A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Chapter 90 It's so late, what are you two looking at here?

Late at night.

Only a few lights remained on in the city bureau's office building. Li Mu sat in front of the computer, his left arm resting on the back of the chair, and his right hand slowly dragging the mouse.

The backend query records are scrolled down page by page.

Name search, identity information search, old case keyword search, comparison of migrant population, criminal suspect database.

No.

She extended the time frame by twelve hours both before and after.

still none.

The name Liu Kuai never appeared.

Li Mu leaned back in his chair, stared at the screen for a while, and suddenly felt a bit angry but also wanted to laugh.

I spent half the night searching, only to find nothing.

The office door was pushed open at that moment, and when I turned around, it was Wu Liang.

"Attorney Wu, come and admire your failed masterpiece?"

Wu Liang walked in carrying a plastic bag from the convenience store, which contained two rice balls and a bottle of milk.

"Did I fail so quickly?"

"Soon." Li Mu turned the screen towards him. "None of the three names you planted have any information in the system."

Wu Liang placed the hot milk on her desk.

"Officer Li, you've been working so hard, staying up all night to keep watch."

"If you feel guilty, you can leave now and close the door behind you."

"Then forget it. I don't have that kind of extra moral burden."

Li Mu glanced at him, took the milk, and took a sip.

Steam rose from the rim of the cup, washing away the weariness on her face.

Wu Liang stood behind her and bent down to glance at the backstage records.

"It wasn't checked."

"so?"

"So that shows that Lao He is very cautious."

Li Mu paused, wanting to roll his eyes at Wu Liang.

"You really know how to save face."

"System queries leave logs, which can easily leave traces." Wu Liang straightened up. "If you couldn't even think of that, your task force should have arrested him long ago."

Li Mu didn't speak, and looked back at the screen.

"How did he confirm the list?"

Wu Liang stretched, his expression showing no sign of frustration after being hit.

"Officer Li, if you were the mole, and you desperately needed to know important information without leaving a trace, what would be the best method, even if it was tiring?"

Li Mu put down the milk and instantly understood what Wu Liang meant.

"Archives."

The archives are at the far end of the third floor.

There was no staff on duty at night. Li Mu swiped his access card, and the door lock clicked open gently, releasing a musty smell of damp paper.

Wu Liang followed behind her, and wrinkled his nose as soon as he entered the door.

"It's almost 2018 (8102 in the Chinese calendar), and your municipal bureau still has places like this?"

"If you don't like it, you can leave."

"No," Wu Liang said, looking at the old label on the metal cabinet. "I just suddenly understand why some cases are left unresolved for twenty years."

Li Mu ignored him, walked straight to the innermost row, took out one of the file boxes and placed it on the long table, then casually turned on the table lamp next to it.

"I went through these documents last night."

Wu Liang didn't rush to reach out; he just stood by the table and watched.

Are you sure?

"Sure."

Li Mu opened the box, and several file folders lay quietly inside.

The remains of the accident vehicle have been handed over.

Road maintenance and repair assistance.

On-site emergency repair record.

Materials for follow-up and coordination.

The order is correct.

The cover is facing the right direction.

Even the creases pressed into the edge of the file folder were almost the same as when she put it back last night.

Wu Liang looked down for a few seconds.

"It looks like no one has touched it."

Li Mu didn't reply, his gaze falling on the cotton string of the top document bag.

The cotton rope was neatly wound, two and a half turns, with the end tucked under the kraft paper loop—the standard way to store it in the archives.

But it wasn't like this last night.

Last night, her left arm was not working properly, so when she resealed the bag with one hand, she was too lazy to wrap it tightly. She just loosely wrapped the cotton rope around once, and the end of the thread was casually pressed to the outside of the bag opening.

Even she herself didn't pay attention at the time.

But now, the bag has been arranged too neatly.

"Someone has tampered with it."

Li Mu lowered his voice.

Wu Liang looked at her.

"where?"

Li Mu didn't explain, but first looked at the bags next to him.

The same applies to the others.

The cotton rope was all wound back to the standard position, and the bag opening was pressed flat and neat, as if it had just been handed over to the archivist.

"I didn't seal it like this last night," Li Mu said. "My hand is injured, and I don't have the patience for that."

Wu Liang glanced at her injured left arm.

Li Mu opened the top file folder. The materials inside were complete, with no missing pages and the numbers were correct.

She flipped through a few more copies.

same.

Wu Liang bent down and looked at the small amount of dust remaining on the inside of the file folder.

"This person seems quite experienced."

The archives room suddenly became unusually quiet.

There were no footsteps in the corridor outside; everything was quiet.

Li Mu closed the file box again.

"Check the surveillance footage."

"Is it in the archives?"

"No. There's one at the end of the corridor, the angle isn't perfect, but you can get a shot of the third-floor passageway."

"Can you adjust it yourself?"

"able."

She put the file box back in the metal cabinet.

The metal spring made a soft click as the door lock closed again.

The two walked down the corridor toward the monitoring room in silence.

The monitoring room is located on the side of the first floor.

Li Mu swiped his card to enter, and only a few screens were lit up inside.

She sat down at the control panel, entered the permissions, and pulled up the video footage from the third-floor corridor.

Wu Liang stood beside her.

Let's rewind time.

At 5:17, the cleaning truck passed by.

At 7:32, someone from the technical department went upstairs to retrieve the equipment.

At 9:41, a person appeared in the corner of the screen.

The person didn't walk directly in front of the camera; instead, they passed through the shadows of the corridor and stopped at the door of the archives.

Li Mu stared at the screen, his gaze gradually darkening.

The person in the video stopped at the entrance of the archives room, but did not swipe their card immediately. Instead, they glanced at both ends of the corridor.

Then, he raised his arm.

The cuffs slid down, revealing a section of an old watch strap.

Li Mu stared at the watch, his back gradually tensing up.

She knows her.

Old He had worn this watch for many years; the dial was quite worn. In the past, when interrogations ended late, Old He would always glance at the time on his wrist and then jokingly urge her to go back and rest.

"Young people shouldn't take their good health for granted; there's no end to the cases they'll be handling."

The person in the picture swiped their card to enter the archives room.

The door closed.

The screen showed only an empty corridor.

Li Mu stared at the door for a long time without moving.

Before coming to the monitoring room, she still had a sliver of hope.

Maybe it's someone else.

Maybe it's a coincidence.

Perhaps Wu Liang guessed wrong.

But after that watch strap appeared, all those "maybes" vanished.

The wound on my chest suddenly started hurting again.

Wu Liang stood to the side, without urging him.