Chapter 30: Saving Others is Also Saving Oneself

Wang Zhao Ping and the other officers exchanged glances, seeing a look of surprise and suspicion in each other's eyes.

Yuan Li and Meng Lang were not related and did not know each other at all.

Why would someone go to such lengths just for a few worthless old clothes and shoes?

It absolutely made no sense!

"You mean to say..."

"I don't know what he intended to do, but I'm sure it wasn't anything good, right?" Meng Lang spread his hands.

Wang Zhao Ping frowned and thought for a while, then said to an officer.

"Go and bring all the items that the suspect had on him tonight, and don't leave anything out, including the coat and shoes he wore!"

"Yes!"

...

Five minutes later.

The officer re-entered, carrying several bags.

"Captain Wang! These are all the items found on Yuan Li."

Wang Zhao Ping looked at the items, then pointed at the coat and shoes enclosed in a transparent plastic bag on the table.

"Mr. Meng, please look, are these the clothes you lost?"

Meng Lang looked twice and nodded, "Yes! They are mine!"

"This coat was bought by my mom two or three years ago. I rarely wore it because I thought the style was too old, so it was usually just sitting at the bottom of my trunk.

Look! There's a small ink stain on the cuff left by my naughty sister.

As for these leather shoes, I bought them spceificaly for job interviews right after I graduated, but since I prefer comfort, I usually wear sneakers.

Normally, these should be dusty, but it seems that guy was careful enough to even clean my shoes for me, haha..."

Seeing that Meng Lang knew the details and origin of the items clearly, Wang Zhao Ping confirmed that he was probably not lying.

Next, Wang Zhao Ping took out the things from another bag and inspected them one by one.

He picked up a small transparent plastic bag, held it up to the light, and looked at it carefully for a long time, his expression gradually becoming grave.

"Captain Wang, what is this?"

To the untrained eye, the transparent plastic bag, which looked like it was used to hold tablets, appeared to be empty.

"It's some skin flakes and hairs..." Wang Zhao Ping involuntarily glanced at Meng Lang.

"Uh..."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Captain Wang, look at this, it must be a biometric fingerprint film!"

Qin Xiaoru handed over a palm-sized box in which there were several bits of black gel material the size of fingertips.

These items appeared highly preserved, as if protecting each piece like precious, fragile items.

"Such biometric fingerprint films are hard to come by on the market and belong to a high-tech synthetic product.

Common silicone fingerprint films found on the market, which are usually used to forge the surface pattern of human fingerprints, can deceive traditional fingerprint scanners in 80% of cases.

However, these silicone films lack human sweat gland tissues, and with current forensic methods, deeper multiple fingerprint recognition processes can easily distinguish their authenticity.

But these synthetic biometric fingerprint films are different; they can simulate the moisture, urea, proteins and so on secreted by human sweat glands, almost perfectly mimicking reality.

Even our station's top fingerprint identification methods would have a hard time discerning them.

In a way, this equates to spy equipment.

Unless the current international research frontier in 'subdermal fingerprint information recognition' technology makes a breakthrough, these types of biometric fingerprint films are difficult to decode with existing recognition methods."

Meng Lang looked somewhat surprised at the analysis provided by this female officer, who had just discussed guns, bullets, and now this fingerprint film with expertise.

She must be a technical expert specialized in criminal investigation.

While he did not quite understand this synthetic fingerprint film,

it was impressive nonetheless!

"This suggests that the suspect broke into Mr. Meng's room, probably to..."

Wang Zhao Ping did not finish his sentence, but everyone present had a basic idea.

The stolen clothes, shoes, weapon, as well as the hairs, skin flakes, and carefully created fingerprint film...

It all pointed to an attempt to fabricate the crime scene!

"Are you suggesting that Yuan Li wanted to commit the crime and then frame it on Meng Lang?" Lin Haitang's voice seemed to tremble.

Being able to forge so much evidence with such deliberation indicated that this was no petty theft, but very likely...

At the thought of that terrifying suspicion, Lin Haitang trembled slightly all over.

Feeling the strength from her sister's hand, Xiao Yu blinked and clasped her sister's hand back, as if to comfort her.

"We will conduct a comparison of the DNA and fingerprint film from these hairs with Mr. Meng's. If it proves indeed to be Mr. Meng's,

then this possibility is extremely high!"

Wang Zhao Ping said solemnly.

Yuan Li was an expert in criminal investigations. Conversely, knowing both your enemies and yourself, when he fabricated the scene, it was likely flawless!

If the crime occurred today, and there was so much incriminating "evidence" pointing to Meng Lang, even he would think that Meng Lang did it.

Even if he wasn't convicted on the spot, he would still be the prime suspect.

"What? Are you saying I almost became a scapegoat for a criminal? That was close!"

Meng Lang also showed a "shocked" expression and patted his chest to express his "relief".

Wang Zhao Ping and others rolled their eyes.

You shocked about what! You were probably the first to notice it at the scene?

After all, the person was just wearing your clothes and shoes. Did you not notice?

"Mr. Meng, your height and build are indeed very similar to Yuan Li's. If crime scene reconstruction were done using collected footprints and other clues, it could probably match quite well.

Plus, you and the target, Lin Xiaoyu, are neighbors...

I think this might be the reason Yuan Li targeted you."

Meng Lang agreed quite a bit with Wang Zhao Ping's analysis.

That bump from Xiao Yu had just caused him to enter Yuan Li's field of vision, literally "bumped by fate"...

"Now that we understand the rough course of events, there remains one final question, the motive!

As far as I know, Yuan Li had just been released from prison, so why did he choose Lin Xiaoyu as his target right after getting out?"

Wang Zhao Ping said, looking towards Lin Xiaoyu's sister.

Just like Meng Lang's previous guess, he also suspected Lin Haitang.

"It was me," Lin Haitang said with a bitter smile.

"Back then, I personally testified in court that led to Yuan Li's imprisonment..."

All the officers were indeed stunned.

"To think that it was actually like this…" Wang Zhao Ping said, initially surprised and then immediately enlightened.

With that, the whole case finally had a complete narrative.

And the truth of the incident, even an experienced old detective like Wang Zhao Ping found somewhat unbelievable.

Yuan Li, a master of criminal investigations, had meticulously planned this burglary. With his skills and experience, it should have been foolproof.

Yet, at the critical moment, he was perfectly thwarted by an ordinary salesperson.

Not only did the crime fail to occur, but he was also defeated in a desperate situation despite having a firearm, which gave him an absolute advantage in weaponry and equipment, and was knocked out cold.

From the scene, the attack did not break through defense, nor did it scratch the opponent. The defeat was utterly disastrous.

And in the end, the heroic bystander turned out to be the "scapegoat" Yuan Li probably had planned...

What was thought to be an unsuspecting bystander turned unexpectedly into the hunter.

This story is incredulous even to speak of!

"Isn't that why they say good deeds bring good karma? If you weren't out to save someone, you might have been the one in trouble!"

Yan Weiwei also felt this was quite mystical, and couldn't help but express her amazement.

As for Yan Weiwei's praise of being a good person, Meng Lang indeed felt it was well-deserved.

"Yes! I've recently been pondering a philosophical issue.

To change one's destiny, the key might not necessarily lie within oneself but rather changing someone else's fate, which then in turn affects your own—it may be the most efficient way…"

After so many "life" experiences, he inexplicably felt a sense of enlightenment.

He had escaped from "Miserable Life" only to find himself embroiled in "My Struggle", as if it was his destiny to be unlucky.

Fate is like a spider web; the more one struggles, the deeper one sinks.

So what if he saved others first and then through others, saved himself? Could everyone break free from the web of fate together?

Helping others was also helping himself!

The so-called merit and luck, probably were just like this.