Chapter 620

He recalled the scent-masking device, and next, their task was to determine which cleaning company the Central Bank had hired, and what specific cleaning agent it used.

The cleaning company was easy to identify—their full blue uniforms said it all. Lex operated the keyboard beside him and said, "Luthor Estate also hired this company before. Their full name is Metropolis Snow Mountain Cleaning Co., Ltd., the largest cleaning company in Metropolis, with over 1,800 employees…"

"Here's their data. I hacked into their internal database and pulled recent service records. According to this, the Central Bank scheduled glass facade cleaning services on March 18."

Stepping on the Stars

Bruce stepped up to the screen, studying the displayed information. The order details showed that Metropolis Central Bank had booked glass facade cleaning services involving fifty staff members. Excluding technicians and drivers, there were forty-three cleaners—all Ma Lei.

The records indicated they dispatched three vehicles, each carrying four large toolboxes. One toolbox contained all the cleaning agents, but no specific brand was listed.

Bruce checked their procurement orders. Lex continued operating the screen. "Pelo-brand cleaning agent raw material—its logo is a blue bear head, hence also called Blue Bear Cleaner. Snow Mountain Company has used this cleaner for over a decade."

"There's no ready-made cleaner for glass facades. They must purchase the raw ingredients and mix them on-site. I'm checking their exact procurement details…"

Lex operated the computer again. "Their formula is confidential, but we can find the approximate chemical composition. The ingredients definitely emit an odor, but whether it can mask bloodstink is uncertain."

Bruce glanced at the ingredients on screen. "These components mixed together will definitely produce an odor. The Wayne family owns several chemical plants, some producing cleaning agent raw materials. But if the bottles are well-sealed, the smell won't leak out."

"That's easy to solve. Cause a minor accident—break a few bottles, let the odor linger on the truck. Or better yet, pre-spray the cleaner onto mops or rags. The scent will last a long time. Put them in the same truck, and the odor will mask the smell during transport," Lex said.

Bruce shot him a look—clearly asking, "Why are you so familiar with this?" Lex met his gaze without flinching, replying silently, "Same here."

The two rewatched all surveillance footage, analyzing which toolbox might conceal the corpse. Once identified, they could pinpoint the cleaner who moved it—and he was likely the killer.

Of the eight large toolboxes, two were unsealed and contained few items, with clear footage of their contents—easily ruled out. The remaining six were completely sealed and identical in appearance.

Surveillance coverage in the Central Bank was incomplete. Half of the first-floor lobby was blind, and worse—there were no cameras at the first-floor elevators. Once the boxes were moved into the elevators, no one could tell which box went into which elevator or where it ended up.

Bruce and Lex spent twenty minutes cross-referencing personnel and routes, ultimately narrowing the suspicious toolboxes to three—all of which had no footage of being moved or used.

Finally, while reviewing the footage frame by frame, they noticed one box had a frame that differed from the rest.

The surveillance showed a cleaner pushing one of the boxes down a corridor when suddenly, a woman blocked his path.

The camera only captured their feet and the bottom of the box—no faces, no audio. The cleaner and the box showed no abnormality, but the woman's shoes were unlike those worn by bank employees.

Lex searched online for the Central Bank's promotional video. All female employees wore identical professional suits, including identical shoes. The woman in the footage wore black pointed-toe high heels—not the gray round-toe heels worn by bank staff.

Using the shoe style, Lex identified the brand: Prada's latest seasonal release, extremely expensive, requiring advance reservation. Ordinary female bank employees couldn't afford them. Anyone wearing these shoes must be wealthy or powerful.

Following this clue, Bruce and Lex deduced the woman was not a bank employee, but a client visiting to conduct business.

Lex then investigated the bank's large transactions that day and discovered that since late February, the Central Bank had been processing a major transaction between Pelo Chemical Raw Materials Co. and Snow Mountain Cleaning Co. Pelo had received a large loan approved personally by the bank president.

The cold glow of the computer screen lit Lex's face, turning his red hair an eerie purple. After staring intently for a long while, he straightened and turned to Bruce. "There's good news and bad news."

"Tell me the bad news first," Bruce interrupted.

"The good news is, I identified the woman. She's the CEO of Pelo Company. She came to the bank tower today to negotiate business with the president."

"But the president is already dead. So her deal must have fallen through," Bruce said. "She must have seen one of the toolboxes. And their conversation lasted over thirty seconds—if that box was abnormal, she'd have noticed. Can we contact her?"

"That's the bad news," Lex turned and looked at the screen. "She's the second victim."

Lex pressed a button. A photo appeared on screen: a middle-aged woman with light makeup. But Bruce and Lex had seen her other face in the news—her chest and abdomen sliced open, ears severed and replaced with signal receivers.

Bruce suddenly paused. "The killer is guiding our attention."

He turned and locked eyes with Lex. Both saw the same realization in the other's gaze.

"Professor Shiler said…" Lex began pacing. "True serial killers deliberately leave clues to steer investigators toward what they want them to notice…"

"What does he want us to notice?" Bruce asked—but didn't wait for an answer. He answered himself: "The first victim was the bank president. The second was Pelo's CEO. Between them, there was a business deal underway…"

"What exactly was this transaction between the bank, Pelo, and Snow Mountain? And why kill both leaders?" Lex narrowed his eyes. "The killer wants us to focus on what lies behind this deal. Should we follow that path?"

"Professor Shiler also said killers don't guide investigators aimlessly. They use it to reveal truths—perhaps injustices, personal tragedies, hatred, or simply their own warped understanding of events," Bruce said, recalling.

"So this transaction likely hides something?" Lex stopped pacing, standing still, thinking.

"Ordinary murderers try every means to erase clues, ensuring investigators never find them."

"But serial killers do the opposite. They deliberately leave clues to steer attention. So following their guidance in a serial murder case isn't necessarily bad—it might reveal their motive," Bruce said. As he spoke, he turned and walked toward the door. "I'm going to investigate the bank, Snow Mountain, and Pelo. See if any of them have issues. And you…" He paused at the door, turning back. "Keep liaising with the police. Get the second case's files. And watch Snow Mountain's CEO—he's likely the next victim."

Bruce left. Lex reopened a screen displaying police findings. The only useful information was the witness timeline.

The last person to see the bank president alive was a guard near his villa district.

On April 2 at 6 p. m., the president drove home. His family wasn't in the city—he lived alone. He never left again. On April 3, his body appeared on the street before the bank entrance.

No cameras lined the street near the villa district. Patrol guards provided no suspicious leads. Even two surrounding blocks reported nothing unusual. The trail went cold. That's why Bruce and Lex turned their focus to events inside the bank tower.

Soon, Lex obtained the timeline for the second victim from police—but one detail was deeply odd.

Police records stated the last witness saw the female CEO at 1 p. m. near the president's office on the 16th floor. After that, no one saw her again.

But the surveillance footage Bruce and Lex had just viewed showed the woman intercepting the cleaner at 1:10 p. m. in a corridor.

That meant the cleaner pushing the box was the last person to see her—and none of the cleaners' statements mentioned this encounter.

In other words, Bruce and Lex's theory was likely correct: the killer had infiltrated the cleaning crew. After disposing of the first victim, he killed the second on the spot.

Lex looked down at the police data transmitted to him. It showed the second victim's body was found on the street in front of Pelo Company's building.

Lex lowered his head, looking at the data transmitted by the police, which showed that the second victim's body had been found on the street in front of the Palo Corporation building.