Molin chuckled ominously and said,
I saw the news online this morning. I guessed you might need our resources for the investigation. Unfortunately, I am not adept in crime scene investigation, but I will instead assign one of our best to pay you a visit.
Send whoever you deem fit for the job.
Yang Chen sighed for a bit before he continued,
Oh yeah, there’s this man from Yu Lei International by the name of Li Minghe. He works as the vice president of the corporation. I need your team to do a thorough background check on him, the deeper the better. Report anything you find on him to me by the end of the day. Should you run into trouble, just message me.
Got it.
In no time a petite Caucasian girl arrived at the lobby of the building. She was exactly the person he was expecting—Fanny from the Sea Eagles.
In pink shades, while carrying a humongous leather bag, Fanny made her way towards Yang Chen. She shyly paid her respect, and in a nervous tone she mumbled,
Your Majesty Pluto, before I inspect the crime scene, do you mind briefing me on the security protocols undertaken in this building?
Yang Chen took the lead as they went on the elevator, along the way he mentioned,
The executive floors are voided of any security cameras, but any conference rooms have security cameras on all four corners of the room and are monitored closely by the security personnel twenty-four seven. If anyone were to steal information from the office it would most definitely be caught on camera. It’s worth mentioning that although the information was leaked today, there is a possibility that it was stolen much earlier so keep an eye out for people who have entered prior to this.
Fanny attentively listened as she nodded every once in a while.
As they exited the elevator on their way into the public relations department, Yang Chen cracked up.
Fanny, why are you coiled up around me? Am I that terrifying to you?
Fanny instantly shook her head profusely as she awkwardly smiled.
No, definitely not. Your Majesty, just that it’s my first time meeting you alone and I would never want to fail you.
Yang Chen patted her on the shoulder.
All you need to do is support my claim that the safe was manipulated, or cracked open by a third party. I’ll handle the rest myself.
Understood. I know exactly what to do.
As they were discussing, the two arrived at Liu Mingyu’s office, only to see the public relations department in a mess. The vice department head who would temporarily take Liu Mingyu’s place was a young woman. Seeing that Yang Chen was accompanied by an investigator, she helped to unlock Liu Mingyu’s office.
The other public relations employees curiously stared at Yang Chen and Fanny. Never would they think that a Caucasian woman with a modest figure would be an expert in crime scene investigation.
Yang Chen soon shut the door and allowed Fanny to wield her expertise. Since the entire company were busy with urgent matters, they did not give much attention to the two.
Fanny retrieved a silver-colored laptop from her huge bag along with some wires and intercepting equipment as she sat on the ground next to the huge safe before she began analyzing its structure.
Yang Chen might have stored an ocean’s worth of knowledge in his head throughout the years, albeit it was mostly just blatant memorizing, not much would he consider as actual comprehension.
Therefore it was no surprise when Fanny’s computer displayed rows after rows of codes, Yang Chen could do nothing but watch.
Knowing that Fanny might require some time for the analysis, Yang Chen felt like he had to make himself useful as he ran down towards the security monitoring room and ordered the security personnel to retrieve the footage recorded from the cameras for the past two weeks.
All he wanted to reassure was the people caught on tape entering Liu Mingyu’s office in recent days.
About a little more than an hour later, Yang Chen fast forwarded through all the security footages and unsurprisingly besides an array of business partners and internal employees, Li Minghe was caught on camera four times.
What stood out the most for Yang Chen however was in the evening the day before, Li Minghe entered Liu Mingyu’s office in her absence, as it was evidently shown on footage that she only returned approximately five minutes later.
And after that, slightly more than ten minutes, Li Minghe once again made his exit.
However Yang Chen noticed something extremely peculiar, how did he manage to smuggle all that information out after obtaining it? He went in and left barehanded!
Yang Chen was in deep thought before he checked the time and understood that it was time to return to Liu Mingyu’s office.
Upon entering the office, he noticed that Fanny was also just done with her inspection as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned towards him.
Your Majesty, I apologize for the delay. The complexity of this lock rivals or exceeds those found in banks. It is truly an unbelievable creation, to think that it’s a safe of a corporation…
Yang Chen lifted his brows.
How so?
Fanny was more than excited to brag about her line of profession as she explained,
The lock system of the safe was created by the famous European brand, Casa, as a multi-turn free range lock, in which case according to the preferences of the beholder, every numerical figure constructs a distinct combination. On this safe, in particular, the wheel goes from zero to ninety-nine, which means there are a hundred different combinations for each code.
And a safe of this format allows a combination of four, resulting to a hundred to the power of four. In short, the possible combinations of this are in the hundred millions.
The fastest way to crack a safe of this calibration would require an advanced calculator connected to the combination unlocking system, and during the process of random calibration, the wheel has to be turned to the opposite direction—
Stop, stop, stop!
Yang Chen cut her short as he embarrassingly giggled.
I know you’re a professional but I want to know, for a master of lock combinations, what is the shortest duration possibly required to crack the safe?
After some thought, Fanny continued with equal enthusiasm as she replied,
If it’s the cream of the crop, it might take about an hour or so. But to my knowledge, there are only less than five people on this planet who are capable of this. To be honest with you, even with an entire day, an ordinary person wouldn’t even come close to cracking this lock.
Yang Chen squinted his eyes.
So what you mean is, for someone with no knowledge of the password to open the safe, the possibility of it happening is negligible, right?
That’s right, Your Majesty,
Fanny replied as she stood up.
Upon reassurance Yang Chen started searching around every corner of the office, thoroughly scanning through every nook and cranny of the room.
Fanny saw his actions and asked,
Your Majesty, are you searching for a micro-camera?
You guessed it. The only other possibility of this happening is if our thief was watching the safe be unlocked,
Yang Chen replied.
Fanny smiled bitterly.
I apologize for keeping this from you, but I actually conducted a scan throughout the office, and if I am mistaken, there was no trace of surveillance equipment.
What?
Yang Chen was stupefied at a true shocker of a revelation; he was previously confident that there had to be a camera in the room, just like the ones used to monitor Master Tang’s movements. He definitely did not expect this to be the case!
Yang Chen knew that Fanny was serious. As a member specifically sent by the Sea Eagles to assist him, she was definitely the best of the best in the field.
Yang Chen was tense as the situation took a quick turn against his favor. With no leads, there was no way he could provide sufficient evidence to prove Liu Mingyu’s innocence.
I’m truly sorry, Your Majesty. I wasn’t much of a help.
Fanny guiltily held her head low.
Yang Chen reassuringly replied,
It’s fine, you did your best. I’m going to investigate somewhere else. You can return now. Tell Molin to speed things up on his side.
Fanny agreed and immediately packed her equipment into her bag before making her exit.
Yang Chen was considering his next move when his phone started vibrating. It was Liu Qingshan.
Yang Chen facepalmed as he saw the caller. What a perfect timing he had, clearly making the call in regards to his beloved daughter getting arrested, which was a clear embarrassment for Yang Chen, but he ultimately decided to pick up the phone.
I know you must be really pissed off right now, but I…
Cut the nonsense, I don’t want to hear excuses from you! I gave you my daughter’s hand in the belief that you would take good care of her. I did not consent to allow her fate to be decided in the hands of Ruoxi! Before I recall my word she better be out of that police station. If you’re incapable of doing I strongly suggest you cut back on your hookups!
Liu Qingshan was not holding his punches as he taunted Yang Chen.
Yang Chen was bitter with his own incompetence, but he was no longer the man he once was, the brash little brat that would kill whoever that crossed him. Frustrated, he replied,
Bringing her out of the police station is clearly the easiest part. Right now proving her innocence is our main goal. Don’t you think that’s important? The mastermind had clearly planned it in detail and if we go against each other we would have fallen right into their trap, wouldn’t we? If you don’t mind her being guilty for the rest of her life then I can get there right now and blow the station up, are you fine with that?
Liu Qingshan was furious, but with Yang Chen’s composure, he tried his best to do the same as he replied,
Alright, you get one more day. If you fail to prove my daughter’s innocence at the end of the day then you can count yourself out. I’ll bring my men to deal with this by myself.
Yang Chen was slightly agitated as he continued,
Don’t you worry, I won’t let them keep her in there for much longer. If anything happens to her, I will personally level the station.
Make sure you hold true to your words…
Before Liu Qingshan managed to finish his sentence Yang Chen abruptly hung up on him. This was obviously not the time for long chats as he was left puzzled. What part of the incident did I miss? Everything doesn’t make sense now. Every detail pointed towards Li Minghe but I still can’t seem to figure out how he did it.
All of a sudden the threads connected as he grabbed his phone and instantly dialed Lin Ruoxi’s number.
Even though they were just in a huge argument, she ultimately picked up the phone as she emotionlessly replied,
What did you find?
Yang Chen continued without hesitation,
I need to know, among the stolen information, what was the time taken to complete the first and last section. Also, how many copies does your company have of the leaked information?
