It wasn't until he saw the surveillance footage that Lu Linjiang realized his original conception of the biochemical laboratory had been entirely wrong. He had imagined it as little more than a reinforced version of a high school lab, but the lens revealed a far more sophisticated environment.
A massive room was partitioned into a grid by several glass enclosures. Each quadrant of the grid contained six smaller glass pods, each completely transparent yet independent. From the camera's perspective, the layouts of these glass rooms were largely identical, filled with various pieces of experimental equipment, while several large instruments were lined up along the walls of the main room. The vertical axis of the grid served as a central corridor, while the horizontal ends housed more large-scale machinery.
The doors to the glass pods did not all face the same direction; instead, they opened toward the nearest equipment corridor. This meant that Camera A, positioned at the very center of the grid, could not capture the entry and exit points of every glass room. Consequently, two additional cameras, B and C, had been installed above the equipment at the horizontal ends. Due to the layout and the positioning of the equipment, one could only get a general sense of what was happening inside each glass pod; it was impossible to see a person's every move with precision.
It was a setup designed to keep honest people honest, but it would do little to stop a determined thief.
At the moment, the video showed several people busy in their respective glass rooms. Lu Linjiang glanced at the floor plan Sun Wen had minimized in the bottom right corner of the screen. The room in the far southwest corner was Matthew’s private lab, which could only be seen through Camera C.
"I’ve done a quick scan. Camera C was the first to undergo maintenance, starting at 2:05 PM and lasting for fifteen minutes." Sun Wen operated the controls with practiced ease, gesturing for Lu Linjiang to look at the leftmost window. "This video cuts off at 2:05."
Lu Linjiang looked at the videos playing in the other two windows, which Sun Wen had already synchronized.
In the footage from Camera A at the center, everyone was working in their individual labs. Camera B, covering the eastern side of the laboratory, clearly showed the activity in the six easternmost rooms.
The two of them watched the fifteen minutes of footage from when Camera C was offline at normal speed. During those fifteen minutes, no one left their individual labs, and no outsiders entered. As for Matthew’s private lab, although the view from the central camera was partially obstructed by surrounding equipment, it was clear enough to see that no one had approached or moved around that area during those fifteen minutes.
Lu Linjiang raised an eyebrow, unsurprised. "This is why I hate high-IQ crimes. They're a real drain on the brain cells."
Sun Wen let out a soft chuckle at his remark.
"Bring up the footage from before Camera C was shut down," Lu Linjiang directed. He watched as Sun Wen moved quickly. "Let’s start from fifteen minutes before the shutdown."
The time rewound to 1:50 PM. Of the six westernmost labs, only four were occupied; Matthew’s lab and the one next to it were empty. Lu Linjiang scanned the screen, his gaze suddenly locking onto a face.
In the lab closest to Camera C, a person in a white coat was standing before a workstation. He happened to glance up—it was Jiang Cheng!
"Wait!"
Sun Wen immediately restored the video to normal speed. Jiang Cheng seemed lost in thought, his brow slightly furrowed. Then, he pulled a pen from his pocket, grabbed a notebook from the table, and began writing rapidly.
A minute later, his pen stopped. His expression froze for a moment as he stared at the notebook, then suddenly broke into a smile.
Lu Linjiang held his breath. On the monitor, Jiang Cheng took a sample out of an instrument, skillfully added a reagent, and tucked it back into the device.
Seeing his intense focus, Sun Wen couldn't help but ask, "What is it?" She hadn't noticed anything unusual.
"Mhm. I’ve found a suspect," Lu Linjiang murmured.
Sun Wen looked blankly at the four people busy with their own tasks, feeling that she truly wasn't cut out for criminal investigation.
Lu Linjiang recovered from his brief lapse in focus. Before he had time to wonder why he had been distracted, someone entered through the north door.
Lu Linjiang’s nerves tightened instantly, but the person was clearly not Luo Jia; he had a typical East Asian face. The newcomer walked straight into Jiang Cheng’s lab and stood behind him for a moment while Jiang Cheng observed the data.
Due to the camera angle, it was impossible to see what they were looking at, but their expressions showed they were equally focused. After a moment, the man leaned down and rested a hand on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. Jiang Cheng was visibly startled, but upon seeing who it was, he immediately smiled. They whispered for a while before the man patted Jiang Cheng’s shoulder and left.
Lu Linjiang felt instinctively that this must be the Jiang Langmin he had yet to meet.
After leaving, the man walked toward Matthew’s lab. Lu Linjiang watched him closely, but saw him enter the empty lab next to Matthew’s instead. He picked up a document from the table to review, checking the instruments against the file in his hand. Then, he opened a small cabinet on the desk, took out several items, and placed them on a tray.
Lu Linjiang glanced at the timestamp in the top right corner. There was less than a minute left before the camera would shut down.
Carrying the items, the man headed back toward the north door. As he passed Jiang Cheng’s lab, he paused to tap lightly on the glass and waved at Jiang Cheng, who had looked up at the sound.
At that exact moment, a figure appeared at the north entrance. This person’s appearance immediately commanded Lu Linjiang’s full attention—that silver hair was far too striking to be anyone other than Luo Jia.
Luo Jia walked a few steps along the main north-south path of the room. He seemed to hear footsteps and turned toward the west.
Luo Jia was walking quickly and happened to encounter the man carrying the items at the northwest corner. The two exchanged a few words. Just then, the previously clear image began to jitter, and static started rolling across the screen.
"What’s happening?"
Sun Wen’s fingers hadn't left the keyboard; she began working the moment the interference appeared. "It’s not a hardware issue. The interference was present during the recording."
Just as Sun Wen finished speaking, Luo Jia, who was still talking, suddenly glanced toward the camera. Lu Linjiang’s eyes narrowed. Luo Jia gave a nod to the other man, and they went their separate ways. Luo Jia hurried forward, and just as he passed Jiang Cheng’s lab, the recording stopped.
"That’s not right!" Lu Linjiang said. "The A and B monitors didn't show anyone leaving."
"Sun Wen, replay the central monitor."
The central monitor footage was pulled up. The timestamp in the corner showed it was just before 2:19 PM when it was shut down—at which point Camera C’s maintenance had not yet finished.
"How can there be a one-minute gap?"
"Let me check." Sun Wen quickly pulled up the software. Lu Linjiang stood behind her with his arms crossed, waiting silently. After a long moment, Sun Wen said, "There definitely wasn't any editing, and there’s no equipment interference. It seems the central monitor was simply turned off during the maintenance process before Camera C was turned back on."
"Did the same thing happen with Camera B, the last one to be serviced?"
Sun Wen checked the time logs. "No. It only shut down after Camera A finished its maintenance and was turned back on."
Lu Linjiang checked the time; it would be the middle of the night in Denmark. He suppressed the urge to immediately track down Jiang Langmin for questioning. "Slow down the footage from Camera B after 2:00 PM and play it again."
Camera B was the last to undergo maintenance, so it had been recording the entire time after Luo Jia entered the lab. However, due to the angle, it could only capture the eastern side of the lab and the eastern corners of the north and south doors. Sun Wen enlarged the image. Finally, they could see a glimpse of a sleeve belonging to the person suspected to be Jiang Langmin as he entered and exited, but Luo Jia never appeared in its recording from start to finish.
"One minute..." Lu Linjiang stared at the floor plan in the bottom right of the screen. Using the man suspected to be Jiang Langmin as a reference, it was entirely feasible to open a storage cabinet, take a virus strain, and leave the lab within a single minute. But without any actual footage, suspicion alone wasn't enough to completely clear Jiang Cheng.
"Are there any other videos? From the hallways, for instance?"
Sun Wen gave him an apologetic look. "No. I only received these three cameras. This alone is several hundred gigabytes."
Lu Linjiang sighed. "Do me a favor. Run through these videos quickly and see if anyone else approached Matthew’s lab today."
Sun Wen gave him an "OK" gesture.
When Lu Linjiang returned to the office, he saw Yang Bo slumped over his desk like a dead dog. Yang Bo was clutching Xu Sichen’s pink Hello Kitty pillow, his face buried entirely in it. The bow was positioned right on top of his head, making him look like the back of Hello Kitty’s skull.
Lu Linjiang swallowed the question he was about to ask and instinctively lightened his footsteps as he walked past. Suddenly, Yang Bo jumped up like a reanimated corpse. "Captain Lu!"
Caught off guard, Lu Linjiang jumped slightly. Looking at Yang Bo’s bleary-eyed face, he asked, "What is it?"
Yang Bo’s eyes were dazed as he scratched his hair. "What was I just about to say..."
Lu Linjiang: "..."
He turned to head into his office, but Yang Bo lunged forward. "I remember! I remember!" Yang Bo nearly collided with him, but Lu Linjiang nimbly dodged. "That Luo Jia guy—he was sending emails until the middle of the night, and his phone hasn't stopped ringing all morning."
"What’s he busy with?"
"I didn't see the emails, but I overheard a bit of the calls. It sounds like he’s calling in people."
The words "Director Chu" appeared on his phone screen without surprise. Lu Linjiang stared at the phone for a few seconds before pressing the answer button.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 田字形 | grid-shaped / cross-shaped | Refers to the layout resembling the Chinese character '田'. |
| 玻璃屋 | glass pods / glass enclosures | Individual transparent workspaces within the lab. |
| 探头 | camera / probe | Specifically referring to surveillance cameras in this context. |
| 检修 | maintenance / overhaul | Technical check or repair of equipment. |
| 毒株 | virus strain | The biological sample being researched or potentially stolen. |
| 鉴证科 | Forensics Department | The department Sun Wen belongs to. |
| 楚局 | Director Chu | A high-ranking official, likely Lu Linjiang's superior. |
