Chapter 440: There's an Even Faster Method

"Stop laughing, you're making me look embarrassed..." Han Fei said seriously, "Let's keep looking further."

"Yes." Li Chen only felt a hot sting on his face.

He didn't even know what he was thinking earlier, actually scolding Team Leader Xu as an experienced person—crazy!

The scolding was just a scolding, but the point is his so‑called veteran judgment was wrong; Xu Mo's judgment was correct.

Too awkward!

Even his cough could no longer hide his embarrassment.

Li Chen pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shakily lit one, and shoved it into his mouth.

Fortunately the awkwardness didn't last long; another person appeared on the surveillance footage.

The person moved furtively, looking back every three steps, carrying a bucket meant for cooking oil; the liquid inside was much paler than normal oil, a light‑yellow transparent fluid.

Worth noting, in this scorching summer the person wore long clothes and long pants, and a baseball cap with the brim pressed very low—highly suspicious.

Yet despite the suspicion, nobody voiced an opinion; everyone simultaneously looked at Xu Mo.

Xu Mo had already laughed enough, but seeing everyone's reaction, his mouth twitched upward again, struggling hard to suppress a laugh.

This time, Xu Mo held it in and didn't laugh out loud.

He pointed his finger at the figure that appeared on the surveillance screen.

"This person could be a suspect; look at the bucket of oil he's carrying—the color is too light, so it can't be cooking oil, it looks more like gasoline."

Combined with the large petroleum residue found at the fire scene last night, it's basically certain this person deliberately set fire to the Music Shop.

Seeing Xu Mo take the lead, everyone swarmed to speak.

"I think the same; this person must be the arsonist!"

"Exactly, I think the same; moving furtively, you can tell he's no good."

"But her covering is too thorough; you can't tell what she looks like at all."

"..."

The person was so heavily concealed that the Police couldn't discern her appearance from the footage at all.

All they could tell was that she was a woman; beyond that they knew nothing, not even her age.

The officers kept watching.

After the woman repeatedly confirmed no one was around, she quickly opened the oil can, poured the suspected gasoline from the bucket through a gap at the bottom of the Music Shop's door, and then ignited it.

Once the fire flared, she left without looking back.

The huge blaze that destroyed the Music Shop was indeed set by her; the bucket she carried was, as Xu Mo said, not cooking oil but gasoline.

Though she concealed herself tightly, that doesn't mean she can evade punishment; after all, the surveillance captured her, and just from her silhouette the Police can lock onto her—it's only a matter of time.

"Han Team, Team Leader Xu, that's her. Let's take this photo and go canvass; just from her silhouette we can catch her," Wang Dachuan said, snapping a picture of the masked woman on his phone from the footage.

"Alright," Han Fei nodded, "We'll visit each of the potential suspects we listed."

After speaking, he looked at Xu Mo beside him: "Team Leader Xu, what do you think?"

Xu Mo first nodded, then as if something occurred to him, quickly shook his head.

Han Fei was puzzled, about to ask Xu Mo what that meant.

Xu Mo took the mouse from Li Chen's hand, rewound the surveillance, and watched it again.

After watching, Xu Mo finally spoke.

"She is not among the suspects we listed."

"Why?" Chen Ke asked instinctively.

Just from a segment of footage, Xu Mo could tell she wasn't in their suspect list?

You should know the Police's listed suspects each only have a facial photo, no full‑body shot.

And the woman captured on the footage never showed her face; she concealed herself tightly, only her silhouette visible.

There's literally no point of reference between the two—why does Xu Mo say that?

Xu Mo explained Chen Ke's doubt.

"The suspects we listed are either the owner of another Music Shop on this street or nearby residents; they share one trait—they all live nearby... People living nearby must know the street well and know that this SirenBowuguan has surveillance at its entrance."

Speaking of that, Xu Mo pointed at the woman on the surveillance screen.

"Look at the footage: from the moment she appears, she steps, then looks back every three steps, glancing around, trying not to be seen, but she didn't need to look so often—there aren't many people on this street at night, and it's so dark that even if someone is there they might not notice her immediately. This shows she lacks a sense of security and is very cautious, which is also evident from her clothing during the crime."

"Would a person lacking security and so cautious expose herself to surveillance? Moreover, in this segment she's facing the camera, which is illogical—given her habit of looking back every three steps, even if she concealed herself tightly she wouldn't deliberately face the camera. This only shows she didn't know a camera was pointed at the Music Shop door, so... she doesn't live nearby."

After listening, Chen Ke silently nodded.

Xu Mo's reasoning made sense.

"So our investigative direction is wrong? None of the suspects we listed are related to this arson case?"

"That's not necessarily so." Xu Mo waved his hand: "Perhaps they ordered someone else to help set the fire, but that probability is very low, almost impossible."

"Makes sense... Team Leader Xu, you mean we should abandon the canvassing now and instead locate the suspect by checking other surveillance on this street?"

Xu Mo shook his head.

"No, there's an even faster method!"