Not only Director Gao, but all the officers in the bureau felt uneasy after hearing Xu Mo's words.
It seemed that the thief who stole the gun was indeed someone from within.
Previously, because there were other suspects, the officers had held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that the thief might not necessarily be a colleague from the police station. But now, that last bit of hope was shattered—the thief was among them.
No one could accept such a thing.
Among their colleagues, whom they interacted with day in and day out, there was actually a thief!
Especially since they were police officers, a profession that represented justice, this was even harder to swallow.
"Do you have any suspects?" Director Gao asked after a long silence.
Xu Mo shook his head, indicating that he didn't have any for now.
Stealing a gun always had a motive.
Xu Mo had previously suspected that perhaps someone in the bureau had a grudge against Hao Qi and stole his gun to frame him.
However, this assumption was ruled out. Hao Qi had a good reputation in the bureau, hadn't made any enemies, and got along well with everyone.
If it wasn't for framing someone, then what was the motive for stealing the gun? Xu Mo pondered.
As he thought about this, he also scanned the officers sitting at their desks.
His sharp gaze lingered on each officer for a moment.
If it were an ordinary person, being stared at like that by Xu Mo would surely make them show signs of guilt.
But everyone here was a police officer, and their mental fortitude wasn't so weak. After scanning the room, Xu Mo didn't notice any officer who seemed too nervous to meet his gaze.
"How do you plan to investigate?" Han Fei also turned to Xu Mo at this point.
After returning to the bureau, Han Fei had also noticed this issue—the officers' psychological resilience was too strong, making it difficult to judge from their facial expressions whether they had something to hide.
Figuring out who stole Hao Qi's service gun was going to take some effort.
"First, let's ask who Hao Qi had contact with after returning from his mission. The suspect must be among them," Xu Mo replied.
Xu Mo called over the officers who had gone on the mission with Hao Qi earlier.
"Who did you have contact with after returning from the mission today?"
The three officers thought for a moment, then answered one after another.
"Who did we have contact with... Old Zhou, Xiao Li."
"And that new guy, what's his name... Su Chen."
"And the security guard, Old Zhang."
"Just these four?" Xu Mo asked.
The three nodded. "Yes, just these four. The rest of the colleagues were busy at the time."
Only four people—that made things easier.
The suspect had to be one of these four.
"Then let's question them one by one," Han Fei said. "Could you go and call these four over?"
As soon as Han Fei finished speaking, Xu Mo waved his hand.
"Not so fast. First, give me a brief rundown of these four," Xu Mo said, looking at the three officers.
One of the officers spoke up.
"Old Zhou isn't a full-time officer; he's an auxiliary officer. He's been with the bureau for a long time—he was here even before I joined. He's hardworking, always eager to take on tasks, and has a good personality. He's very helpful. When I first joined, I always went to him with questions."
"Xiao Li... I'm not too familiar with him. He doesn't talk much, a bit shy. He's a tech geek, and there aren't many people in the bureau who can hold a conversation with him. Hao Qi is one of them—they get along well and have a good relationship."
"Su Chen... I'm not too familiar with him either. He's a new recruit, just graduated from the police academy, still in his probation period. He's only been with us for a little over a month... His defining trait is his strong sense of justice. You know how it is with fresh graduates—full of passion. Oh, and he's really interested in guns. He's asked more than once to hold one, but he's still a rookie, hasn't even finished his probation, so it's against the rules."
"Old Zhang, the security guard, is also a long-timer. He was here before I joined and has been with the bureau for over ten years. He gets along well with all the officers. Old Zhang used to be an officer himself, but he injured his leg during a mission. He can walk fine, but he can't run anymore, so he couldn't handle tasks involving chasing suspects. He resigned voluntarily and became a security guard."
After the officers briefly introduced the four, Xu Mo summarized.
Auxiliary Officer Old Zhou: honest, hardworking, helpful, and a veteran of the bureau.
Officer Xiao Li: a tech geek, somewhat introverted, not very talkative, a bit of a wallflower.
Intern Su Chen: a recent police academy graduate, new to the bureau, young, and full of righteous passion.
Security Guard Old Zhang: another veteran of the bureau, injured in a past mission, unable to perform tasks involving physical pursuit, so he voluntarily stepped down from being an officer and became a security guard.
At first glance, none of these four seemed particularly suspicious.
But Xu Mo knew that the suspect had to be one of them.
Who could it be? Xu Mo frowned slightly as he pondered.
He didn't plan to call them in for questioning right away. Instead, he wanted to first identify who among the four was the most suspicious—at least deduce their motive before proceeding with the interrogation.
The officers' mental resilience was strong. Without a clear motive, simply questioning them wouldn't yield anything. They wouldn't confess unless their motive was more or less deduced.
Even though Xu Mo was well-versed in psychology and could tell if someone was lying, if the person refused to admit guilt, there was nothing he could do—unless he used a truth serum.
Although truth serum was effective, Xu Mo didn't want to use it casually. After all, he didn't have much of it, and once it was used, it was gone. If possible, he preferred not to use it at all.
"Who do you think is the most suspicious?" Xu Mo asked Han Fei, hoping the seasoned investigator could offer some insight.
"I think... Xiao Li. Quiet ones are often the most dangerous," Han Fei mused.
"What's his motive?"
Han Fei shook his head. "I don't know. It's just a gut feeling."
Xu Mo followed up on Han Fei's thought.
"Let's assume Xiao Li is the one who stole the gun. Then his motive... No, he doesn't really have a motive. Hao Qi is one of the few people in the bureau who can get along with him. It's normal for friends to borrow things like lighters, but stealing a gun... Hao Qi would be in serious trouble if that happened. Who would want to cause trouble for their own friend? I don't think that's likely."
After this analysis, Xu Mo realized that Xiao Li didn't have a reasonable motive to steal the gun, so he temporarily dismissed him as a suspect.
He continued analyzing.
"That intern Su Chen is also a bit suspicious. He's very interested in guns, so he has a motive."
"Right," Han Fei nodded. "It's understandable for a rookie who's never handled a gun to want to try it out. He's definitely more suspicious than Xiao Li."
But then Han Fei added, "However... a rookie with such a strong sense of justice probably wouldn't stoop to stealing a gun. No matter how interested he is, I don't think he'd do something like that. What do you think, Xu Mo?"