su Chen just graduated from the Police Academy, hasn't been at the station long, young, and brimming with a sense of justice.

Gate guard Lao Zhang, also a station veteran, was injured in a prior operation, leaving his legs impaired; unable to handle capture missions, he voluntarily gave up his officer duties and became a gate guard.

At first glance, none of the four seem to have any major issues.

But Xu Mo knows the suspect must be one of them.

Who could it be? Xu Mo couldn't help but furrow his brow and ponder.

He doesn't intend to summon them all at once for questioning; instead, he plans to first identify the most likely suspect among the four, deduce their motive, and then proceed with interrogation.

Officers have strong mental resilience; if you only suspect them without knowing their motive, questioning alone yields nothing—they won't confess. Only by roughly piecing together a motive first can you hope to get useful answers.

Even though Xu Mo is well‑versed in psychology and can spot lies, if they refuse to admit anything, there's nothing he can do unless he uses a truth serum.

Truth serum works well, but Xu Mo is reluctant to use it casually; after all, he doesn't have many, and each use depletes his supply—if possible, he'd rather not use it.

"Who do you think is the biggest problem?" Xu Mo looked at Han Fei beside him.

He tried to get the Lao Xingzhen, Han Fei, to give him some insight.

"I think… Xiao Li. Those who don't talk are often ruthless," Han Fei mused.

"What about motive?"

Han Fei shook his head, "I don't know; that's just my gut feeling."

Xu Mo went on, following Han Fei's line.

"Then let's first assume Xiao Li is the gun thief. So his motive… wait, he doesn't really have a motive. Hao Qi is one of the few in the station who can click with him; it's normal for good friends to swap a lighter or something. But stealing a gun… Hao Qi would be badly affected by that. Who would want their good friend to suffer? I don't think that's likely."

Through this analysis, Xu Mo realized Xiao Li had no reasonable motive to steal the gun, so he temporarily dropped suspicion on him.

He continued his analysis.

"That intern Su Chen does have some suspicion; he's interested in guns, so he has a motive to steal one."

"Hmm!" Han Fei nodded, "It's not unreasonable for a newcomer who has never handled a gun to want to try touching it; his suspicion is indeed greater than Xiao Li's."

The next second, Han Fei changed his tone.

"But... a newcomer overflowing with a sense of justice shouldn't be so low as to steal a gun, even if he's very interested in guns, I think he couldn't do such a thing. Xu Mo, what do you think?"