Upon hearing this, Chen Wenhua's wailing and howling stopped abruptly. He glared at Xiao Qian with a murderous expression.
Old Wu glared at Xiao Qian, clearly annoyed.
Xiao Qian realized that his words were somewhat inappropriate, and immediately gave an embarrassed apologetic smile.
"Oh! My gold! All the gold I've saved up for so many years! How can I live without you!" Chen Wenhua continued to wail, his heart-wrenching cries more painful than if his mother had died.
Old Wu stepped forward and said, "Don't worry, the thief has been caught and is in the station now. Just make him hand over your gold."
Upon hearing this, Chen Wenhua stopped howling, wiped the tears and snot from his face, and went to the bureau with Old Wu and the others.
Upon seeing the thief, Chen Wenhua reacted as if he had met his father's killer. Ignoring Old Wu's attempts to stop him, he rushed forward and grabbed the thief by the collar.
"Tell me! Where did you hide my gold?"
The thief was completely bewildered. "Who are you? What gold? Let go of it!"
"Still trying to deny it! You're in a place like this and you still won't admit it? Hand over my gold right now, nearly twenty pounds of gold! If you don't hand it over, I'll—I'll fight you to the death!" Chen Wenhua roared furiously, his eyes bloodshot, as he clung tightly to the thief's collar.
The thief's face turned blue from being strangled, and Old Wu and Xiao Qian rushed forward to stop him.
"Alright! Chen Wenhua! This is the Police Bureau, not a place for you to run wild. Let go right now, or you'll be in legal trouble if someone gets killed."
Considering the seriousness of the matter, Chen Wenhua dared not continue his reckless behavior.
"Cough cough cough!" The thief coughed violently, and after a few seconds, he started cursing at Chen Wenhua.
"Who the hell are you? I didn't steal your gold, don't accuse me wrongly!"
"Hey, you've already been caught, and you're still so arrogant. Are you trying to take my gold and only get it after you're released?" Chen Wenhua rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to fight the thief to the death.
" Chen Wenhua!" Old Wu roared, "Don't say anything for now!"
Chen Wenhua held his breath and stopped talking, but his eyes were still fixed on the thief with a fierce look.
Finally, things quieted down, and Old Wu looked at the thief.
"Where did you put the gold you stole from Chen Wenhua's house? Confess honestly, and you'll be treated leniently if you confess; if you resist, you'll be punished severely."
The thief was on the verge of tears. "I'm truly innocent! I didn't steal his gold! Stealing gold is a serious crime, especially nearly twenty pounds! I only steal Xiao Qian of money from the slums. Besides, anyone who can keep twenty pounds of gold in their home must live in a wealthy area. Wealthy areas have extensive surveillance cameras, and their homes definitely have security systems. I'm just an ordinary thief; I don't have the ability to steal twenty pounds of gold from his house without being caught on camera or by bypassing all security measures. It's simply impossible!"
"He still won't talk, Constable Wu! Give him a good beating, a really good beating, and he'll confess everything!"
Old Wu said irritably, "Do you think this is some bandit's den? Setting up a private court and extracting confessions under torture."
"That's not what I meant, that's not what I meant..." Chen Wenhua said with an embarrassed smile.
Xiao Qian said, "I think what he said makes a lot of sense. Maybe Chen Wenhua really didn't steal the money from his house. I remember Jiang Fan also analyzed it yesterday: the thief who stole from Chen Wenhua's house and the thief in the two cases in the slum are not the same person."
Old Wu thought for a moment and said, "Go and investigate the surveillance footage around Chen Wenhua's house."
"Good."
After a whole morning of work, all the surveillance footage was checked, but no clues were found.
Old Wu frowned deeply. "I'm starting to believe Jiang Fan more and more; the thieves in the two theft cases weren't the same person."
Xiao Qian nodded in agreement. "The thief we caught earlier was just an ordinary person. How could he possibly evade all the surveillance cameras and the enhanced security measures at Chen Wenhua's house? Besides, I had the locksmith remove the lock cylinder; there were no marks on it."
Hearing their analysis, Chen Wenhua became anxious.
"It really wasn't him who stole it? There were other thieves? Then—then is there any chance I can get my gold back?" Chen Wenhua was almost in tears by the end.
At that moment, a constable in work clothes strode in.
"I'll show you something."
"What is that?" Old Wu asked curiously, glancing at the phone in his colleague's hand.
"We have a lead in the case of the burglary at Chen Wenhua's house."
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at the phone in the colleague's hand.
"I'll project my screen so it's easier for you to watch."
While projecting the video, the colleague said, "There's a streamer doing a live broadcast, and the background of the broadcast is facing a window."
As soon as the words were spoken, the screen projection was ready, and it was time to play the replay of the live stream.
"Thanks to my Brother Qiang for the rocket! Sending love~"
"That's it! Look!" the colleague exclaimed, pointing to the background behind the anchor.
Everyone looked toward the window behind the streamer, and saw a large, bright object flash by like a shooting star.
"It's my gold!" Chen Wenhua jumped up excitedly.
"Slow down," Old Wu said.
My colleague immediately set the playback speed to the slowest setting.
Now everyone could see more clearly that the glittering lump that flashed by was indeed gold.
"This... this gold has grown wings and flown away?" Xiao Qian exclaimed in shock. At this moment, given his tendency to be sarcastic, he really wanted to complain to Chen Wenhua that the gold had run away in a group because it disliked its master, Zhu the Skinflint. Of course, it was inappropriate for a constable like him to say such a thing, so he forcibly held back.
God knows how hard he was holding it in.
"What's going on? How could gold just fly away on its own?" Old Wu frowned deeply.
"Ah!" Xiao Qian exclaimed in surprise, as if something had occurred to him.
"I see!"
The three of them, including Old Wu, all looked at him.
Xiao Qian said confidently, "I was right! The person who stole Chen Wenhua's gold was a Spirit Master!"
These words caused a huge uproar among the three of them, and their expressions changed in a fascinating and unpredictable manner.
It is evident how profound the impact the term " Spirit Master " had on their hearts.
"This... this... this... Spirit Master... how... how could... steal my gold secretly?" Chen Wenhua was so shocked he couldn't speak properly.
"How would I know? Maybe you offended him, that's why he did that," Xiao Qian continued, offering his analysis.
Chen Wenhua's face turned deathly pale in an instant, his lips trembled, and tears were about to fall.
" Constable Qian, what are you saying? I—I'm just an insignificant nobody, how dare I offend such a high and mighty figure as Psychic Power?"