"Rat with floral branches? What does that mean?" The Manager's face showed a hint of confusion.
Xu Mo tipped over the trash can, spilling the dead rat that had been electrocuted along with a pile of burnt wires. He pointed to the rat in the trash and explained, "A rat with floral branches is a type of pet rat that can be domesticated. You can think of it as a larger version of a hamster. They're easily available in the market."
Manager: "???"
People actually keep rats as pets!?
He couldn't comprehend it.
"Of course, that's not the main point. The main point is that the wiring malfunction wasn't accidental; it was intentional," Xu Mo continued.
Earlier, he had felt that the timing of the wiring malfunction was too coincidental, most likely caused by human intervention. Now, seeing the situation, it was clear that this was indeed the case. The fact that it was a pet rat like the rat with floral branches, rather than the typical rodents people imagine, strongly indicated that the situation was deliberate.
"Intentional wiring malfunction... so the generator was also sabotaged by someone?" Han Fei grasped the key point and perked up immediately, "This theft was an inside job!?"
Xu Mo's discovery had undoubtedly provided a breakthrough for the case that had left the officers feeling helpless. If the theft had been carried out with internal cooperation, then there was a way to investigate. At least it would be much easier than before.
Previously, they had been completely at a loss, knowing only that the thieves had drilled a hole in the wall to steal items from the vault. The surveillance was damaged, and footprints were covered by sewage, making it impossible to investigate.
But now, there was a lead!
As long as they could catch the person who collaborated with the thieves, they could follow the trail to uncover the identity of the thieves and solve the case.
In an instant, the officers were energized.
"Xu Mo is really amazing! He immediately saw the problem," one officer praised.
"You all should learn from Xu Mo. You're good for nothing," Han Fei scanned the officers.
Even though you didn't think of it either, Han Fei, why are you just lecturing us... Chen Ke thought to himself, though he dared not say it out loud, only muttering in his mind.
The three officers who had come to observe were also quite sharp. This legendary detective Xu Mo was indeed quick-witted and adept at discovering clues, living up to his reputation!
It wasn't that they couldn't think of the possibility that the wiring was deliberately damaged, but it took them some time to arrive at that conclusion, unlike Xu Mo, who reacted so quickly.
Investigating a case is all about speed. The faster you investigate, the more likely you are to catch the criminals off guard. If you're slow, the opportunity might be lost.
With the investigation direction clarified, the officers were all invigorated.
"Bring all the employees who have access to the power room," Han Fei directed at the Manager.
The latter immediately nodded, "Okay, please wait a moment."
With that, he left the power room.
During this time, Xu Mo crouched down to examine the burnt wires scattered from the overturned trash can.
Just finding a rat with floral branches and concluding that the wiring was deliberately damaged was a bit too hasty. After all, a rat with floral branches, if extremely hungry, might also chew on wires or use them to sharpen its teeth.
He wanted to find more compelling evidence to prove that the wiring was intentionally damaged.
After fiddling with the burnt wires, Xu Mo indeed made a discovery. He picked up a few sections of wires with obvious bite marks.
Interestingly, there were burnt food residues on the bitten sections of the wires, resembling crushed meat or sausage.
Seeing Xu Mo lift a few sections of wires from the burnt mess, everyone turned their gaze to him, their faces showing some confusion.
Xu Mo met their eyes, "Take a look, there are food residues on the bitten wires."
Hearing this, everyone crouched down to examine the wires.
As Xu Mo had said, it was not difficult to see some burnt food residues on the wires if one looked closely.
"No wonder the rat chewed on the wires... This was indeed done on purpose!" Li Chen exclaimed excitedly.
Xu Mo's discovery confirmed that their conclusion was correct.
This theft had indeed been meticulously planned, carried out through collaboration between the thieves and someone inside the company.
There were two possibilities.
First: The theft gang had infiltrated this insurance company.
Second: The theft gang had bribed an employee within the company who had access to the power room.
Either way, as long as they could identify the person who had infiltrated the company (or been bribed by the theft gang), the officers could follow the trail to uncover the identity of the theft gang!
Under Xu Mo's instruction, an officer took out a sealable bag and placed the burnt rat's body and the few sections of wires with distinct bite marks and food residues inside separately.
Shortly after.
The Manager returned to the power room with a group of employees.
"These are the police officers here to investigate the case. Please cooperate fully. This is related to the theft case, so don't hold anything back!" The Manager introduced, "Officers, these are all the employees in our company who have access to the power room."
The Manager had brought back a total of six employees.
The officers' eyes swept over the six individuals.
After glancing at the six, Xu Mo looked at the Manager, "Could we borrow one of your company's offices? We need to ask these employees a few questions."
"Of course, of course! No problem at all!" The Manager nodded vigorously, immediately agreeing to Xu Mo's request.
With that, he led the group to an empty office.
Interrogation was best done one-on-one.
The officers planned to question the six employees one by one.
In addition to interrogation, they also needed to check the surveillance footage of the power room, so they decided to proceed with both methods simultaneously.
Xu Mo took a few officers to start interrogating the six employees one by one, while Han Fei led another team, guided by the Manager, to the surveillance room to check the power room's footage.
"Chen Ke, you come with me to interrogate. The rest of you stay outside and keep an eye on things," Xu Mo said, taking Chen Ke and one of the employees into the office.
The remaining officers stayed in place, watching the other five employees who hadn't been called in, to prevent any trouble during Xu Mo's interrogation.
Inside the office.
Xu Mo began the questioning.
"Have you been in and out of the power room recently?"
"Yes, I have..." The employee being interrogated seemed a bit nervous.
"Don't be nervous, just relax. We're just here to ask you a few questions. Just answer what I ask," Xu Mo said, getting straight to the point to save time. He placed two sealable bags on the table, "Was this rat placed in the power room by you?"