A Scientific Urban Detective

The three people patrolling the street looked in the direction of the sound and found that the source was the communicator that Ruiko Saten carried with her.

The communicator was connected to the public channel of the security forces and Judgment.

In the event of an emergency requiring urgent support, a broadcast would be initiated directly through this channel.

However, after patrolling for these days, it was the first time that Lin Wuming and the others had encountered such a situation.

Coincidentally, their patrol area was in the seventh school district. Therefore, under the leadership of Ruiko Saten, the three immediately moved to a quieter place by the roadside to await further information.

After repeating the call three times, the communicator continued, "All personnel in the seventh school district, please pay attention to a silver suitcase with external dimensions of approximately 60 by 50 by 25, made of aluminum alloy, with no obvious markings on the outside..."

"Excuse me, is it a lost item?" someone immediately asked on the channel.

"Yes, the box contains lost items; to be precise, stolen items," the dispatcher said. "According to the information provided by the complainant, the box contains 100 million yen in cash, which is stolen money."

"100 million yen?"

Lin Wuming and Tōmi Kazari exchanged glances, and couldn't help but think of the ATM robbery that happened yesterday. The amount that the SKILL OUT trio wanted to seize was exactly 100 million yen.

"So much money, this is a pretty serious theft!" Ruiko Saten exclaimed. "Unless it happens within the school, cases of this level are generally beyond the reach of us Judgment members."

However, this time, because the victim discovered it in time, there should still be a possibility of recovering the stolen money, so all nearby members were mobilized to search together.

"Please observe carefully, and report any suspicious targets to headquarters immediately. Try not to take action without authorization!" the dispatcher repeatedly emphasized.

-- Mainly for the Judgment members to hear. They are in their adolescence, the age of young people who are not afraid of anything, and it is easy for them to act impulsively and take arrest actions without authorization. If there are any casualties, or if the wrong target is caught, it will be very troublesome.

But to be honest, having undergone professional and systematic training, and being composed of espers, the Judgment members are actually no worse than the security forces in actual combat.

It's just that the security teachers are, after all, "teachers" and naturally reluctant to let students do dangerous things.

After the broadcast on the public channel ended, the communicator immediately automatically switched to the internal channel of Judgment.

With the interference of adults eliminated, this was a completely different scene.

The commanders of Judgment headquarters and various branches in the seventh school district were all active. In a noisy atmosphere unique to teenagers, they efficiently and orderly re-formulated the action plan, arranged all the members that could be mobilized, and weaved a surveillance network covering the seventh school district.

In Lin Wuming's view, these Judgment members, from top to bottom, were unusually excited and actively involved in this sudden case.

Compared with the orders given to them by the security forces just now, they had a strong intention of changing "assisting" to "leading".

"...Saten-san!" Finally, the Ruiko Saten trio, who had not received orders for a long time, were finally called by name.

The command and dispatch of Judgment were issued layer by layer from the headquarters to the various branches, generally in a network structure.

However, the three of Ruiko Saten were still "interns" and had not yet been assigned to a specific branch, so the orders were directly issued by the commander-in-chief.

"Saten-san, you and Lin Wuming-san, Tōmi Kazari-san, please rush to this area as quickly as possible..."

The commander-in-chief reported an address, and then continued: "Please be sure to observe carefully, because the thief is very likely to be出没 here."

Lin Wuming asked: "Is the place where the theft occurred nearby?"

"That's right, Lin Wuming-san," the commander-in-chief said. "To reveal some information that has not yet been made public to you, the theft occurred at No. 95 of this block -- 'Silver City Insurance Company'. The person who reported the case was their executive vice president, Saburo Shibata. The safe in his office was stolen, and 100 million yen in cash stored in it disappeared."

"It is said that the money was prepared by the company to cope with small claims in normal times, and all cash will be locked in the safe after get off work. The password is only known to a few vice presidents of the company's senior management."

"This morning, when Saburo Shibata went to the office, he didn't notice anything unusual, but two hours later, when a staff member went upstairs to apply for cash, he found that the safe had been opened and was empty."

"Wait a minute," Lin Wuming interrupted her narration, "Where was that Saburo Shibata when the incident occurred?"

"He was in a meeting at the time," the commander-in-chief said. "I know what you're suspecting, Lin Wuming-san. But unfortunately, I have to tell you that Saburo Shibata has an alibi for the entire process. The 25 people in the conference room and the surveillance cameras in the corridor outside the conference room can prove that he did not leave the conference room during this period."

"In addition, when he arrived at the office in the morning, he was accompanied by two other department heads and a section chief. They can prove that the safe was in a normal closed state at that time. After that, the four of them went to the conference room downstairs for a meeting."

The commander-in-chief thought for a while and added: "There is still a little time difference, because Saburo Shibata left the office two minutes late to change clothes. But nothing can be done in that little time, and the other three were waiting for him at the door, so there was no chance to do anything."

Lin Wuming asked again: "Did the surveillance cameras capture any suspicious people?"

"No, no surveillance cameras are installed on the floors where the big shots are located," the commander-in-chief said. "The security forces can only conduct investigations through the surveillance footage on the lower floors, and finally identified a suspicious target shrouded in a black robe, who was carrying the suitcase that the security teacher mentioned earlier."

"Isn't this already locked on to the target?" Lin Wuming said, "As long as you track the surveillance footage, you can find him, right?"

"Unfortunately, the suspect is very familiar with the company's internal situation," the commander-in-chief said again. "He avoided the perspective of the surveillance cameras as much as possible along the way, and only appeared in a few shots. After he disposed of the suitcase, as long as he took off his black robe, he could easily blend in with ordinary workers..."

According to the preliminary investigation by the security forces, it can be almost certain that the suspect operated in this way.

-- Put the suitcase containing the cash into a garbage bag and use the cleaning workers to take it to the large trash can outside. Finally, an accomplice, or the suspect himself, rummaged through it and took it away.

The evidence is that there are some slight dents on the large trash can downstairs, suspected to have been left by human climbing and flipping.

Because the appearance and characteristics of the suspect are completely unclear, we can only search for the silver suitcase now.

"Because it cannot be ruled out that the suspect changed the box, I hope you will also pay attention to other containers that can hold 100 million yen in cash," the commander-in-chief urged.

"Then there are too many suspicious targets, right?" Tōmi Kazari couldn't help but complain.

As she said that, she looked around -- this is Academy City, although it is not a school day, there are people carrying bags everywhere.