Chapter 7 The Case Breaks

  In the blink of an eye, 15 minutes had passed, and neither Zheng Hanfei nor Ouyang Xiuxiu had figured it out. Then, Dilo appeared on stage and performed a brilliant magic show for everyone, just as Linda had said. Although it was something they often saw on TV, seeing it performed by a young boy in person made it feel fresh and exciting, and the crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause. Even Zheng Hanfei couldn't help but join in, and he had to admit that Dilo's magical talent was exceptionally good.

  As the saying goes, seeing is believing and hearing is deceiving. It seems that Zheng Hanfei still understands this principle.

  "How much longer?" Ou Yang Xi asked while applauding.

  "There's still one minute, and if nothing unexpected happens, Uncle Sterling should be on stage." Zheng Hanfei glanced at the time, then looked towards the stage, where several staff members were moving large boxes, round tables and other performance props off the stage.

  As soon as the words fell, Sterling walked to the front of the stage with a smile on his face. Dilo and Katie stood on either side of him, also smiling, but Zheng Hanfei saw that when they saw Ouyang Xiou, there was a flash of panic in their eyes.

  Is it fear? Or is it... He glanced at Ouyang Xiuxiu, who shrugged helplessly, indicating that he didn't know what was going on either.

  "Heh heh, about time too. Let's bring out tonight's main attraction... 'Tears of Hope'." Sterling said, holding the mic.

  Clap! Clap! Clap! A round of applause erupted from below the stage.

  "Now, let's have our owner, my daughter, unveil the red cloth and show us the true face of 'Tears of Hope'." As he spoke, Sterling made a beckoning gesture to Katie beside him, his eyes fixed on the display stand, urging her to hurry up.

  Katie nodded and slowly walked towards the display rack, leaving a wonderful back view for everyone.

  "3!" Zheng Hanfei stared at the watch on his wrist, starting to count down, while Ouyang Xiu was staring intently at the display stand, ready to sprint at any moment, and would rush up as soon as something happened.

  “2！”

  Katie walked up to the display rack.

  “1！”

  Katie grasped the hem of the red cloth.

  “0！”

  Bang! Just as Katie lifted the red cloth, the lights in the venue suddenly went out, and instantly, the venue was plunged into darkness.

  "Oh no!" Zheng Hanfei and Ouyang Xiu exclaimed in unison, and the next moment, they rushed towards the stage at incredible speed. However, due to the dark scene, they bumped into many people, causing a wave of curses and shouts from behind, making the venue even more chaotic.

  "Defend the system!" At this time, Sterling's voice came from the darkness, and then Zheng Hanfei and Ouyang Xi saw a red glow appear in a certain place on the stage.

  Good job, I'll see how you steal! Zheng Hanfei shouted excitedly in his heart for a moment, the next moment, the alarm sound and the crisp breaking sound shattered his idea, disappointing all the people who knew the inside story.

  Beep beep! Bang! Splash!

  "Hurry up and guard the gem!" Zheng Hanfei shouted loudly, reminding Sterling, Dilo, and Katie who were still on stage. He then used all his strength to rush onto the stage, just as the lights in the venue lit up again.

  "This..." Zheng Hanfei's eyes narrowed slightly, the scene before him was in disarray. The red cloth that had been covering the display case lay on the ground, Katie sat panting heavily on the floor not far from the display case, a large hole had been smashed out of the bulletproof glass above, shards of glass were scattered all over the floor, an iron hammer lay beside the display case, and most importantly, "Tears of Hope" had vanished into thin air.

  "Everyone, please calm down!" Ouyang Xiu looked at the scene on stage and turned to shout to the crowd below, "An accident has occurred, we are very surprised, but please cooperate with us, stand still where you are for now, security guards at the entrance, lock all exits, prevent anyone from entering or leaving."

  "Still not doing what he said!" Looking at the motionless security guard, Sterling was furious and shouted.

  Upon hearing the manager's words, still filled with a tone of anger, all the security guards immediately sprang into action. The actions that originally would have taken a long time were shortened by half, leaving Ouyang Xiu in awe of Sterling's authority.

  "Master, are you alright?" Wang Bo rushed onto the stage and saw Zheng Hanfei's silent figure, a hint of worry crept into his voice as he spoke.

  Zheng Hanfei ignored Wang Bo, walked to Kitty's side, squatted down, grasped her collar with his hand, and stared at her with anger-filled eyes, shouting: "Tell me, where is the gemstone?"

  "What gem? I don't know?" Katie was apparently frightened by Zheng Hanfei's actions, and tears welled up in her eyes as she said weakly.

  "Don't pretend to be stupid with me! You're the most suspicious!" Zheng Hanfei continued to roar, apparently the theft of "Tears of Hope" had made him furious. This was not surprising, as he had previously guaranteed that it would not be stolen, but now it had been stolen, which made Zheng Hanfei's emotions unbearable.

  "Then search me!" Kitty also recovered from the shock, shouting at Zheng Hanfei: "There is no gemstone on my body! No evidence, don't slander me!"

  "You..."

  "Master, don't be impulsive!" Wang Bo intervened in time. "She's right, you have no evidence and can't wrongfully accuse someone. Calm down! Otherwise, you won't be able to find out who the real thief is!"

  "Your assistant is right!" Ouyang Xiu said on the side: "You're not suitable for reasoning now, calm down and investigate the scene. Don't forget, our bet is still valid, if you don't want to lose your reputation completely, try harder."

  After finishing speaking, Ouyang Xiuzi turned around and walked down from the stage to see if there were any suspicious people among the crowd below.

  "I'll definitely find it! Wang Bo, gloves, let's go!" Zheng Hanfei shouted at Katie, took a deep breath, released his hand, put on the gloves and walked towards the chaotic display stand.

  Ouyang Xiu, don't worry, I will definitely win the bet and won't let you down! Zheng Hanfei's face was filled with a determined smile, his confident smile reappeared on his face.

  ……

  "Old Wang! Do you think it was this iron hammer that did the deed?" Zheng Hanfei picked up the iron hammer that had fallen to the ground and asked.

  "Yes, in that case, a thief should not carry such a dangerous thing with him, otherwise it will affect his mobility and even expose his identity."

  "With this iron hammer......" Zheng Hanfei estimated the weight of the iron hammer, "To smash through bulletproof glass, a lot of force is needed, so one thing is certain, the other party's strength is very great!"

  "But, young master, if that's the case, then none of the people present could have committed the crime. The children and women wouldn't have had enough strength, and there were no large, muscular men at the scene either."

  "Ah." Zheng Hanfei nodded slightly, his brow furrowed. Could it be... that the person he suspected this time was wrong? Wasn't it Katie who committed the crime? But an outsider?

  Wait? What's that? Suddenly, Zheng Hanfei saw some strange stuff stuck to the bulletproof glass, its color similar to the fragments of the bulletproof glass, and he reached out his finger to touch a bit.

  "This is..." Zheng Hanfei first took a look, and found that this was actually **, he leaned forward to smell it, but there was no particular scent, then exclaimed in surprise, "Water droplet?"

  Wait! How can there be water droplets here? At this moment, Zheng Hanfei seemed to have grasped an important clue. After thinking for a while, he suddenly stood up and ran to the position of the red cloth. He unfolded the somewhat wrinkled red cloth and looked at it under the light. He found that in the center of the red cloth there was a **-shaped stain.

  Finally... I've found it! Zheng Hanfei smiled slightly. He finally understood the technique, which could make a non-muscular man, even a woman or child's forceful blow shatter bulletproof glass.

  Good grief! Zheng Hanfei slapped his forehead in frustration, not expecting that he had indeed been blinded by anger. He hadn't thought of such a simple truth, it seemed the saying "don't let emotions enter into reasoning" was absolutely right.

  "Young master, what have you found?" Wang Bo asked curiously.

  "A useful clue!" Zheng Hanfei laughed and said, "Right, Wang Bo, you go down the stage in a bit to help me ask some questions."

  "Alright. Oh yeah, young master..."

  "What's wrong?"

  "Ouyang Xiu just told me the result of the examination."

  "Oh? What's the result?"

  "There were no jewels on any of the people present, including Mr. Sterling, Master Darrow and Miss Katie."

  "What?! How is this possible?!"

  Moreover, Ouyang Xiuxiu was afraid of missing something, so he specially searched with several security guards in the hidden places in the venue, and not to mention the gemstone, no dust was found.

  How could this be? Zheng Hanfei's mind began to doubt again, if everyone didn't have the gemstone, then it can only be explained that an outsider committed the crime. Since it was an outsider who committed the crime, why use this method? Was it intentional induction or did that person not exist at all, just a thief's intentional induction.

  "By the way, Wang Bo, did Ouyang Xiuxiu say whether there were any suspicious people who escaped?"

  "No!" Wang Bo shook his head, "Ouyang Xiu said he dares to guarantee that absolutely no one will escape."

  "Hmm!" Zheng Hanfei nodded, since Ouyang Xiudare guaranteed that the thief was still in the venue, what he needed now was to find out who the thief was and where the gemstone had gone.