"Surveillance" in the Bathroom

After the police car left the campus, the atmosphere inside was unusually heavy.

They had just cleared their most suspicious person - Zhang Hui had little to do with the missing boy.

"Captain Han, what's our next move?" Chen Ke, who was driving, turned his head and asked.

You're asking me, but who the hell do I ask? Han Fei was also worried.

This case was extremely bizarre.

The surveillance footage showed that the missing boy never came out after entering the bathroom, but the crucial point was that the police had thoroughly searched the bathroom and found no trace of the child.

Moreover, Zhang Hui, who they considered the most suspicious, had now been cleared of suspicion.

Where to investigate next? Han Fei had no idea!

In fact, this was one of the most peculiar cases he had encountered since entering this profession.

Even he, a veteran criminal investigator, was completely stumped.

"During that time period, the surveillance only captured seven people. Six of them were empty-handed, and only one had a suitcase. The person with the suitcase just got cleared, so it couldn't possibly be the other six, right?"

"They were all empty-handed, not even carrying bags. It would've been impossible for them to take the child out of the bathroom, and Xu Mo checked the surveillance footage - it hasn't been tampered with."

"Could it be that the child never left?" Han Fei muttered to himself. "No, that's not right, we searched inside and didn't find him."

"Did he leave through another route? No, that's impossible too. There's only one path to and from the bathroom, and you have to pass through it. There's no other way out..."

The more Han Fei reasoned, the more confused he became, with absolutely no leads.

Finally, Han Fei decided to pass the ball to Xu Mo.

"Officer Xu, what's your take on this?"

Xu Mo was even more straightforward, simply shaking his head: "None."

Like Han Fei, he couldn't make sense of this case either.

The surveillance showed the boy went in but never came out, yet they searched the bathroom and didn't find him - these two points were contradictory.

If only there were surveillance cameras inside the bathroom, then they would know what happened inside... Xu Mo thought.

But that was impossible - how could there be cameras in a bathroom? What about people's privacy?

Surveillance?! Wait a minute, who says there's no "surveillance" in the bathroom? Xu Mo suddenly had an inspiration, remembering a reward he had recently received.

Upgraded Language Master!

He could communicate seamlessly with small animals and insects. The insects in the bathroom could be Xu Mo's "surveillance" - whatever happened inside, he could find out just by asking!

Of course, this would only work if there were actually insects in the mall's bathroom. If not, it would be useless.

"Chen Ke, let's go back to the mall," Xu Mo suddenly said.

Hearing this, Han Fei was startled: "You've thought of something?"

Xu Mo smiled and made up an excuse: "I just have a hypothesis I need to verify."

Chen Ke immediately turned the car around and headed straight for the mall.

After a drive of several dozen minutes, the group returned to Wan Da Mall.

Third floor.

Bathroom.

Xu Mo carefully examined every corner of the bathroom, not looking for anything else but insects and the like.

The mall's bathroom was much cleaner than public bathrooms outside, so the possibility of finding insects was low.

But Xu Mo got lucky - after searching, he actually found a small black bug in the corner.

The little bug looked somewhat dazed, lying motionless on the ground.

"Officer Xu, what are you looking for? You've been wandering around in here for ages," Chen Ke couldn't help but ask.

Since entering the bathroom, Xu Mo had been looking here and there, and no one knew what he was searching for.

"Nothing," Xu Mo shook his head, then sent Chen Ke and the others away: "Go check other places, see if there's any other way someone could leave here without being noticed."

"Huh? Haven't we already checked that? There's only one way out of the bathroom," Wang Dachuan scratched his head.

"Just go when I tell you to, stop asking questions, hurry up."

"Alright, we're going then, Officer Xu."

After sending away Chen Ke, Wang Dachuan, and the other police officers, Xu Mo turned to Han Fei.

"Captain Han, could you please find the mall manager and get a copy of the surveillance footage?"

Although Han Fei didn't know what Xu Mo was up to, he nodded: "Sure."

Then he turned and left the bathroom.

After everyone had been sent away, Xu Mo looked at the small bug and activated his ability to communicate with insects.

"Did you see a child about this tall come in?"

"You saw him? How did he leave?"

"Through there?" Xu Mo was startled, pointing at the window.

"Thrown out? Didn't he scream when he was thrown out?"

The ability to communicate seamlessly with any small animals and insects was truly invaluable. Through his questioning, Xu Mo had learned the suspect's method.

The missing boy had been thrown out the window by the suspect!

Initially, Xu Mo hadn't suspected anyone would leave through this window for a simple reason.

The wall outside was bare, without even a drainpipe, and this was the third floor. The third floor of a mall is different from that of a residential building - it's much higher. Jumping from this height would likely cost you half your life unless you used a rope.

But he had checked - there was a thin layer of dust on the windowsill with no marks from ropes or shoe prints, indicating the suspect hadn't used a rope to slide down from the window.

"So that's how it happened..."

After learning that the boy had been knocked unconscious with a cloth and then thrown out the window, Xu Mo walked to the window and leaned out to look down.

Below was an empty lot with faint tire tracks. From the shape and size of the tracks, it wasn't hard to guess that a small truck had once been parked there.

"Knock out the child, throw him out the window into a truck bed below, then leave through the bathroom's main entrance? No wonder the surveillance didn't catch the child leaving, and we couldn't find him inside..." Based on the current information, Xu Mo had roughly reconstructed the suspect's method.

Of course, Xu Mo couldn't just make these deductions out of thin air - he needed a lead.

The next second.

"Sorry about this." Xu Mo knocked out the small bug with a slap.

Just then, Han Fei returned to the bathroom: "Got the surveillance footage."

"Captain Han!" Xu Mo pretended to be excited: "I know what happened, look, there's an unconscious bug here."

Han Fei was puzzled: "A bug? What about it? What does an unconscious bug have to do with this case?"

"Ether. The perpetrator used ether to knock out the boy, then threw him out through the window. Look at the tire tracks in the empty lot below - that must have been the perpetrator's accomplice waiting to catch the child. This bug was likely knocked out by the ether vapors when the perpetrator used it on the boy. Ether evaporates quickly, and with the good ventilation here, we couldn't smell it when we first arrived, but this unconscious bug is evidence that the perpetrator used ether."