You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

"Accidental death?"

Lin Chen paused slightly in his teacup, his eyes instantly sharpening.

The warm and ambiguous atmosphere that had been around the stone table vanished the moment Li Mingyu uttered those words, replaced by a cold and chilling atmosphere.

Ye Qingcheng's pretty face immediately darkened, and a queen-like, icy aura instantly emanated from her, making the surrounding temperature seem to drop several degrees.

"Explain yourself, what happened?"

The person who died was someone from her Ye Group, and a core executive who had just been entrusted with an important task: integrating the Xiao family's businesses. This could not possibly be a coincidence!

Li Mingyu felt a little suffocated by Ye Qingcheng's aura and quickly reported to his supervisor.

"The first victim was Wang Hai, the newly appointed CFO of the Ye Group, who was in charge of auditing the mess left by the Xiao family."

"He was found dead in the bathroom of his apartment around 10 p.m. last night."

"Police from the local precinct have investigated the scene. Their preliminary conclusion is that Wang Hai died of carbon monoxide poisoning while taking a shower because the aging gas water heater malfunctioned, causing a gas leak."

"The doors and windows at the scene were all locked from the inside, and there were no signs of any outsiders breaking in, so they have temporarily classified it as an accident."

"Accident?"

Su Qingge snorted coldly. As the head of the serious crime unit, she was far more sensitive to these two words than the average person.

"And the second one?"

"The second deceased was named Liu Feng, the legal director, who was in charge of handling the shady contracts of the Sky Dome Group."

"At 1 a.m. this morning, when he was driving out of the company's underground parking garage, the vehicle suddenly went out of control and crashed into a load-bearing pillar in the parking lot."

"The preliminary autopsy by the forensic pathologist indicates that the cause of death was sudden myocardial infarction."

Li Mingyu wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued.

"Liu Feng himself has a serious history of heart disease, and his usual emergency medication was found in the car. Therefore, the incident was classified as an accident."

One is in finance, and the other is in legal.

One held the Xiao family's money bag, the other held the shady secrets of the heavens.

On the same night, one person died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and the other died suddenly of a heart attack.

If this is an accident, then pigs can fly!

"Take me to the first scene."

Lin Chen stood up, downed his tea in one gulp, and the languid look on his face vanished, replaced by a cold indifference.

Su Qingge immediately stood up and briefly addressed Ye Qingcheng and Jiang Tingxue.

"Qingcheng, don't worry, wait for our news."

"Tingxue, go directly to the second crime scene and conduct a second autopsy."

Clear division of labor, swift and decisive action.

……

Half an hour later, in the Second Ring Road of Beijing, at the foot of a high-end apartment building called "Jindu Huafu".

The police cordon hadn't been removed yet, and several police officers from the district branch were smoking and chatting downstairs. When they saw Li Mingyu walking over with a man and a woman, the middle-aged police officer in the lead walked up to them with considerable dissatisfaction.

"Xiao Li, didn't we already say the scene investigation was complete? It was just an accident. Why did your city bureau send people here? Are you trying to steal the credit?"

Li Mingyu is now the deputy captain of the special operations team, a higher-ranking officer than him, but the other party is a seasoned veteran and speaks without any politeness.

"Captain Zhang, this is Advisor Lin, a specially appointed consultant for our municipal bureau."

Li Mingyu introduced in a deep voice.

The captain surnamed Zhang glanced at Lin Chen sideways, and seeing that he was dressed in casual clothes and looked too young, his contempt deepened.

"Consultant? Are the requirements for becoming a consultant really that low these days?"

He muttered something, and although his voice wasn't loud, everyone present could hear him clearly.

Lin Chen ignored him completely, walked straight through the cordon, and entered the apartment building.

Captain Zhang's face stiffened, feeling ignored. He was about to lash out when Su Qingge glared at him coldly.

When he saw Su Qingge's appearance and extraordinary temperament, his heart skipped a beat, and he swallowed back the words he was about to say.

The crime scene was on the 17th floor.

Upon entering, a faint smell of gas lingered.

The furnishings in the house were simple, but neatly arranged, showing that the owner was a meticulous person.

The local police were finishing up their work when they saw Lin Chen and his group enter, and they all looked at them with suspicion.

"Consultant Lin, the doors and windows are indeed locked from the inside. Our technical team has checked them, and there are no signs of the lock cylinders being pried open."

Li Mingyu pointed to the closed door and windows and said.

"Moreover, that water heater is indeed an old model from more than ten years ago, and the wiring is severely aged."

All the evidence points to an unfortunate accident.

Lin Chen remained silent, activating his [God-level Insight] and [God-level Trace Identification Technique].

In an instant, the whole world changed in his eyes.

The dust floating in the air, the barely visible scratches on the floor, the subtle color differences in the paint on the walls... everything seemed to be magnified countless times, turning into a massive stream of data that flooded into his brain.

In his mind, the entire crime scene seemed to rewind time, rapidly reconstructing the scene.

He saw a blurry, dark figure that had silently slipped into the room a few hours before the incident…

"A perfect accident?"

A cold, mocking smile curled at the corner of Lin Chen's lips.

"In this world, there are only cops who aren't smart enough, not perfect crimes."

His words made all the police officers from the district branch present look grim.

Captain Zhang couldn't help but retort.

"Young man, don't be so impulsive! We've been in criminal investigations for over a decade. Can't we tell the difference between an accident and murder? The doors and windows were locked from the inside. Does the murderer think they can fly or disappear?"

Lin Chen was too lazy to waste words with him and went straight into the small bathroom.

The bathroom was still filled with steam and the smell of gas, and the old water heater hung forlornly on the wall.

Lin Chen's gaze immediately locked onto the exhaust fan on the ceiling.

He moved a stool over, stepped onto it, and amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, activated his [God-Level Mechanical Mastery] and quickly disassembled the exhaust fan's casing.

"Look what this is."

Lin Chen stretched out his finger and pointed to a wiring interface of the exhaust fan motor.

Everyone crowded around to take a look and saw a small piece of translucent gelatinous substance that had melted but still left traces on the interface.

"This is...is it silicone sealant?"

Captain Zhang frowned.

"idiot."

Lin Chen cursed without any politeness.

"This is 'temperature-controlled flame-retardant adhesive,' a special industrial gel. It's solid at room temperature and has excellent insulation properties. But..."

Lin Chen's eyes turned cold.

"When the indoor temperature continues to rise and reaches a certain critical value, such as 40 degrees Celsius, it will melt rapidly and become a conductor, thus causing a short circuit."

All the police officers present gasped in shock!

They finally understood!

The killer had applied this substance to the exhaust fan wiring beforehand.

When the deceased Wang Hai started taking a shower, the bathroom became steamy and the temperature kept rising. Once it reached a critical point, the exhaust fan would stop working instantly due to a short circuit!

A closed, unventilated bathroom, plus an old water heater that is leaking gas.

This was a meticulously planned, unseen murder!

"But...but how do you explain the locked doors and windows?"

Captain Zhang's voice trembled slightly, and his gaze towards Lin Chen changed from disdain to terror.

Lin Chen jumped off the stool and walked to the bedroom window.

The window was locked from the inside with a latch, and it appeared to be secure.

But Lin Chen simply used tweezers to gently pry open the gap in the window's sliding track.

He pulled out a thread that was thinner than a strand of hair and almost completely transparent.

"Water-soluble line".

Lin Chen showed the silk threads to everyone.

"The killer used this wire to connect the window latch to a small piece of ice."

"After he left, he closed the window and placed the ice on the windowsill outside."

"As time goes by, the ice melts, the water line loses its tension, and the latch will fall down automatically under the influence of gravity, locking the window from the inside."

"The same principle applies to doors."

The entire room fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

All the police officers, including Captain Zhang, looked at Lin Chen as if he were a monster.

Within five minutes of entering the scene, they used two seemingly insignificant things to completely overturn the conclusions they had worked on all night.

This is no longer about solving a case.

This is a dimensional reduction attack!

A complete and utter intellectual defeat!