After a thorough investigation and interviews, the police discovered that this Kentaro Gotanda had been at his workplace all day yesterday.
All of his colleagues could vouch for him on this point.
But Kobe Ichi still felt that something was amiss about this case.
So he retrieved the surveillance footage from the museum.
He played it once in front of Kentaro Gotanda.
"Do you have any connection to the person in this video?"
Upon seeing the footage, Kentaro Gotanda was completely stunned.
Because the person in the video looked exactly like him.
He even almost mistook it for himself.
But upon closer inspection, he noticed something was off.
The person in the video had a right hand, while he didn't.
This clearly wasn't him.
After a few seconds of shock, Kentaro Gotanda laughed bitterly.
"Officer, don't joke around, I..."
He paused, then suddenly removed his prosthetic hand and placed it on the table attached to the interrogation chair, continuing: "How could this possibly be me?"
Seeing this, Kobe Ichi stepped forward and picked up the prosthetic hand to examine it.
Made of silicone, without even any joints, it was completely incapable of movement.
After just a glance, Kobe Ichi put the prosthetic hand back down.
Returning to his seat, he continued questioning.
"Then... do you have a twin brother? The kind that looks exactly like you, that no one can tell apart."
Kentaro Gotanda shook his head again: "I'm an only child."
Hearing this, Kobe Ichi lost interest in continuing the questioning.
He stood up and left the interrogation room immediately.
No twin brother; a solid alibi for the entire day yesterday, making it impossible for him to have been at the museum; missing a right arm.
All signs indicated that he had found the wrong person.
The Kentaro Gotanda sitting in the interrogation room couldn't possibly be the thief who had emptied out the museum.
"Where exactly did things go wrong?" Kobe Ichi muttered to himself.
Was the surveillance footage faulty?
That's impossible.
The technical team had checked this footage; it hadn't been tampered with at all.
Moreover, the Bald Man could verify the authenticity of this footage, as he was present yesterday.
What the surveillance captured matched his description perfectly!
The more Kobe Ichi thought about it, the more confused he became.
Just as he walked out of the interrogation room, the Bald Man followed him.
Like Kobe Ichi, he was also bewildered at this moment.
Of course, neither of them chose to give up at this point.
No matter how difficult, they had to investigate, after all, this case involved some significant matters.
Kobe Ichi paced back and forth outside the interrogation room.
"From what we know now, Kentaro Gotanda is clearly not the thief, but the surveillance captured footage of him coming to the museum yesterday, and you saw this person with your own eyes."
"The timing doesn't match up, so the person who appeared at the museum yesterday must be someone else, someone who looks exactly like Kentaro Gotanda."
"Records show Kentaro Gotanda doesn't have a twin brother, and he confirmed this himself, so... this person must have used other methods to make himself look exactly like Kentaro Gotanda... is it possible it was makeup?"
Hearing Kobe Ichi's words, the Bald Man was visibly taken aback.
He knew that makeup could change a person's appearance.
Many people look completely different before and after applying makeup.
But to use makeup to transform oneself into another person, even fooling facial recognition technology... what kind of sorcery was this?
Seeing the Bald Man's expression, Kobe Ichi shrugged helplessly.
"This is the only reasonable explanation I can think of. I think we should stop fixating on this issue and continue investigating from the surveillance footage. Let's carefully review all the footage that captured him that day; we might be able to find some more clues."
...
After carefully reviewing yesterday's surveillance footage,
They mapped out the movement trajectory of the 'Kentaro Gotanda' captured on camera.
Yesterday at 11:08 AM, 'Kentaro Gotanda' walked out of the restroom.
Before 11:08 AM, the surveillance didn't capture any footage of 'Kentaro Gotanda' entering the restroom.
At 11:42 AM, after parting ways with the Bald Man, 'Kentaro Gotanda' entered the restroom again.
After 11:42 AM, the surveillance also didn't capture any footage of 'Kentaro Gotanda' leaving the restroom.
Looking at the movement trajectory,
'Kentaro Gotanda' first appeared out of thin air from the restroom.
Then he disappeared into the restroom.
This was clearly suspicious.
Kobe Ichi squinted at the several surveillance clips.
"The surveillance didn't capture him entering the restroom, but he came out from inside. It captured him entering the restroom, but didn't catch him coming out..."
At this point, Kobe Ichi had two theories in mind.
The next second, he looked at the Bald Man.
"Are there any windows in the museum's restrooms?"
Hearing this, the Bald Man immediately shook his head.
"No, there's only one door. The restroom's ventilation relies on the exhaust ducts on the ceiling."
There were no windows in the restroom.
So it was impossible to enter or exit through a window.
Thinking of this, Kobe Ichi continued to ask.
"Can a person fit through those exhaust ducts? Is it possible the thief escaped through the ventilation system?"
The Bald Man shook his head.
"Impossible. The museum's design took this into account from the beginning. Both ends of the exhaust ducts have welded iron meshes. Unless you have something like hydraulic cutters, you can't open them."
Hearing this, Kobe Ichi smiled slightly: "I see..."
The Bald Man's answer negated one of Kobe Ichi's theories.
Now there was only one theory left.
Kobe Ichi reviewed his second theory.
"I previously hypothesized that this thief's makeup skills might be exceptionally good, allowing him to transform himself to look exactly like someone else through makeup."
"With this assumption, everything becomes easier to explain. This thief came to the museum early yesterday, entered the restroom before 11:08 AM, applied makeup to look like Kentaro Gotanda, and then walked out of the restroom."
"During this time, he stole your police badge, impersonated the person on it to extract information about the museum's various security measures from the officers, then, still wearing Kentaro Gotanda's face, returned to the restroom after 11:42 AM."
"Afterwards, he removed his makeup in the restroom, changed his clothes, and left the restroom in his true appearance."
Before Kobe Ichi could continue, the Bald Man already knew what to do.
He immediately ordered: "Screen the surveillance footage. Find anyone who entered the restroom before 11:08 AM and came out after 11:42 AM."
The officers immediately complied.
...
After a period of screening and comparison, the results were in.
Only two people met the screening criteria.
"Sir, we've found them. These two people both entered the restroom before 11:08 AM and then came out after 11:42 AM."
Looking at the paused surveillance footage on the computer screen,
Kobe Ichi said, "It's definitely one of these two people."
At this point, the number of suspects had been narrowed down significantly.
Their next step was to make an arrest!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
invincible power, Gu Changge transmigrates into a fantasy world, bound to a sign-in system that grants him cultivation rewards and various peerless treasures daily. While others struggle desperately to break through their cultivation realms, he has long since reached the pinnacle of the Great Dao, becoming a reclusive Emperor whose true strength even he himself cannot fathom. Originally planning to lie low and retire peacefully on Purple Bamboo Peak, the system suddenly issues a new task — take on disciples. With no other choice, Gu Changge casually picks up a few disciples: The eldest disciple, born with a War God Constitution, is thrown a copy of "War God Stratagems" by him, and ends up conquering the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, becoming a peerless War God who sweeps across the cosmos. The second disciple, possessing a Chaos Sword Body, can break all techniques with a single sword, his swordsmanship unmatched throughout history. He points his sword at the heavens: "My master said, the sword and the man stand together. If the sword perishes... my master will give me another one." The third disciple, a reborn Empress who returns to her throne, her elegance and grace overshadowing all beings. And without anyone noticing, his own sect, the Qingxuan Sect, has become the number one sect on the continent. Looking at these unbelievably formidable disciples, Gu Changge, holding the "Primordial Purple Qi" he just signed in for, falls into deep thought: — Wasn't this supposed to be a peaceful retirement? How did I become the ultimate master?!
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
