Zhao Hai also came over, waving the tape measure in his hand.

"The measurement results are out. The suspect's stride during the crime was quite large, suggesting it's a man, and he is very strong."

"The chisel marks and impact areas on the front counters and display stands are spaced forty centimeters apart. It shows that this guy was swift and efficient in his sweep."

While several people discussed the matter, a sound of a car stopping came from nearby.

Then two people hurriedly ran over.

They were two young women, with faces full of panic and shock.

One was tall and thin, pretty in appearance, probably a salesperson. She was wearing a striped suit similar to a lobby manager, clearly a professional often guiding and introducing upfront.

The other looked quite quiet, not tall, wore glasses, and dressed warmly, probably due to the cold weather; she couldn't withstand the chill, and her face was red from the cold.

"Why did you come only now... Our store was robbed, look at this thug."

The boss had a mournful expression, clearly a big man, yet he appeared sissy at this moment.

At this point, all the staff of the jewelry store had arrived.

Two stock clerks, Li Xiaoping and Liu Xia, Liu Xia was on duty here last night. She and Li Xiaoping generally alternated shifts, taking turns watching the store.

A salesperson, Su Lili.

And the manager, the man now crying, almost fainting, Lu Chao.

Originally, there was also a security guard and a cleaner, but they recently resigned, so currently, only these four people were here.

Luo Fei activated the Eye of Sin and saw that everyone present had more or less some black aura above their heads...

This was absurd, indicating they all had some responsibility!

"Lu Ge, I said earlier not to fire Old Zhao, you didn't listen, insisted on doing it this way, now look..."

Su Lili was the first to speak, her words holding some blame for Lu Chao.

Given the state of his store, Lu Chao didn't expect someone would still be making sarcastic remarks here, breaking his defense in anger.

"Xiaosu, your words are too much."

"Old Zhao is already sixty, even if he is physically strong, you have to consider age. To put it nicely, I'm reluctant to take responsibility, but what if he dies in my store? Would we still do business afterwards?"

"In the past years, has our jewelry store ever had any trouble here in Houjie? Just not causing trouble is already lucky; a security guard is purely unnecessary."

"Then again, even if we kept Old Zhao, could we have avoided this mess? Those thugs probably wouldn't even glance at him."

While speaking, Li Xiaoping and Liu Xia dared not speak out.

They must have an opinion on this matter but didn't want to voice it.

"Ah..."

Su Lili shook her head helplessly, acknowledging that she could only touch upon this matter.

Though she stood up to speak fairly, it was apparent that her boss didn't care for it. The phrase 'profit-driven' was vividly displayed in him.

However, how a businessperson does business isn't a matter others can interfere with.

Luo Fei and his group couldn't intervene either, as both sides had their reasoning from any perspective.

As the saying goes, "Compassion doesn't command troops, righteousness doesn't control wealth."

"Ahem."

Liao Xingyu coughed twice, signaling for the boss's attention.

Lu Chao snapped back, hurriedly smiling apologetically.

"Hey, officer, forgive me, forgive me. Indeed, we have no internal issues; whatever happens, we can handle it behind closed doors, you can rest assured."

"Let's get back to the case."

Liao Xingyu gestured to all the counters around.

"How much of the jewelry and other items displayed here and piled in the warehouse were stolen? Have they been tallied?"

"Tallied, tallied!"

Lu Chao signaled Li Xiaoping to come over.

She was on duty in the back resting room last night, and the morning theft was first discovered by her.

After the police arrived, she began counting and tallying, now handing over a sheet of paper with the results.

Lu Chao took a look, rolled his eyes, and fainted directly.

Others immediately rushed to pinch his philtrum to restore him, creating a bit of chaos.

Luo Fei took the paper, saw a few lines written, summarizing that only a few scattered stocks were left.

Now combining the entire crime scene, it was clear the perpetrator was extraordinary, cleaning out the whole jewelry store; such methods weren't those of an ordinary person.

Even if there had been something left, it should have been more substantial, not just a few bits and pieces.

They even emptied the warehouse!

Thorough to such an extent, it was indeed not simple.

Luo Fei exchanged a glance with Liao Xingyu.

In this situation, the most likely scenario was a crime committed by someone familiar, often an inevitable choice in such cases.

Familiar person? Where could such a person be? Looks like a systematic investigation is required.

Thus, Luo Fan and the group started separately questioning the four people in the store to gather clues.

By mid-morning, they finished, but the results weren't ideal.

Lu Chao was out at a drinking gathering all night, with verified alibis and evidence, mostly clearing him of suspicion, eliminating him as the primary suspect of internal theft.

Next was the overnight worker Li Xiaoping, who, as a stock clerk alongside Liu Xia, revealed the true situation, which was the most valuable clue so far.

"I was sleeping last night when the alarm sounded outside, but it only rang once and then went silent, followed immediately by a series of smashing and destroying sounds. I wanted to go out to see, but the door was wedged from outside, so I couldn't get out and could only stay inside."

Speaking, Li Xiaoping couldn't hold back her tears.

"I was terrified, not knowing exactly what happened, could only first call the boss and then the police..."

Seeing her sobbing appearance, Luo Fei signaled to her to take a moment.

Next to him, Liao Xingyu supplemented the explanation.

"Originally, I wanted to ask if she had seen anything, but found out there are no windows in this shop's resting room, so she truly couldn't see anything, could only hear the sounds."

"Just now at the resting room door, we did find a metal rod barricading the door, pulled down from the lampbox on the back display cabinet—simple and crude, directly wedging the door shut, unable to open from inside..."

Luo Fei nodded, then looked toward the main entrance.

According to Li Xiaoping, the alarm only rang once!

Sure enough, the alarm and the triggering device below it were broken.

The alarm was completely shattered; such a sturdy alarm device should withstand an iron hammer's smash, even if the casing broke, the warning light and loudspeaker inside would continue working.

However, in this case, the suspect's first move was to destroy this thing quickly.

Strength was considerable, precision accurate, not dragging in the least.

Skillful method, knew the position very well, habitual thief! Very likely a habitual thief!

Regarding Wang Lei and Zhao Hai's questioning results, they were even more fruitless.

Su Lili owned a car, met Liu Xia waiting for a bus in the wind on her way in the morning, and brought her along.

Both weren't present last night and indeed had no time to commit the crime.

"What's going on? Has the suspect disappeared?"

"There's no surveillance outside, even if they ran, we wouldn't know. The backstreet gap was seized by them."

Liao Xingyu sighed angrily.

Now they were like headless flies; there were no fingerprint marks or traces of the suspect left around, looked entirely like a natural disaster, not human mischief.

"Team Leader Luo, what to do next?"

Wang Lei could only seek help from this renowned expert, with Zhao Hai also scratching his head beside him, full of doubt.

"If it's not them, it implies someone else, and they are quite familiar with this place."

Luo Fei pondered for a moment, aware he still had something to verify.

As they mentioned the fired Zhao Da, the security guard Old Zhao, there were intrigues surrounding his dismissal, not as straightforward. Otherwise, it wouldn't cause disagreements between the manager Lu Chao and others.

If there truly was an element of Lu Chao being unscrupulous, then Old Zhao's chance of vengeance isn't zero...

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