From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword-Chapter 246 - 201 Suspicions

"Without invisibility, walking down the street wouldn't raise suspicion, but daring to appear in an invisible state would get you captured immediately."

In fact, Lu Heng had just contemplated the possibility of invisibility but immediately dismissed the notion.

Invisibility abilities are very useful when Perceivers are not present.

In an encounter in the wild, it is practically a Divine Skill for a surprise attack.

However, trying to enter a tightly guarded building with invisibility abilities is impossible.

Under the cross-scrutiny of several Perceivers, being invisible is no different from exposing oneself.

After a moment's contemplation, Lu Heng said, "Can we pull up all surveillance footage of Engineer Liu from his entry to his departure from the Academy of Sciences? I want to watch it from the beginning."

From the time he arrived on the scene for investigation to now, nearly an hour had passed.

Yet, there were still no leads.

Lu Heng wanted to continue the search which made some people impatient.

If it weren't for Instructor Liu's orders, someone would have already raised objections.

Moreover, the longer the delay, the slimmer the chance of capturing the spy throughout the city.

Zhuo Hongjun voiced his doubts, "Surveillance footage has already been reviewed by the inspectors from Iron Blood. I think continuing to watch it is useless. We should go search immediately."

Senior Inspector from the Capital Iron Blood Investigation Bureau, Li Zhaofeng, added, "We have indeed reviewed all the surveillance videos of the researcher who was under Spirit Control, from his entry to his exit from the Academy of Sciences. There was nothing out of the ordinary. This is also one of the reasons why we deduce that he was under a Spiritual Skill control."

Security team head You ZhanYu supplemented, "I am not skeptical of Comrade Lu Heng, but it's very natural to make an incorrect analysis. We have already delayed for a long time. As soldiers, we should follow orders and participate in the search operation, instead of wasting time here."

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Zhuo Hongjun looked at Instructor Liu and questioned, "Instructor, I think we are wasting time here, and it's because of an outsider."

The "outsider" mentioned was naturally Lu Heng.

Lu Heng wasn't part of the military ranks. The main reason he could be here was because he had brought back the Sikes Technology data, a special circumstance.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, no one else would be allowed to enter the Academy of Sciences.

Instructor Liu fell into contemplation. The situation was urgent, and if the lost hard drive couldn't be recovered before dawn, it would become even more difficult.

Security team head You ZhanYu continued, "Instructor, Inspector Li Zhaofeng from Iron Blood is the one in charge of investigating this case. Our duty is to pursue the spy who stole the technology. Professional tasks should be left to professionals. Inspector Li, what do you think?"

Li Zhaofeng had been holding his elbow with his left hand, his right hand supporting his chin in contemplation. When he heard his name, he raised an eyebrow and said, "As long as the hard drive can be recovered, it doesn't matter who investigates."

Zhuo Hongjun was somewhat anxious, "Instructor, before dawn is the golden eight hours. I believe now is the best opportunity to search. If we miss this window, even if we clarify the course of the incident, it will be difficult to recover the hard drive."

Lin Zeyu eyed the man critically and queried, "Then why don't you go search? What are you doing here? Are we hindering your search?"

His words were somewhat impolite, causing Zhuo Hongjun's expression to darken.

He glared at Lin Zeyu, his tone icy as he said, "What are you, to speak to me like that?"

If this were in Coastal, Lin Zeyu's family was financially strong.

Wealth in front of ordinary people is a formidable Strength, but in front of authority, wealth seemed less significant.

And standing behind Zhuo Hongjun was authority.

Therefore, in his view, Lin Zeyu was just an ant that could be easily crushed, just a bit fatter than the average person.

Zhuo Hongjun had actually been eager to lead a team in pursuit of Alex Austin. Due to the competition for the Skill Crystal Core, he naturally didn't want to lose.

The reason he had stayed was out of fear that someone would "sling mud" at him.

Because the theft of the technology data was somewhat related to his own initiative to pursue Alex Austin.

As the highest-ranking Junior Officer on duty that night, leading the guards to chase Alex Austin ended with the Academy of Sciences losing data.

He didn't think this had anything to do with his initiative, but if someone insisted there was a connection, then he would be in big trouble.

His reason for staying was to keep an eye on this place, to prevent anyone from trying to "sling mud" at him.

This was also his family's intention, for him to keep close watch on the investigation team.

Originally, he hadn't paid much attention, but when he saw Lu Heng appear,

he felt a sense of crisis.

Because he and Lu Heng were competing for the Damage Retrospection Crystal Core.

If at this time, he were reprimanded by his superiors due to an error, he would undoubtedly lose the qualification to compete for the Crystal Core.

Right at this moment, instead of agreeing to search for the White Eagle spy, Lu Heng insisted on staying to investigate the case.

Zhuo Hongjun immediately made a judgment in his heart, convinced that Lu Heng was using the investigation as a pretext to find evidence to "slander" him.

Therefore, he insisted on staying to keep an eye on Lu Heng.

…

At this moment, although everyone present appeared to be investigating the case, each had their own thoughts.

Lu Heng paid no heed to the arguments of these people and directly asked, "Inspector Li, you've viewed the surveillance footage, before Worker Liu was silenced. All his actions, are they captured in the video? Did he ever leave the frame?"

"Basically not," Li Zhaofeng answered.

"The meaning of 'basically not' is that there is, correct?" Lu Heng emphasized.

"In fact, it really isn't significant. There's no camera in the restroom, but there's only a half-second gap between when Worker Liu exited one frame and entered the next. That means he merely passed the restroom's entrance without entering. Moreover, in that half-second of leaving the frame, it's not possible for any significant action to be taken," Li Zhaofeng said, having his subordinates pull up the surveillance footage and play back that segment.

Lu Heng watched the screen intently. From the security footage, the victim left the frame of one camera and walked past the restroom's entrance to the frame of the next camera in a mere instant—possibly even less than half a second.

Such a brief timeframe, and since the victim was just a regular person and not a Superpower User without any special abilities, there really was nothing he could have done.

From the surveillance footage, that short break from camera view seemed to show no issues.

Subsequently,

Lu Heng finished viewing the entire surveillance of the victim, connecting all his routes together.

The researcher under Spirit Control, Worker Liu, entered the Academy of Sciences through the main entrance, then into Building Three, passing through three security checks, to the computer room where the hard drive was lost, removed the hard disk, hid it in his clothes, and then left.

Later, he crossed the corridor and exited through the back door.

After crossing the road, he entered an alley and never came out.

The body was found in that alley.

The alley was quite short, only about ten meters, with surveillance cameras on both streets at each end.

After the victim entered the alley, no suspicious individual appeared in the vicinity.

Therefore, according to regular deduction, the victim was under Spirit Control, then entered the Academy of Sciences, and stole the hard drive.

After leaving the institute, he met with the behind-the-scenes person in the alley to hand over the hard drive and was then silenced.

The entire incident appeared very clear and straightforward.

However, Lu Heng still insisted that the distance between the Spirit Controller and the victim wouldn't exceed two hundred meters.

For the same reason as before.

The skill used by the Spirit Controller was likely a Level C "Spirit Control," not a Level B "Commanding Will."

If it were the Level B "Commanding Will," they could completely control a Source Energy Level 10 research director, obtaining higher authority and more scientific data.

The temptation to gain more scientific data is profound; the decision to choose a researcher with one less level of clearance instead was very telling.

Thus, Lu Heng persisted in the belief that the distance between the Spirit Controller and the victim would not exceed 200 meters.

Yet, a distance of 200 meters was indeed very close.

The Academy of Sciences had so many guards, of which one-third were Perceivers, plus the surveillance system.

Not a single suspicious target had been detected.

This was highly illogical.

Unless…

Lu Heng thought of a possibility, and made a request, "Instructor Liu, I need the name list of all guards, scientific staff, in short, everyone who was in the Academy of Sciences at the time of the incident tonight."

Instructor Liu frowned upon hearing the request, looking somewhat troubled.

Because this request was tantamount to revealing the details of all the guards.

Zhuo Hongjun was the first to object, "You still want to drag this out? If it were anyone else, I would suspect you're deliberately trying to buy time for the spy to escape."

Lu Heng cast a dismissive glance at him and said, "Unfortunately, it was I who brought this piece of scientific data back. Any other person in the world might steal this data, but I most certainly could not."

The guard captain, You ZhanYu, joined the conversation, "I trust Comrade Lu Heng definitely doesn't fall under suspicion, but the most important thing now is to retrieve the hard drive; finding out the truth of the case is secondary.

"Moreover, the Academy of Sciences guard's information is confidential. If it all comes out now, then these guards will have to be replaced, otherwise, they will become targets for spies."

His words made sense; the confidentiality of the guards' identities prevented infiltration by spies.

Now, Lu Heng wanted all the guards' details.

Instructor Liu hesitated, even if Lu Heng was not under suspicion, it did not mean his method of investigation was appropriate.

With time pressing, Lu Heng had to make a definitive decision and said directly, "I suspect that the Spirit Controller is right here within the Academy of Sciences!"

Upon these words, all present were momentarily stunned.