Los ojos de Asura

Capítulo 45

Luo Fei gave a helpless smirk: "That video is indeed real."

"How did you figure that out?" Yin Jian asked, turning his head back to watch the video again, but still couldn't make a valid judgment.

Luo Fei prompted, "Pay attention to the clock above the window."

"A wall clock?" Yin Jian saw it. There was indeed a wall clock above the window. Because the window was located to the west, the clock, like the mysterious man, was captured in the screen on the right.

But what kind of information could that clock hold? Yin Jian frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly an idea struck him. So he rewound the video and studied the surveillance footage before and after the power outage once more. And his idea was validated in the process.

"Time!" He tapped the clock on the screen with his finger. "The time can match!"

Luo Fei nodded; this was precisely the key to determining the authenticity of the video.

The time displayed on the monitor screen was 23:35:12 when the power went out and 23:39:21 when the backup generator was providing power. Careful observation of the clock hands reveals that the time was 11:33:45 before the screen jumped, and 11:37:54 after. Although there is a discrepancy between the two timers, the time interval recorded by both is exactly the same: four minutes and nine seconds. This is sufficient to demonstrate that the video recording is not falsified.

Even if Eumenides could control the duration of the power outage through ingenious design, he absolutely could not control when the backup generator would start. Ahua sent two men to the basement to start the backup generator, and the speed at which those men moved was unpredictable. In other words, the timing of their starting the backup generator four minutes and nine seconds after the power outage was entirely uncertain.

So if Eumenides forged the video, he could perfectly mimic the other scenes, but he couldn't replicate the hands of the clock because he had no idea how long the time interval between the power outage and restoration would be! If Eumenides wanted to fake it, he would have chosen to operate the left half of the clock's screen, which wasn't visible in the video. Given his caution and meticulousness, he would never have allowed that difficult-to-operate clock to appear in the forged video!

Now that the clock has appeared in the video, and the changes in its hands perfectly match the actual situation, it can only mean that the video shows the actual situation in the office, and there is no possibility of it being faked!

This question was thus resolved. However, Luo Fei's mood was far from relaxed. The deduction that followed was: at 23:39:21, a tall man had indeed stormed into the heavily guarded office. He was carrying a sharp blade, preparing to unleash a bloody massacre!

Where did he come from? Where did he go after committing the crime? This perplexing question has once again become the most pressing point of confusion in this bloody case!

The Fate of the Death Sentence (25)

Luo Fei pondered for a long time without making any progress, and his head began to throb. He took a deep breath and rested for a moment. Looking at the time, it was already past 3 a.m. After considering for a while, he instructed Yin Jian, "Notify Zeng Rihua and Teacher Mu to come over. We'll have a meeting at 4 a.m."

November 3rd, 4:00 AM.

The monitoring room on the first floor of Longyu Building. The on-site meeting of the "April 18th Special Task Force" has begun. Except for Liu Song, who could not attend due to protecting Du Mingqiang, all other members appeared at the meeting on time.

Yin Jian first recounted the events of the incident, then played the video footage of the scene several times. Faced with such a bizarre home invasion and assassination attempt, Zeng Rihua and Mu Jianyun could only stare wide-eyed in disbelief.

After Yin Jian finished speaking, Luo Fei added some information already gathered from the surrounding area: "The cause of the power outage has been investigated. A timed explosive device was installed on the building's main power cable. The explosion was small, but the temperature generated was enough to melt the cable's insulation, causing a short circuit and paralyzing the power supply system. The backup generator was also tampered with; the output cable originally consisted of four sets of lines, three of which were cut beforehand. The remaining set of lines could not withstand four times the design load, so it overheated and burned out after only a dozen seconds of startup."

Hearing this, Zeng Rihua shook his head with interest: "This is quite interesting. If he wanted to sabotage, why didn't he just cut all four sets of lines? Leaving one set untouched suggests there's more to it than meets the eye."

"He deliberately wanted us to see that later scene..." Mu Jianyun also began to ponder this question. "Why? To show off? To provoke? Or... was this all part of his plan?"

"Before you arrived, Yin Jian and I had some ideas—but they didn't seem to hold water." Luo Fei paused, then continued, "Since everyone's here, let's discuss it... Well, we thought the later part of the video might be faked. No one broke into the house at the time; the killer's purpose was to lure Ahua and the others into opening the door so he could carry out the assassination in the darkness amidst the chaos."

"Hey, that makes a lot of sense!" Zeng Rihua seemed to agree with this line of thinking, and he even excitedly slapped the table with his hand.

"Oh?" Luo Fei then asked, "Is faking a recording technically difficult?"

Zeng Rihua waved his hand dismissively: "It's not difficult at all. Think about it, the images we see on the screen are all electronic signals coming from the monitoring equipment terminal. If that terminal is a camera, then what we see is what the camera recorded. To fake it, all you have to do is take advantage of the first power outage to unplug the signal transmission cable and connect it to a pre-prepared playback terminal. Once the power is restored, the monitoring screen will display the image you played."

"Hmm--" Luo Fei understood the explanation and continued, "Once the backup generator burns out and the power goes out again, I just need to reconnect the signal cable to the camera, and the surveillance equipment will be back to normal without leaving any trace."

Zeng Rihua clapped his hands and said, "That's right!"

Luo Fei, however, frowned, seemingly unsure if the problem was solved. He raised a new question: "What about the time displayed on the surveillance screen? Can that also be falsified?"

"Well..." Zeng Rihua scratched his head, "...that won't work. Because the time displayed on the screen is the time set internally by the monitoring system, and it's unrelated to the terminal signal. In other words, no matter what appears on the screen, the displayed time cannot change."

"In that case, the video can't be fake." Luo Fei pouted in disappointment, then explained the time difference issue shown by the clock in the video.

Zeng Rihua was somewhat disheartened after hearing this, but he was still unwilling to give up. After a moment, he argued, "Could it be that the person who started the backup generator was in cahoots with Eumenides? As long as the timing is right, they can get away with it."

"There's no need for that," Mu Jianyun immediately dismissed the conjecture. "Only one of the two cameras will capture the clock. If Eumenides wanted to fake it, they would definitely choose a screen where the clock doesn't appear. Why go through all that trouble as you suggested?"

Luo Fei nodded and added, "I also questioned the two young men who went to start the backup generator. Their accounts were without flaws, so if the timer on the display screen can't be faked, then the possibility of the video being falsified is basically nonexistent."

Zeng Rihua swallowed hard. "Is he really a god? He comes and goes without a trace."

"We must have overlooked something... a blind spot in our thinking." Luo Fei narrowed his eyes, his gaze seemingly frozen in some unseen mist.

A moment of silence fell over the room. Everyone seemed deep in thought, yet unable to find a solution. Just then, Yin Jian's phone rang. He quickly answered it and left the room, careful not to disturb the others. But when he returned shortly after, he shouted without restraint, "Captain Luo, they found Eumenides's blood-stained clothes!"

Luo Fei immediately stood up: "Quick, take me to see!"

As the headquarters building of the Longyu Group, the Longyu Building boasts a very luxurious ground floor lobby. Because the lobby's area is much larger than the projected area of other floors, a large space protrudes from the ground floor towards the south of the building, naturally forming a terrace on its roof. Although this terrace isn't very high, it's still part of the building's exterior roof, and it's rarely visited by people.

The search team found an unclaimed sports backpack here. Unzipping the backpack revealed crumpled clothing inside, and on top of that, a pair of white gloves soaked in blood. Without hesitation, they secured the scene while reporting the situation to the task force.

Five or six minutes later, Luo Fei and the others arrived at the terrace. The search team withdrew to the outer perimeter, clearing out the core area. Luo Fei put on thin rubber gloves, squatted in the center of the circle, and examined the backpack. He quickly concluded, "That's right, this was indeed left behind by the murderer."

Besides gloves, the bag contained a blood-stained set of clothes, a black woolen hat, and a pair of shoe covers. These clothes matched perfectly with those worn by the mysterious man in the video. Luo Fei also found an extremely sharp blade in the outer compartment of the backpack; the still-wet blood on the blade indicated that it was the murder weapon.

Zeng Rihua squatted down next to Luo Fei, clapping his hands with a mysterious air and saying, "Then this must be Eumenides' escape route!"

"Yes," Yin Jian nodded in agreement. "He probably prepared a bag of clean clothes here beforehand. After committing the crime, he went to this terrace to change into his blood-stained clothes, hid the murder weapon, and then fled."

Because she was a woman and unfamiliar with criminal investigation procedures, Mu Jianyun had been observing from the sidelines. After hearing her companions' analysis, she turned around and looked around, surveying the surrounding terrain.

"Escape from here is easy. The key question is, how will he get from his office on the eighteenth floor to this terrace?" Finally, Mu Jianyun looked up at the upper floors of the building and posed this question.

That's certainly true. If one could reach this terrace, a leap from either direction along the edge would allow them to escape the building (a height of five or six meters might be an obstacle for ordinary people, but it would be nothing to a master like Eumenides). However, there's a height difference of tens of meters between the building's eighteenth floor and this terrace; Eumenides couldn't possibly fly down like a bird, could he?

Luo Fei stood up as well. He looked up at the upper floors and then turned his gaze back to the terrace. The terrace was designed like a "sky garden," with a large circle of soil around it, forming a green belt filled with lush, flourishing trees.

"Go and search the bushes over there again more carefully," Luo Fei gave the search team a new order. The young men immediately dispersed and disappeared into the dense green belt.

A few minutes later, excited voices came from the bushes: "There's a bunch of rope here!"

Luo Fei and the others were all deeply moved, and they ran towards the direction from which the shouts came. Upon closer inspection, they found a large number of ropes piled up next to a small pine tree, intertwined and of considerable length.

Luo Fei bent down and picked up a section of the rope. He noticed it was only about the thickness of a little finger, but incredibly strong; it must be professional outdoor climbing equipment. He clicked his tongue softly and looked up, gazing into the distance.

The implication of this action was so obvious that many people around couldn't help but exclaim "Oh!" as if they had suddenly realized something. Zeng Rihua couldn't contain himself and exclaimed, "So that's how he climbed in and out using this rope!"

Luo Fei remained noncommittal. He pondered blankly, seemingly unable to comprehend many things.

"Climbing out is possible, but climbing back in would be too difficult, wouldn't it?" Mu Jianyun casually expressed his confusion.

Because the building's south-facing interior is concave and curved, a long section of the rope suspended from the 18th-floor window would be hanging precariously in the air. Sliding down such a rope would be easy, but climbing up would require exceptional skill and strength.

Luo Fei, however, had more to consider. He turned his gaze to Zeng Rihua and said, as if asking a question, "To avoid the outdoor surveillance cameras, he can only start climbing after the power goes out. Four minutes to climb from here to the eighteenth floor—even climbing stairs is exhausting—is it possible with just this rope? And with such a large vertical drop, how will he even get the rope up there? And how will he get it back up?"

Zeng Rihua looked troubled when asked the question, and grinned rather aggrievedly, "How would I know so much? But Eumenides, he definitely has a way."

"Now that the rope was found here, and the office is only accessible through a window, we should be able to determine Eumenides' basic method," Yin Jian said to Zeng Rihua, expressing his support. "As for how he managed to accomplish such a difficult task, I think we can consult the SWAT team."

As soon as Yin Jiangang mentioned the SWAT team, they actually appeared. Liu Song was seen turning out of the second-floor exit of the building and running onto the terrace.

Luo Fei, with his keenest eyesight, was the first to spot the unexpected colleague and couldn't help but let out a soft "Eh!" The others followed his gaze. Liu Song quickly ran to their side.

"Why are you here too?" Luo Fei asked, preoccupied with the task he had assigned to Liu Song. "Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on Du Mingqiang?"

"I brought him along." Liu Song seemed extremely eager for battle. After a brief reply, he impatiently asked, "What's the situation here?"

Luo Fei was still a little worried: "Where is he now?"

"We're inside the building. Our comrades are all around; nothing will happen."

Luo Fei nodded. The Longyu Building was now swarming with police and bodyguards, all searching for Eumenides' whereabouts. Placing Du Mingqiang there, even without Liu Song's supervision, wouldn't cause any problems.

Zeng Rihua chuckled and remarked, "It's the dead of night, and that guy's actually quite willing to go through all this trouble with you."

"I taught him a lesson last time, and he's much more obedient now." Liu Song looked back at Zeng Rihua with a knowing glance. The two of them shared a deep understanding of the meaning of the word "education."

Now that Liu Song was here, Yin Jian could continue their previous discussion. He looked up and pointed to the upper part of the building, asking Liu Song, "Can you see that window on the eighteenth floor?"

Liu Song squinted and looked around for a while: "Is it the one where it's all dark around, with a single light shining in the middle?"

"That's right." Yin Jian then pointed to the ground, "Take a look at this pile of rope. Can we use it to climb from here to that window?"

Liu Song clicked his tongue in amazement: "So high? And it's like climbing in mid-air... I definitely couldn't do it."

Luo Fei pressed further, "Do you think anyone can do that?"

Liu Song initially wanted to shake his head, but seeing everyone looking at him with such seriousness, he knew this was no small matter. He hesitated for a moment, then adopted a more conservative tone: "Well... let me put it this way, our SWAT team also conducts climbing training regularly. For example, freehand rope climbing like this is usually set at a height of about twenty meters. Any higher, not only would our physical strength be insufficient, but the rope would also sway violently and become difficult to control."

Luo Fei stroked his chin, lost in thought. Liu Song was considered one of the best in the SWAT team, his skills perhaps no less than Eumenides'. Could Eumenides really have easily completed a task that even he found difficult in just over four minutes?

Liu Song gleaned some clues from the expressions of Luo Fei and the others. He asked incredulously, "Is this how Eumenides entered the crime scene?"

Yin Jian blinked, looking both bewildered and helpless: "Judging from the current situation, this is the only explanation..."

Liu Song tilted his head back again, his mouth agape as he stared at the window. It was so high up there, like stars in the night sky, unreachable. Because his head was tilted back at such a steep angle, the blood rushed to his head, and Liu Song quickly felt dizzy. He rubbed his neck and lowered his head in frustration. Although he hadn't yet faced Eumenides head-on, in his heart he felt he had already lost a round.

In the awkward atmosphere, the officers searching the perimeter suddenly shouted, "Captain Luo, come and take a look! We've found something here!"

Everyone tensed up and quickly followed the sound. They saw a search team member crouching among the bushes on the western edge of the terrace, intently examining something on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was a piece of white styrofoam. This is a common piece of waste found everywhere in the city, but it attracted attention because there was a small stain of blood on the edge of the styrofoam.

Luo Fei, who was wearing thin rubber gloves, picked up the piece of foam and examined it closely. The foam was thin and flat, with a distinct curve, and its shape looked like the slender glazed tiles on ancient roofs.

"What is this?" Mu Jianyun leaned forward and asked, tilting his head slightly.

"It's probably a foam packaging shell," Yin Jian guessed, "...judging from the shape, it's for wrapping things like glass cups."

Luo Fei frowned, as if suddenly remembering something. He turned to the search team member beside him and said, "Go out of the main entrance of the building, walk about twenty meters east, there should be another piece of foam like this on the side of the road—go and pick it up now."

The search team member immediately obeyed and left. Seeing the puzzled looks on the faces of the others around him, Luo Fei calmly explained, "I saw it at the entrance when I came, but I didn't pay attention to it at the time. However, the shapes of these two pieces of foam are quite similar, I wonder if they might be any clues—hopefully, that piece of foam hasn't been picked up by anyone else yet."

Luo Fei's extraordinary ability to notice every detail and possess a photographic memory is what sets him apart from others. However, Zeng Rihua was somewhat dismissive of his discovery: "This kind of packaging waste is everywhere—many people just litter. I think we shouldn't go west; we should concentrate our efforts and search carefully eastward along the building."

Mu Jianyun looked at him, seemingly asking why, and Zeng Rihua then explained with exaggerated gestures, "Look, there's blood on this foam, and it's very fresh. It's obviously left by the murderer. This means the murderer was here. This is the edge of the terrace, so he must have jumped off the terrace from this direction. We need to search eastward."

As he spoke, Yin Jian began shaking his head, and then uttered three words: "Not necessarily."

Zeng Rihua stared wide-eyed, looking somewhat taken aback. Luo Fei, on the other hand, brightened up, looking at his assistant with considerable approval.

Encouraged by Luo Fei, Yin Jian boldly voiced his opinion: "Since the murderer changed his blood-stained clothes on the terrace, he must have cleaned up the bloodstains himself and wouldn't have left blood on the surrounding objects when he jumped off. Furthermore, the blood on the foam is clearly splattered; if the murderer had left it while passing by, it should have formed dripping splatters."

The other party's words were reasonable and well-founded, so Zeng Rihua had no choice but to nod in agreement: "Hmm, I see... In that case, how did this bloodstain come about?"

"I think the murderer picked up this piece of foam with his hand before changing out of his blood-stained clothes, so the blood from his gloves got on it." Yin Jian said, while reaching over to vaguely measure the foam with his hand. Sure enough, if you opened your hand and pinched the foam, you could just make a bloodstain on one end of the foam that matched the mark.

"What's he going to do with this foam?" Zeng Rihua rolled his eyes, pretending to be deep in thought. Just then, the search team member that Luo Fei had just sent out returned.

"Captain Luo, we found it!" he reported loudly as he strode forward, holding a large evidence bag containing another piece of foam.

Luo Fei took the evidence bag and examined it carefully with the others. They found that the shape of the foam was indeed similar to the one on the terrace, only slightly larger. However, there was no blood on the foam; it was perfectly clean and normal.

"Take photos of all these things, pack them up, and bring them back to the team." Luo Fei first instructed Yin Jian, then ordered the surrounding search teams, "You guys work a little harder and expand the search area. Thoroughly search within a 50-meter radius, especially the south side of the building!"

Everyone accepted their orders, while Luo Fei looked up again, gazing at the solitary light high above, lost in thought. His colleagues in the task force also looked up, their eyes filled with confusion. It seemed that while they could follow Luo Fei's actions, they had difficulty keeping up with his train of thought.

After a long while, Luo Fei's thoughts seemed to reach a turning point. He took a deep breath silently, turned to look at everyone, and said, "Let's go back into the building and take a look."

The group descended from the terrace and entered the building's lobby on the first floor. Most of the black-clad guards from the Longyu Group were gathered there, and several detectives were busy taking statements from them. Two men sat facing each other at the reception desk in the lobby.

"How did those two end up together?" Luo Fei couldn't help but feel a little strange seeing this scene.