With a part missing from the chimney, those people might guess everything!
If Li Hao had only been a student, he would have taken the stone and left the place as soon as possible. And if the people with the red shadow came back, they would be able to find out about the Zhang family’s saber. Li Hao would have been in big trouble.
‘What should I do?’ thought Li Hao. He couldn’t leave it like this. He couldn’t put the stone saber back either. Even if he placed it back and made it look like nothing had happened, they would find out anyway. The people with the red shadow were smart. They had been monitoring this place for a year. There was no way they couldn’t see something different about it.
Li Hao frowned. He could replace it with another stone! But still, it would raise doubts.
‘Should I destroy the chimney completely?’ he thought. ‘But that would be too much! I can find a similar stone, then destroy the chimney. Even if they rebuilt it, nothing will be missing!’
In his training, Li Hao had of course learnt the basic skill of making sure whether the evidence was genuine or not and how to destroy evidence. He had also learnt to recreate evidence.
Li Hao thought more about it. This house had been abandoned for many years. No one was around. He didn’t have to rush.
He let out a breath. It was good that he had found what he came here for. But Li Hao realized that he needed to trouble his professor again.
…
Li Hao walked out of the kitchen and dialed Professor Yuan’s number. His professor accepted the call very fast.
“Are you alright?” asked Professor Yuan.
“Hello, professor. I am fine,” said Li Hao, thankful for his concern. “Professor, I didn’t find anything significant in Zhang Yuan’s house but it seems that some people have been watching the place. His house had been ransacked. Somebody has been inside. Do you think it was the murderer?”
“What are you thinking?” said Professor Yuan.
“If the murderer was here, what were they looking for? Did they find it?” said Li Hao. “My words don’t have much weight. Could I trouble you to send people over from the Inspection Office? If they make a big commotion about it and maybe try to demolish a part of the house, the person responsible might be alerted by it and could be lured out.”
‘Demolish the house? Was there a need for that?’ wondered Professor Yuan. Zhang Yuan’s house might be already old and it was not a crime scene, so demolishing it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Professor Yuan wondered if Li Hao had actually discovered something. Did he really intend to lure out the murderer?
Li Hao was sure that the demolition of the house would attract the enemy’s attention. It didn’t matter. The more noise, the better. Even better if there was actually a mole at the Inspection Office.
He only needed to do one thing now: replace the saber stone with a similar looking stone. Even if the enemy restored everything later, they won’t be suspicious.
The people with the red shadow might guess that Li Hao had found some clues but they won’t know for sure whether he had found the stone.
That was what Li Hao wanted. He wanted to make them suspicious but still doubtful. That uncertainty would work in his favor and give him more time to blow up the case so that the Night Patrollers had no choice but to get involved.
‘The people with the red shadow themselves have been laying low because they don’t want the information to be public. I can do something opposite to that!’ thought Li Hao. ‘It would attract attention to myself but I want to cause the commotion to avenge my friend. Besides, the attention might help me finally get in contact with the Night Patrollers!’
Li Hao finally made his decision. He might be able to get in contact with the Night Patrollers, after all. He could offer the footprints outside the house as evidence to his superiors. It would cause a lot of commotion. But that was what he needed for now.
Professor Yuan asked a few questions to confirm if this was what he wanted. He trusted his student. He knew Li Hao was smart and he wouldn’t do something like this for no reason.
Since Li Hao seemed to know what he was doing, Professor Yuan decided to support him.