The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

"Your meaning is..." Wolf, who understood Jiang Shu, got it.

"You mean?" Gary was obviously a bit confused; he didn't expect the discussion of the case to suddenly shift gears...

Showing off?

"Correct," Jiang Shu nodded. He didn't cover with his right hand but performed the trick again, and this time it was very clear that he simply used his left thumb to slide the bottom card of the deck to the front.

"The nine of spades is the transport vehicle carrying the 'Fox'; the king of hearts is the transport vehicle carrying the Hot-Melt Bomb; and my right hand is this Smoke Bomb."

"You mean the transport vehicle was switched?" Gary understood, but then he denied it, "No, the explosion radius of the Hot-Melt Bomb is four meters, while the transport vehicle is about six meters long, if you look..."

He pulled up a photo, which was the remnants of a transport vehicle, but only the front and rear remained, the middle part seemed melted, with a smooth cross-section revealing the mechanical structure inside.

"Here, this is the transport vehicle that was blown up," Gary continued, "And, the surveillance shows that during that time, no vehicles entered or left the smoke. We accounted for every vehicle at the time, each one registered and confirmed. If it really was switched, then how did that vehicle appear out of nowhere and then vanish?"

"If we only watch the video, indeed it would be difficult to notice this detail," Jiang Shu said confidently with a smile, "This is also where the Deception Group is clever. Speaking of which, we have to thank the 'ABCD,' otherwise it wouldn't be so direct."

ABCD: HandsOnHips.JPG

Jiang Shu clapped his hands, and the ABCD understood; they then re-enacted the VR scene, and smoke immediately enveloped the streets.

After opening and closing a few times, the three of them had a direct understanding of the coverage area of the smoke.

"The residential stores on both sides are also within the range of the smoke," Wolf realized, and only then did he notice what was hard to see in the video alone.

On the street, the buildings on both sides of the road were a mix of shops and residential houses, stretching from one end of the street to the other. Thirteen District's Sector E belonged to the undeveloped area, so here the streetside buildings were only two or three stories high.

Generally, the first floor served as shops, and the second and third floors were for residential use.

At this time, in the dead of night, most of the stores had already closed, tightly shutting down their rolling doors, with only a convenience store not far away still open.

"Right, suppose the Deception Group had a transport vehicle identical to the original, or they had only created part of the wreckage in advance and hid it behind these shop rolling doors, then after the smoke rose and everyone evacuated the area, they switched the transport vehicle and set off the bomb. Finally, they hid the transport vehicle carrying the 'Fox' in the shop," Jiang Shu slowly revealed what he believed to be the truth, "This would be a perfect case of a sky-changing trick."

"What do you think now?" Wolf elbowed Officer Gary gently.

"I..." Sweat beaded on Gary's forehead; despite being a cop, he ran through the scenario in his mind and found no loopholes in Jiang Shu's theory. It even filled the gaps that had been there, like the transport vehicle driver's story.

"This is a bit... wildly imaginative," he muttered, and while still finding it hard to believe, his brain's rationality told him that this might just be the truth.

"But this is the truth, isn't it?" Wolf looked a lot more confident, having worked with Jiang Shu on two cases, he felt he had made good progress, perhaps even finding the key to solving Deception Group cases.

"Hiding the truth behind appearances, leading the police to preconceptions, then making them fall into a maze, struggling to find the truth," Jiang Shu summarized, "This is the style of the Deception Group."

"So, where has the 'Fox' gone now?" Gary blinked, obviously fully persuaded by this line of reasoning.

"This... is not my concern," Jiang Shu shrugged. He wasn't interested in the subsequent arrest, "I'm just a consultant, I'm only here to help you understand the principles of the crime, the rest... it's not my expertise."

"That's also right," Gary nodded, but nevertheless, he was very satisfied; at least they had uncovered the truth and found the correct direction.

"Search these shops, see if the transport vehicle is there, if not, check the surveillance, such a big transport vehicle can't just disappear into thin air," Wolf suggested, following the train of thought.

"What if they had two Hot-Melt Bombs and melted the transport vehicle inside the house?" Jiang Shu threw out a rather foolish question.

"Such high temperatures would dissipate in the open air, but if released indoors, it would turn the room into a furnace," Wolf glanced at him; indeed, this clueless Jiang Shu was the one he knew better.

"Oh," Jiang Shu didn't ask anymore.

"Call Police Chief Tang, say there's been a new development in the case," Wolf told Gary, his tone assertive, "As for the clues, you can tell him, we don't care about the credit..."

"I care," Jiang Shu interrupted him.

"..." Wolf glanced at him speechlessly, then continued, "We caught the 'Fox', he's linked to the entire Deception Group, we can't let him get away, just give us a chance to follow up on the case..."

"I don't care," Jiang Shu interrupted again.

Wolf gave him another look, "Catching the 'Fox' could lead us to the other members, solve it once and for all."

"I agree, we must catch the 'Fox'," Jiang Shu immediately corrected himself, his expression serious.

He just wanted to comfortably perform Magic and make big money, Deception cases were just too draining on his energy, right?

Crime Consultant, whoever wants to do it can have it! He couldn't care less about the little money, worst case scenario he'd let Sister Ruo take care of him—

If he progressed, Crime Consultant; if he regressed, he'd eat soft rice strongly, nice!

"Clang—" a few dozen meters away, a shop's rolling door was opened, the sound of metal clashing and scraping was particularly harsh in the quiet of the night.

There were people there!

"That is..." Wolf froze, squinting in that direction, but was quickly held down by the shoulder and made to crouch by Gary next to him.

It seemed the rolling door was in disrepair from years of use, and the person's action to lift the rolling door choked up a bit, so he brutally tore the entire rolling door down, casually tossed it aside, and swaggered inside.

The three men stood behind a big tree on the roadside, and by the tree from top to bottom, seven heads peeked out, looking in that direction.

"... what strength, what Gradient is this?" Jiang Shu looked up at Wolf above.

"Gradient my ass, this is not normal human strength, okay?" Wolf replied in annoyance, "Even T-negative a hundred wouldn't be possible!"

"Hercules... It's the Hercules model of Internal Armor!" Gary murmured, then his voice was filled with shock, "This stuff is only military version, how could he..."

But the next second, he and Wolf spoke the correct answer together, "Mechanical Disciple."