American comics: I am full of martial virtues and I love to be kind to others.

Chapter 713 Insufficient Evidence!

The technician immediately pushed over the portable structural scanner and scanned the base of the wall, the cover plate, and the area behind it layer by layer. The screen quickly showed discontinuous color patches. Normally filled walls should be uniformly dense, but this area behind it had a very strange transition zone—not a void, nor solid, but more like the material structure had been temporarily reorganized in a certain direction, leaving a section that was now denser again, but with a texture completely different from the surrounding area—a "crack."

Jason stared at the screen: "Like a wound healing."

“It’s like being pushed aside and then smoothed out,” Blake said.

The engineering consultant turned pale: "This is impossible..."

“Nobody thought there would be a hole in the vault floor until yesterday,” Jason said casually.

Lynn stood up: "Prioritize this section of the wall. Sampling, thermal imaging, residual energy spectrum, all of it."

The technician immediately got to work.

Blake stared at the wall and muttered, "So someone really did... go through here?"

“It’s not about wearing it in the traditional sense,” Lynn said. “It’s more like using the structural weaknesses left by the old shaft to temporarily open up a path that’s just big enough to pass through.”

Jason asked, "Then why was there a big hole left in the vault?"

“Because that entrance isn’t meant for ‘people’ to walk through completely.” Lynn’s gaze fell on the scanning screen. “It could also be an anchor point for the ability to be deployed. Actually opening the hole, retrieving the item, and sealing it off is a different operation.”

"You still think there should be at least two people."

"Correct."

Just then, a reply came from the branch office.

Jason answered the phone and put it on speakerphone. The caller was analyst Samantha, her voice rapid: "We've found Adrian Cooper. Former security integration consultant at Morningbridge United Reserve, specializing in mechanical and access control compatibility. After leaving, he took on two small municipal outsourcing projects and disappeared a month ago. What's even more interesting is that he was briefly investigated three years ago for participating in the calibration of illegal and anomalous equipment, but was released due to insufficient evidence."

Blake immediately cursed, "Just as I expected."

“And another thing,” Samantha continued, “we found a nickname in his contacts, ‘The Mole.’ It’s not his official name, but it’s been used twice in underground circles, and the description is ‘the ability to turn a blocked-off place into a road.’”

Several people in the room looked at that wall at the same time.

Jason chuckled, but there was no hint of relief in his smile: "Look, finally someone's starting to speak like a human being today."

Lynn asked, "Are there any photos?"

"There's no front view. There's only a bar surveillance video from six months ago, showing his back, wearing a work jacket, and his left leg is slightly uneven."

Are there any other related abilities?

"So far, we've only heard rumors that the 'mole' doesn't work alone. There's always someone next to him who's responsible for picking locks and cutting intricate structures. His code name might be 'needle' or 'sewing craftsman.' Different sources have different accounts."

Blake slapped his thigh: "Alright, the duo has a name now, even though they're both awful."

Lynn said, "Send me all the possible locations they might have been at over the past two years, the black market transactions, and the contact points with underground clinics. Especially those related to municipal maintenance, old building renovations, and unusual metal cutting."

"Integration is underway."

After hanging up the phone, Jason looked at Lynn and asked, "And now?"

“First, separate the internal bank leak chain from this pair of partners, then find the intersection,” Lynn said. “Adrian is in charge of the system and legacy information, ‘the mole’ is in charge of clearing the way, and the other is in charge of fine-tuning or locking failures. The problem is—”

“Why did they choose this bank, and these specific items?” Jason continued.

"Correct."

Blake crossed his arms: "Maybe because it's valuable."

“There are too many valuable things,” Lynn said. “High-purity gold, industrial diamonds, sealed bonds, five private chests. It’s not about random greed. It’s more like taking what you need.”

Jason nodded: "Industrial gold and uncut diamonds are easy to resell and suitable for manufacturing certain equipment. Bonds can be used for money laundering. Private accounts are the hardest to identify; they might be the real targets."

Lynn looked at Blake: "As soon as the private case client list comes out, give me their professional background information immediately."

"You suspect they're after people?"

"I suspect that at least one of the boxes wasn't opened for money."

The fans in the equipment floor corridor were still humming softly. Three people stood at the base of the wall in the scanned area, none of them speaking. The sky outside was getting brighter, but this floor had no windows, and the light seemed to remain stuck in a grayish-white hue, oblivious to dawn or dusk.

Lynn glanced at his watch: "Get Adrian Cooper urgently. Municipal outsourced vehicles, old building maintenance teams, underground anomaly intermediaries—mobilize them all. And—"

He paused, as if remembering something, and turned to Jason, saying, "Last night, look for people with uneven left legs and who walk with their weight shifted to one side in that white repair truck in the back alley of the bank."

Jason has already sent a message: "Sent."

“Also,” Lynn said, “give Raphael’s and The Tailor’s black market leads a copy. Just cross-reference them, don’t combine them.”

Jason glanced at him: "You still think it's possible we'll run into each other."

“I think any pair of professionals with such exceptional skills will eventually make deals with major companies,” Lynn said. “The only question is who they’ll be working for.”

Blake interjected, "Don't tell me your Raphael line is all about picking people, potions, and going deep underground again."

Jason smirked: "You don't want to know the details."

"I can tell from your expressions that you're no good."

"You should know this now that you've seen the cave."

Just then, someone rushed upstairs. It was a young officer under Blake's command, still out of breath: "Detective, the preliminary list of private safe deposit boxes is ready."

“Speak,” Blake said, turning around.

"In Section C, two compartments house a businessman who imports rare minerals and a distributor of collectible watches. In Section E, one compartment houses the legal representative of a small biomaterials consulting company. In Section G, two compartments house a private family trust agent and the other—"

The officer glanced at the paper, his expression somewhat subtle.

“The other one?” Lynn asked.

"The other one registered is an independent ethics consultant named... Rachel Moran."

The corridor suddenly fell silent.

The fan was still running, but for a moment everyone seemed to only hear that one name.

Jason was the first to react, slowly turning to look at Lynn: "Did you hear that?"

"I heard you."

Blake frowned: "Isn't Rachel a girl's name?"

Lynn had already reached out and taken the paper.

The registration information is simple: private safe deposit box G-17, registered under the name Rachel Moran, occupation: independent ethics counselor, account opened two years and seven months ago. The contact phone number is invalid, and the contact address is a short-term rental business address in Midtown Manhattan.

Jason chuckled softly, his voice even colder in this situation: "What a coincidence. So coincidental it makes my teeth ache." Blake looked at the two of them: "Stop keeping me in suspense."

Lynn handed him the paper: "Last night we found a fake identity in Raphael's line that appeared in the Shell Clinic three years ago. The name is Rachel. The identity category is also External Ethics Consultant."

Blake stared at the words, his face slowly darkening: "You mean, that bastard we were investigating last night, the one who might be selective about who he's looking at, suddenly appeared on the stolen goods list this morning using the same fake identity?"

“At least they’re the same type with the same name and shell,” Jason said. “There are plenty of people in the world named Rachel, but there aren’t just a few who would use ‘ethics consultant’ as a cover.”

The young police officer looked completely bewildered: "Then...then this bank case..."

“From now on, it’s not just a banking case anymore,” Lynn said.

When he said this, his voice was not loud, almost as flat as usual, but Blake still saw the coldness that had been suppressed in his eyes completely sink down in that instant.

At the end of the corridor, a technician pushed an equipment cart past, the wheels making a series of soft sounds as they rolled over the floor tiles. The old paint on the walls was slightly yellowed in the white light, and that seemingly sealed-off wall still stood quietly, as if nothing had ever happened.

But the name on the paper had already dragged another line into the picture.

Jason spoke first: "Either these are Raphael's men coming to pick up the boxes, or Rachel's shell identity is simply their channel for funds and materials. Either way, the bank is no longer just an isolated theft."

“Don’t let the list leak out yet,” Lynn said, “especially this name.”

Blake nodded immediately: "I'll have the area sealed off. Anyone who asks will be told the private box is still in the nuclear chamber."

“We’ll check the account opening footage, the clerk, and anyone who ever had contact with G-17,” Lynn said. “We’ll go through everything, even old surveillance footage from two years ago, archived photos, and signed cards.”

What if the bank says the storage period has expired?

“Then let them pray I’m in a good mood today,” Jason added.

Lynn had already turned and was walking downstairs: "Let's go back to the vault first. I want to take another look at the relationship between the cave entrance and Sector G."

Jason followed up: "Do you think what they were really after last night was Rachel's suitcase?"

“Possibly,” Lynn said. “It’s also possible that they took other valuables along with it and made it look like a regular high-end theft.”

As Blake walked, he asked, "Could your Raphael be this Rachel?"

“It’s not certain yet,” Lynn said. “But if a key figure responsible for ‘watching people’ has acted as an ethics advisor and has deposited something separately in a bank, then what he deposited wouldn’t be some trivial souvenir.”

Jason smirked. "Maybe it's a list."

“Maybe it’s a sample,” Lynn said.

"Can't you say something that's a little more appetizing sometimes?"

“You were able to eat a sandwich just now.”

"That's because I didn't know Rachel would pop out of my private box."

When they returned to the second basement level, the lights in the vault were still blindingly bright. There were more staff inside than before, and two more technicians specializing in checking lock marks had appeared in the safe deposit box area. Section G had been marked separately, and the door to the row of boxes containing G-17 was open, empty except for dark velvet lining and a few fasteners.

Lynn walked over and stood in front of the empty box for a few seconds.

“Pry marks?” he asked.

The technician shook his head: "There was no traditional prying. It's as if several key teeth of the lock cylinder were simultaneously misaligned from the inside, and the mechanical structure moved aside on its own within a second. The precision is very high; it can't be done with ordinary brute force."

Jason leaned against the side: "So the name 'The Tailor' is starting to sound right."

"Are there any traces of the original items inside the box?" Lynn asked.

"The initial screening revealed trace amounts of paper fibers and a very faint residue of resin sealing wax, suggesting that the container had previously been placed in a sealed document bag or a small sample box," the technician replied.

Lynn asked, "Can you determine the volume?"

"At most, it's not big, maybe the size of one or two palms."

Jason looked at the box: "For this, they went through an entire double burglary, cutting through the bank floor, creating a four-minute gap in the surveillance footage, and even taking the gold and diamonds as a smokescreen. If it were just documents, those documents would be worth a fortune."

“Or it’s worth it,” Lynn said.

Blake, listening nearby, felt a chill run down his spine: "Is this the kind of stuff you guys usually chase after?"

Jason chuckled: "Otherwise, why do you think we all have such short lifespans?"

Lynn ignored it and slowly walked back to the cave entrance along Section G. He stood at the edge of the cave and took one last look at the empty box area, the high-security storage cabinets he had opened, and the location of the vault door, as if he were replaying those four minutes from last night in his mind.

“If it’s two people,” he whispered, “one of them would first clear a path at the weak point of the old shaft in the equipment layer, creating a phase passage window. The other would enter the warehouse, not take the shortest straight line directly, but first open G-17, then take the three cabinets of public high-value items, and then scan the five private boxes. Finally, the two of them would return to the entrance, seal it off, and exit.”

Jason continued, "The advantage of doing this is that anyone who sees it at first glance will think the main target is something valuable. The private case becomes convenient."

"Correct."

“But here’s the problem,” Blake said. “Why not open the high-value box first, then the private boxes? Is the order important?”

Lynn looked at him: "If the G-17 contains things that must be confirmed to be present first, then it's important."

Jason looked up: "So, they're not sure if the box is still there."

“Hmm,” Lynn said, “So last night’s group didn’t just come to steal, they came to ‘retrieve’ or ‘verify.’ The valuables and other personal items were just there to cover up the smell.”

Blake said in a deep voice, "What the bank leaked in advance might not be 'where the valuables are,' but rather 'G-17 is still there and was operational last night.'"

Lynn nodded.

Just then, Jason's phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen and raised an eyebrow: "The branch office sent another message. Last night, the Boston case research assistant in the Raphael line recovered an encrypted memo from an unsent email draft attachment. The keywords included 'external safekeeping,' 'M box,' and 'Rachel should not be allowed to access the transit list alone.'"

Blake immediately cursed out loud.

Lynn held out her hand: "Send it to me."

Jason forwarded the message while saying in a low voice, "Do you still want to separate these two cases now?"

Lynn's eyes grew colder as he looked at the fragmented recovery text that had just appeared on the screen.

“We won’t merge the cases yet,” he said. “But from now on, we will treat them as highly related to the same chain.”

"What I mean is that starting today, we need to find the mutant thief who can carve paths through walls, track down a screener who uses his ethics advisory identity to hide things, and figure out if what he took from the bank was a transfer list," Blake summarized.

Jason patted him on the shoulder: "Welcome to today's job."

Blake slapped his hand away: "Get lost." (End of Chapter)