After praising Shen Xin, Chen Chao's attitude softened considerably.
A smile even appeared on his usually tense face.
He led Shen Xin toward the station, asking as they walked, "Xiaoshen, let me quiz you. In Li Jin's case, what crime should he be charged with?"
Shen Xin thought back to the thick criminal law textbook from the police academy.
"Captain Chen, should he be charged as an accomplice to theft?"
Li Jin provided the tools for the crime, so he could definitely be considered an accomplice.
Chen Chao nodded, then asked if there were any other possible charges.
That stumped Shen Xin.
He racked his brains and managed to come up with something else.
"Article 285 of the Criminal Law: the crime of providing programs or tools for intruding into or illegally controlling computer information systems. Captain Chen, could he also be charged with that?"
Modern smart electric vehicles have their own dedicated systems, which would count as computer information systems.
Since Li Jin developed the cracking program, this charge should definitely apply.
"Not bad. It looks like you paid attention in your classes at the academy," Chen Chao praised him again.
He was starting to like Shen Xin more and more.
The fact that he could recite it off the top of his head proved that Shen Xin hadn't just skated by at the academy; he had genuinely studied hard.
He stopped again, took out a cigarette, and offered one to Shen Xin.
"I don't smoke."
Shen Xin quickly shook his head.
"Good," Chen Chao praised him again, lighting one for himself. Then he asked, "Xiaoshen, now that we've found Li Jin and brought him in, what do you think our next steps should be? How do we secure the evidence?"
This time, Shen Xin truly felt like Captain Chen was testing him.
He carefully reviewed the entire case in his mind. As he thought it over, Shen Xin's brow suddenly furrowed.
"Captain Chen, is this case going to be difficult to handle?"
"Look, Li Jin has strong counter-surveillance awareness. He used Wu Zhicun's personal information to register the QQ account, all communication was online, and the handover was in cash. A person that cautious... I doubt he'd deposit a large sum of cash directly into a bank."
Although 200,000 yuan isn't a huge amount, and you don't necessarily need to provide proof of income to deposit it, Li Jin is probably cautious enough not to risk the trouble.
"Then there's the fact that he and Fan Jie never met. As for the cracking system he developed, if I were him, I'd probably destroy it. If he did that, there'd be no direct evidence linking him to the software."
"Most importantly, I think he could pin all the criminal activity on Wu Zhicun. He could even..."
As he spoke, the thought came to him as naturally as water flowing into a channel. "Captain Chen, do you think Wu Zhicun might take the fall for Li Jin?"
When we left Wu Zhicun's home earlier, his reaction made it obvious he cares a lot about Li Jin.
A man who talks about retiring in prison and doesn't even fear death might really step up and take all the blame for Li Jin.
'Even thinking a step further...'
'Li Jin took the initiative to get on Wu Zhicun's good side, buying him an expensive phone and headphones, and then used his personal information. Maybe from the very beginning, his plan was to make Wu Zhicun the scapegoat.'
'He even exploited Wu Zhicun's desperation to find his grandson, making him hide Li Jin's information and forcing the police to help find the boy, all as a way to completely conceal himself.'
'Because he knew that after being missing for seven years, Wu Jiawang was impossible to find.'
'He might have been using Wu Zhicun from the very start.'
'And poor Wu Zhicun still thinks Li Jin is a good person.'
'If Wu Zhicun steps forward in the end to take the fall, allowing Li Jin to get away scot-free, then this Li Jin is truly on another level—a criminal genius, practically.'
As Shen Xin thought this, he looked up and saw Captain Chen staring at him with a stunned expression.
"Captain Chen, did I say something wrong?"
That gaze made Shen Xin's heart pound with uncertainty.
'It all seems very reasonable, though.'
Chen Chao snapped out of it, dropped his cigarette butt, and said, "Xiaoshen, it's a good thing that you have these ideas, but I get the feeling you might be overthinking it a bit."
He paused for a moment, then asked if Shen Xin was a big fan of crime and detective shows and movies.
"Yeah, I love them. Both domestic and foreign ones."
Shen Xin nodded.
How could someone who dreamed of being a criminal detective not love that kind of show?
"No wonder." Chen Chao looked as if he'd had an epiphany. "Xiaoshen, you can't take those shows seriously. They're all scripted. Especially the criminals, who are made to look so brilliant, with such sophisticated methods that no one can find any evidence."
"In reality, it's nothing like that at all."
Chen Chao, a heavy smoker, lit another cigarette for himself. "In all my years, I've handled hundreds of cases, big and small. To be honest, criminal suspects are just ordinary people, and ordinary people are nowhere near as smart as they are in the movies."
"This whole theory of yours, with the premeditated plan to use Wu Zhicun and have him take the fall... that's all a TV show plot. It almost never happens in real life."
"And Li Jin, don't think of him as being too smart, either."
At this, Chen Chao raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "I actually think he's a bit like you. He probably loves watching all sorts of crime shows, and after seeing enough of them, he thinks he can imitate their methods."
"He does have some counter-surveillance awareness, and it's caused us a lot of trouble, but reality is reality. Some things are nowhere near as simple as they are on TV."
"Take your idea about Wu Zhicun taking the fall for Li Jin."
"He's a blind old man in his sixties. Forget developing a high-tech cracking tool, he probably can't even turn on a computer. If he tried to take the blame, would he be treating us like idiots, or the judge?"
It dawned on Shen Xin.
His face instantly turned red.
It was true. He had gotten carried away. Just as Captain Chen said, he had subconsciously applied the tropes from TV shows to his thinking, when reality wasn't nearly that complicated.
"Xiaoshen, if you really want to be a criminal detective someday, it's good to have ideas, you should keep that. But honestly, you can't overthink things."
"The vast majority of criminals, and even victims, aren't as smart as you think. Let me tell you about a case I handled personally."
Chen Chao simply pulled Shen Xin to sit down with him and continued, "Back in '07, our bureau handled a rape case. The criminal tailed the victim and forced his way in as she was opening her door."
"The woman was quick, though. She ran into the bedroom and locked the door. The guy was outside kicking the door and trying to pick the lock, but he just couldn't get it open. And then, guess what happened?"
Shen Xin thought for a moment. Since Captain Chen was bringing this case up, there must be a twist.
"Did he pretend to leave, and then the woman thought he was gone and opened the door herself?"
Chen Chao shook his head. "Nope, you're still thinking the criminal is too smart. But, you're halfway right."
As he spoke, an absurd expression appeared on his own face. "The criminal got so frustrated he just started crying. A grown man, crying. Can you believe it?"
Shen Xin's eyes widened.
'A vicious criminal, crying out of frustration because he couldn't get through a door? For real?'
"What's even crazier is that he didn't just cry. He started talking to the victim through the door, telling her how miserable his life was—his wife left him, work sucked, just how pathetic he was."
"And guess what? The victim actually started to feel sorry for him and opened the door."
"And you'd think the criminal had a change of heart, right? Nope. He raped her."
"Seems unbelievable, doesn't it?"
Chen Chao asked rhetorically. "But that's reality for you. It's far more absurd than you can imagine. Believe it or not, this case will be wrapped up very soon."
Shen Xin agreed with Captain Chen's point of view, but when he recalled Li Jin's calm demeanor at the tech company, he still shook his head.
'I still feel like there's more to Li Jin than meets the eye.'