Enforcer Manual
Chapter 609: The Robber Turns Out to Be Myself?_1

Chapter 609: Chapter 609: The Robber Turns Out to Be Myself?_1

Many people had come to the house, but the atmosphere in the living room had become extremely oppressive.

Yeying quietly observed these individuals who seemed to hail from various walks of society. Their attires were not uniform; their ages, identities, and genders had no commonalities, yet they all radiated a similar aura.

The middle-aged man who arrived first had a scruffy beard and appeared no different from a vagrant on the streets.

When he entered, he was carrying a bag full of ribs.

Yeying guessed that this must be Sammuen from the phone call. When he entered, Song Lan greeted him warmly as Old Sa and casually chatted about the recent situation in District Seventeen.

She noticed that the way the Bug Swarm interacted differed greatly from the Lunar Eclipse Sect; at least, she and her sisters would never chat like this with The Archbishop. To the Believers, The Archbishop was a leader of great dignity, while Song Lan’s manner of communication seemed more like that of a common worker who might live next door to your house.

"You guys must have heard about the Southeast Bank robbery by now?"

Once everyone had arrived, Song Lan ended the small talk and steered the conversation back on track.

The case had been broadcasted on the evening news not long ago. As it had the highest number of casualties and the largest sum of money involved in recent times, and was also the most heinous crime, it immediately attracted the attention of the public, diverting their focus from the war hero to the bank heist that had taken place right beside them.

Armed robbery and murder for money were undoubtedly a challenge to the entire judicial system of District Seventeen.

The upper echelons of Southeast Bank had also pressured the Law Enforcers, hoping for a breakthrough in their investigation as soon as possible.

"We got some information from Dr. Bai Zhu."

As the current leader of the Shadow Guards, Old Sa reported the peculiar aspects of the case to Song Lan, "The last time the surveillance captured them was in the central square less than 500 meters away from Southeast Bank; after the vehicle entered, it never came out again."

This was a common shell game tactic.

Robbers often prepared spare vehicles and a change of clothing in parking lots. With the advancement of prosthesis technology, it would take less than 10 minutes to completely alter their appearances.

"The doctor is now retrieving footage to search every vehicle that has come out, but there had been no progress before we came."

This was somewhat illogical.

Unless those robbers had not left the central square’s parking garage until now, or they had somehow deceived the surveillance of the parking lot and the roads around it.

If it was the latter, finding them in a short time frame seemed unrealistic.

After all, it had been a full four hours since the heist, more than enough time for them to have driven out of District Seventeen.

However, Dr. Bai Zhu had found another clue, "The doctor investigated the internal system of Southeast Bank and found the invasion of the security system and the network vault to be very strange. The person who cracked it must be very familiar with the bank’s internal network security system to paralyze it so quickly. She hopes we could go to the bank personally to insert this chip into their database."

"Then let’s do as the doctor suggests."

"There’s one more thing..."

Sammuen seemed hesitant, glancing at Yeying, who was peering out from behind the couch. He appeared not to trust this young lady of unknown origin.

"Old Sa, you can speak frankly."

"The doctor asked me to hand this photo to you for your personal review."

It was a still captured from the remaining footage at Southeast Bank, where, due to a rare oversight, the bank robbers had inadvertently left behind some clues.

But when Song Lan saw the figure in the photo, he was stunned for quite a while.

Before breaking into the network vault, one of the bank robbers had turned away from the camera, pulled down his half-mask, and passed the information room’s facial recognition system. It was this action that allowed the surveillance to briefly capture his side profile.

Song Lan thought he was seeing things, but after scrutinizing the photo for a long time, he had no choice but to confirm that the bank robber bore an 80% resemblance to him, so much so that when he took another look at the man’s build, he was shocked to find that the physical characteristics of the thief also matched his own.

At that moment, he finally understood why Lu Xiang had to work overtime through the night.

Because following normal procedure, just on the basis of the content in this photo, he would have been invited for a "chat" at the department by now, and though he had a solid alibi, he would still end up spending the whole evening at the station.

And at this critical juncture, it would be inevitable for rumors to start flying.

After all, the year 2167 was an era where even the innocent feared their own shadow.

Song Lan believed that this was not a result of the robbers’ carelessness being caught on surveillance, but a clue deliberately left by the culprits.

"Alright, I got it, Old Sa, you guys go ahead and make a trip to Southeast Bank first."

After sending everyone out of his apartment, Song Lan sat on the sofa, hands propping his chin, deep in thought.

On the surface, this looked like a declaration of war against the judicial system of District 17, but in reality, it was targeted at him. He pondered over and over and felt that the only reason these criminals would target an ordinary citizen like him was because of the recent uproar over the war hero incident, making Engle and his team the most likely suspects for the bank robbery.

But like him, Engle also had a solid alibi.

At the time of the bank robbery, Engle had been seen on the shooting scene confronting Guan Lili.

And just when he was sunk in thought, the real deal knocked on their apartment door.

"Mr. Song Lan, I think we need to talk."

Engle didn’t seem to mind being overheard, his voice was so loud that it could be heard through the security door, "I know you’re home, Mr. Song Lan, I’ve heard about the robbery at Southeast Bank, and I hope you can give me 15 minutes to change your mind."

Why did every visitor know he was at home when they knocked on the door?

Song Lan, seeing that Engle had no intention of leaving, had no choice but to open the door for him.

Seeing him come out, Engle grinned, showing a full set of white teeth in a standard, insincere smile, then without asking handed over a greasy paper bag, "You have to try this; I even brought my culinary team this time. I heard there’s not even a single restaurant around here."

Song Lan glanced at the paper bag.

A burger.

The juicy patty released a strong aroma, revealing at first sniff that it wasn’t synthetic meat, but real beef.

Yeying obviously smelled the meat as well, her eyes fixated, and her gaze instantly turned towards the door like a spotlight.

Engle noticed Yeying too and maintained the fake smile on his face as he said, "This child must be the orphan you brought back from the battlefield, right? Is Director Lu not here?"

"Let’s talk outside."

Song Lan quietly placed the burger on the cabinet by the door, put on his shoes, walked out, and made sure to bring the door with him.

Engle hadn’t expected Song Lan to be so proactive; he had prepared countless reasons to persuade him.

"Okay, I was just thinking about taking a walk on the street anyway. Let’s go talk outside."

This conversation was very important for him, as well as his entire team.

No sooner had the two entered the elevator than Engle couldn’t wait to say, "I know Guan Lili has been speaking ill of me to you, but I hope you won’t be deceived by that woman."