I can dream about my own death.

The next day at 10 a.m.

Chen Wensheng and his two-person team arrived at Jingyun Road and saw that the construction site of the sewer renovation project had been cordoned off.

A dozen or so men wearing hats were on site maintaining order.

A large crowd of onlookers had gathered around, creating a noisy and bustling scene.

The three squeezed through the crowded people and arrived at the cordon.

After Li Yucheng showed his press credentials and explained his identity, the three of them were let in.

The three of them descended into the sewer through a staircase made of concrete and steel frames.

The sewer was brightly lit with numerous high-brightness lights, making it almost indistinguishable from the outside.

Led by the man in the hat, the three finally arrived at the heart of the crime scene.

"Interesting, really interesting," a voice said with a hint of delight.

Chen Wensheng looked in the direction of the sound and saw half of a handsome yet resolute profile.

This image perfectly matches his first impression of detective protagonists in film and television dramas.

Upon hearing the noise, Li Mubo slowly got up from the ground, turned to face the three of them, and said coldly, "Ask all the questions you want to ask. I still need to continue investigating the case and don't want to waste too much time on you reporters."

Li Yucheng didn't waste any time and turned to Wang Feng: "Turn on the machine."

Wang Feng turned on the camera and replied, "It's on now, we can start the interview."

Li Yucheng picked up the microphone and asked directly, "How did you manage to make such precise shots at those three channels, each targeting a different jewelry store?"

"It's very simple. The sewer renovation project on Jingyun Road involves opening up new sewer lines. Therefore, there is a set of highly precise optical calibration equipment inside the sewer system. Through optical calibration, these three channels can be drilled so precisely, leading directly to the floors of the three jewelry stores."

Li Mubo walked a few meters forward, pointed to one of the passageways, and said...

"The camera is pointed at this passage, and you can see it's perfectly straight, leading directly to the jewelry store, without any deviation. This means that among the suspects, there is someone skilled in using optical alignment equipment."

"The suspects who dug the tunnel were also highly skilled, able to use various excavation machines and tools proficiently."

"With the precise coordination of this group of people, these three channels were opened up in the shortest time and with the least effort."

"Therefore, this was a premeditated crime, and among the suspects, there must have been people who had worked in underground excavation before, otherwise they could not have used these machines so skillfully."

After hearing this detailed analysis, even a novice like Chen Wensheng could easily understand and agree with the viewpoint.

A great reputation is never undeserved; Li Mubo truly has some skills.

Li Yucheng nodded repeatedly, then continued the interview: "A full 67 kilograms of gold was stolen. How was so much gold transported away?"

Li Mubo answered without hesitation:

"Jingyun Road is a bustling commercial street with a large number of shops, including luxury stores, jewelry stores, and gold shops. Therefore, security is very thorough, and a large number of surveillance cameras have been installed nearby."

"After my colleagues investigated, no suspicious persons carrying heavy objects were seen in the surveillance footage over the past two days. Therefore, it is highly likely that the gold was not taken away from Jingyun Road by the suspect."

Halfway through his sentence, Li Mubo walked to a 20-liter white plastic bucket filled with clean water.

"The 67 kilograms of gold must have been melted in this plastic bucket, and then transported as liquid through this six-inch water pipe on the ground to the sewers of other streets, and then transferred away."

Chen Wensheng and the other two were immediately dumbfounded, completely bewildered.

Li Mubo continued to explain:

"I just checked, this 20-liter plastic bucket is made of PTFE, which is also known as Teflon. This 20-liter plastic bucket alone is worth nearly 10,000 yuan because it is a special container that can withstand various highly corrosive liquids."

"How could such an expensive and special plastic container appear on this ordinary construction site? Something is definitely amiss. I deduce that this plastic bucket is a container used to melt gold with aqua regia. The 76 kilograms of gold were melted into liquid by aqua regia, which is a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric acid. It was then transported to another location through this six-inch PTFE pipe underground, where it was finally collected and refined into gold again."

Hearing this, the three were even more confused. Li Yucheng couldn't help but ask, "Since they had already stolen the gold, why go through all the trouble of melting it all down?"

Li Mubo turned his head and looked down into the depths of the sewer, saying:

"Jingyun Road is a bustling commercial street with extensive surveillance cameras. If someone wanted to transport gold from there, it would be extremely easy to leave traces. The underground sewer system has numerous barriers designed to block large pieces of garbage and prevent blockages. These barriers also restrict normal pedestrian traffic."

"Before you arrived, I checked the condition of the security netting and found that only three sections showed signs of damage; the rest were intact. Because the steel used in the netting was of such high quality and was tightly embedded in the pipes, the suspects gave up on damaging the netting and instead chose to lay pipes in the sewers beforehand to transport the gold."

After this explanation, Chen Wensheng and the other two finally understood.

Li Mubo added, "This pipeline was also recently laid, and it was installed under the direction of contractor Jiang Yanhui. That's why we immediately took Jiang Yanhui into custody."

Chen Wensheng had a very bad impression of Jiang Yanhui, so he casually said, "I've always felt that Jiang Yanhui isn't a good person; he definitely has serious problems. We must investigate him thoroughly!"

Li Chengyu immediately turned and glared at Chen Wensheng, because Chen Wensheng's current position was his assistant, a trainee reporter.

Given Chen Wensheng's position, he absolutely could not say anything that carried any personal bias.

However, Li Mubo didn't seem to care and replied directly, "Because Jiang Yanhui's wife has contracted rabies, he's in very bad shape right now. He keeps insisting on going out to take care of her and is completely uncooperative with our investigation. Many details about this sewer project are only known to Jiang Yanhui, the contractor. His refusal to cooperate with the investigation has made it impossible to obtain many clues and evidence, significantly increasing the difficulty of solving this case."

Finally, Li Yucheng asked, "Officer Li, could you summarize this case?"

After pondering for two minutes, Li Mubo finally spoke: "My first impression of this case is that it's incredibly contradictory. It's clearly a meticulously planned crime; the suspect must have prepared for a long time. Logically, the suspect would have tried to erase all traces at the scene, leaving no evidence whatsoever. Yet, a large amount of evidence was left at the scene. The suspect's cleanup was far too hasty. I wonder if it was due to the rushed nature of the crime, or if there's another reason?"

The interview ended there, and Chen Wensheng and the other two climbed out of the sewer and returned to the surface.

"The theft of these sixty-seven pounds of gold means the suspect must have been preparing for a long time. This case might not be easy to solve. Our interview this time might not be able to air as scheduled. Wensheng, don't you think?" Li Yucheng turned his head and asked.

At this moment, Chen Wensheng kept his eyes on the crowd. Among them was a familiar face, a man wearing a gray hat who looked a lot like Old Zhou, the fishmonger.

The man who looked like Old Zhou turned his head away after noticing his gaze, avoiding eye contact.

Just as Chen Wensheng was about to go over and take a look, Li Yucheng suddenly asked this question.

With no other option, Chen Wensheng could only turn to Li Yucheng and awkwardly reply, "This case is clearly premeditated, and it will be extremely difficult to solve."

After answering, he turned back to his original spot and found that the person who looked similar to Lao Zhou had vanished without a trace.