Who's Lying

The more Director Wang looked at the big screen in the conference room, the angrier he got.

"Can anyone explain to me what is going on here? Where is the surveillance video I asked for?"

The police officers all lowered their heads.

After a long time, one slightly braver officer raised his head.

"Director Wang, this surveillance video... it seems to have been hacked. I took a look - in the hour after Xu Mo left the bank, all the road surveillance footage was deleted and replaced with Baby Shark videos..."

Xu Mo was a hacker, and he also had a hacker assistant sent by the TV show crew with him. This was no longer a secret.

It went without saying that the surveillance must have been Xu Mo's mischief.

"Well then figure out a way to restore it," Director Wang said in frustration as he scratched his head. "Aren't you the tech guy? Can you retrieve the replaced surveillance footage?"

The officer nodded first. "I can."

Then he added,

"But Director Wang, restoration takes time. It's much more difficult than deleting."

Director Wang wiped his face.

He said softly, "Do it as soon as possible. Call me the moment it's restored."

With that said, he sighed and left the conference room.

Director Wang had to reassess Xu Mo.

This kid was really hard to catch!

Thankfully Xu Mo wasn't a real fugitive.

Otherwise Director Wang would probably get a headache to death.

...

Nursing Home.

Han Fei and the others found the nursing home staff.

First they stated their identities.

Then they asked,

"Did you get any new caregivers today? Two girls and a boy."

The staff member shook his head. "No, no new caregivers have come in the past month."

Upon hearing this, Li Chen frowned.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," the staff member said. "I work here. If new people had come, would I not know about it?"

"How could there be none?" Li Chen was puzzled.

Chen Ke stared closely at the staff member.

He was ready to pressure this staff member with his gaze.

To be honest, Chen Ke was a little suspicious. He suspected this staff member had been bribed by Xu Mo to lie to them and cover up that Xu Mo was hiding here.

It was possible not just this staff member, but also those old men outside had been bribed by Xu Mo.

They were all helping Xu Mo conceal the fact he was hiding here.

"Although I already told you earlier, I'll say it again - we're investigating a case here. You have a duty to cooperate with our investigation. Concealing the truth is against the law. Think it over carefully before you answer us again."

However, as soon as Chen Ke finished speaking, the staff member immediately shook his head.

"I know you're investigating a case and I'm cooperating. But really, no new people have come recently. Not even volunteer do-gooders. What I said is true. Even if you gave me more courage I wouldn't dare conceal the truth from you!"

Han Fei looked at Shen Manni.

She immediately understood Han Fei's meaning.

She knew Han Fei's look was asking her if this staff member was lying.

Unfortunately, even Shen Manni the psychology expert didn't detect any signs of lying.

Shen Manni looked at Han Fei and shook her head, responding.

It meant she didn't detect any signs of this person lying.

Seeing this, Han Fei sighed.

He said to the staff member, "We understand, thanks for cooperating."

With that said, he beckoned the other three people and they turned and left.

At this point, Han Fei's face was extremely gloomy.

There were only two possibilities now.

One, the kid who called earlier was lying to them, and Xu Mo was never at the nursing home at all.

The second was that the nursing home's elderly residents and staff were all lying, and Xu Mo was still hiding in the nursing home.

In any case, someone must have lied.

The group walked out of the nursing home and sat in the car.

Li Chen was the first to break the silence.

"Captain Han, I still feel like the nursing home people might be lying to us."

Up until now, he still stubbornly believed the possibility of the child lying was small.

At least, much smaller than the possibility of adults lying.

After all, in his understanding, children were innocent and pure.

Adults on the other hand had been polished by society again and again until they lost all their edges. Lying was a common occurrence, and being bribed to cover for others was also very common.

Compared to Li Chen's inclination to believe the child wouldn't lie, Han Fei didn't lean towards either side.

He calmly thought for a moment.

The next second, Han Fei took out his phone.

He copied the number that had called him earlier and sent it to Director Wang: "Old Wang, if you have time please help me check this number."

After sending this message, Han Fei looked at the other three people.

"I asked Old Wang to help me check the number for the kid who called earlier. Let's wait a bit - after we get detailed info we can go directly to their house and ask in person. It'll be easier to judge if the kid is lying when we ask them face-to-face."

...

Ten minutes later.

The results of the search came back.

Han Fei looked at the message Director Wang sent and was stunned.

Director Wang told him that number was a virtual number. No useful information could be found...

Great, the process of going to find that kid and their parents was skipped.

Han Fei smiled wryly.

"The liar is that kid. The number is fake, a virtual number. Xu Mo must have coached the kid to use a virtual number to call and trick us."

"Xu Mo even fooled a child? Does he have no shame?" Li Chen's voice unintentionally rose a few degrees.

"Let's drive to the station," Han Fei said. "All our leads are broken. Let's go see how it's going on Old Wang's end."

With that said, he buckled his seatbelt first.

After everyone had buckled up, Chen Ke started the car.

He slammed the gas pedal.

Straight to the police station.

...

Police station.

The tech police were still trying to restore the surveillance footage.

As everyone knew, deleting stuff was simple. Recovering deleted stuff was much more difficult than deleting.

Especially since this footage was deleted by a hacker.

That would only make it more troublesome.

The tech police had been busy for a very long time.

Even when the investigation team arrived, they were still working on the restoration.

At this point, both the investigation team and the police's leads were broken.

There was nothing they could do.

The only thing they could do was wait.

Wait for the tech police to restore the surveillance footage.

Then follow the surveillance trail.

This wait lasted an entire night.

The tech police worked tirelessly through the night.

Not until 10am the next morning did they finally restore the replaced surveillance footage.

Once the surveillance was restored, they notified Director Wang immediately.

With the surveillance, finding Xu Mo would be much simpler...