Chapter 435: Reconstruction

“That was quite a good show of manliness!” Xiao Rui slapped Qin Xuan on his back. Only then did Qin Xuan come to his senses. When they were working in previous cases, Qin Xuan did tell Xiao Rui that he was fearless. This looked like a prank played by the officer.

However, Xiao Rui’s target was actually Mo Li and not Qin Xuan. He wanted to see the girl flustered.

“Who said I was afraid? I assumed it was the power circuit that broke down. I knew nothing bad would happen.”

“Yes, the power circuit!” Mo Li had an epiphany as she turned to Qin Xuan. Qin Xuan’s excuse had provided Mo Li with an inspiration. She connected the power circuit to the case. What if the power short-circuited on the day of the crime?

She immediately discussed this possibility with Xiao Rui.

“That is an interesting hypothesis.” Xiao Rui dialed the number of the trace analyst.

Qin Xuan sat at the backseat and looked at the two workaholics. They would rather work than to sleep at night. Are these two robots?

When they arrived at the crime scene, it was already late midnight. There were officers posted at the crime scene. It looked like the bureau placed great importance on this case.

The officers on duty helped them open the door to Li Hui’s room. The trio entered and looked around. They couldn’t find the power circuit box.

“Perhaps the box is outside? That’s quite common for old buildings.” Qin Xuan suggested.

Then Mo Li said, “I found it.” The others followed Mo Li’s gaze and saw a small box above the cupboard in the living room. The box was stuck to the wall. It looked like a cover of something. Mo Li walked over and tapped on the box. It was hollow. She doubted it was used to hide anything valuable.

Xiao Rui nodded and removed the box with force. Behind it was the power circuit switch.

However, the interesting part was not the power switch but the blood on the switch. Since the blood was not on the outside box but was on the power switch, it meant that the killer had come up to switch off the power after committing the murder.

“This is a great find!” Qin Xuan exclaimed excitedly. “There is a fingerprint!”

Mo Li took out her evidence tape. She pulled a clean fingerprint from the switch. This was a crucial piece of evidence. It could help the investigation greatly. The unexpected gain made them feel quite happy and glad.

“Don’t go celebrating just yet. This means that we have to re-calibrate the killer’s timeline.”

Due to the new evidence, Qin Xuan’s blood boiled with excitement. He said, “The fingerprint is very fresh so it is left behind by the killer. This is key evidence. The lights were working fine when we first arrived at the crime scene so the power circuit was switched on. However, there is blood on the power switch. The killer must have flipped the switch before they left the crime scene. Why would they flip the switch on? The only explanation was they had flipped the switch off at some point. If they didn’t flip the switch back on, we would have found the situation suspicious.”

“That’s reasonable. Continue.” Xiao Rui nodded. The kid has gotten better learning under Mo Li.

With the approval from Xiao Rui, Qin Xuan became more confident. He cleared his throat, “Then the next step is to find out when the power was switched off. There is no reason to switch off the power after the victim is dead, I believe it was done before the murder was committed.

“In that case, there can only be two possibilities. 1, the circuit was broken and the killer was someone the victim called to repair the switch; 2, the power was switched off prior to the conflict between the victim and the killer.

“The electric fuses in the power box are covered in dust and the victim’s time of death was near midnight so possibility 2 is more likely.”

Mo Li looked at Qin Xuan who was mimicking her tone. She shook her head and chuckled.

They followed Qin Xuan to the door. He pointed at the bathroom near the front door. “If it is possibility 2, then perhaps the killer sneaked into Li Hui’s room, switched off the power circuit, and then stayed here. When Li Hui came back and found out the lights couldn’t be switched on, he would be confused and then move to check the power box.”

Qin Xuan asked Xiao Rui to conduct the crime scene reconstruction with him. The murderer rushed out of the bathroom to ambush Li Hui. Li Hui covered his head with his hand and when he tried to balance himself, he left the bloody palmprint on the wall.