Fog City Detective

Chapter 13: Special Concealment

At the entrance of the apartment building, Liang Xi was negotiating with the security guard: "I am a detective from the Rose Detective Agency, my name is Liang Xi."

The security guard impatiently ushered him away, saying, "Go, go, go."

Liang Xi said, "I just received a commission from a client to find someone in this apartment building, which is about to be demolished."

The security guard, still impatient, retorted, "There's no one inside."

Liang Xi continued, "My client's brother suffers from intermittent mental illness, and based on the last phone call, there is reason to suspect that the client's brother is hiding in this apartment."

The security guard raised his voice, "I already told you, there's no one inside."

Liang Xi pulled out his phone, "I am currently at the entrance of the apartment building in the industrial area, the former Screw Company dormitory. The security guard insists that there is no one inside the apartment building. Is that correct, Mr. Security? Can I take your photo? Can you please tell me your name?"

The security guard asked, "What do you mean?"

Liang Xi replied, "After the building is demolished, if any human remains are found in the ruins, you may be charged with murder. Of course, I will also report the situation to the police."

Before the security guard could respond, another security guard intervened and said to Liang Xi, "Wait a moment, I'll make a call first."

After 20 seconds, the other security guard asked, "How long do you need?"

Liang Xi looked up at the 17-story apartment building and replied, "At most two hours." If they couldn't find anything within two hours, they wouldn't find it at all. Detectives don't rely on lucky probabilities.

The other security guard responded, "Okay, come out within two hours, or we will call the police and accuse you of trespassing and theft."

Liang Xi found the security guard's statement strange. Why would they call the police? They should be worried that he would call the police. When the police arrive, they would have to negotiate with them, call their supervisor, and ultimately search the building again. This is not how security guards think; security guards wouldn't consider these factors.

The security guards posing as demolition company personnel are most likely connected to what he's looking for. The fact that they can impersonate for at least two hours indicates that they have permission from the demolition company. Only official authorities can get such permission. Reverse inference suggests that these two are police, and the building is their bait; they are setting a trap to catch their prey. The person entering the apartment building to search for the item, or the item itself, is their target.

Excellent, this fully explains why the item is truly worth £50,000. As for seeing through the identity of the security guards, that information can be deleted from his mind. He is just a detective hired to find a missing item.

Entering the apartment building, Liang Xi took out his phone and re-read the information provided by the client. Floors 14 to 17 housed the residences of the screw factory's management and administrative staff, while floors 2 to 13 accommodated ordinary workers and lower-level management. Each floor had 12 rooms, with two workers sharing a room. On floors 14 to 17, each person had their own room.

Cai Wu's original residence was 1502, and she had two friends, one living in 702 and the other in 1702. In addition, the data included the names of the occupants of each room. Clearly, this was internal information from the screwing company.

It was certain that the client didn't fabricate much, especially in terms of details. Cai Wu was likely the person hiding something. Room 1502 had undoubtedly been thoroughly searched and found to be empty of the target item. It was impossible for the item to be in 1502. Secondly, for now, room 702 could be temporarily ruled out because two people shared it, and Cai Wu would likely be aware of what she was doing.

The current issue was that when Cai Wu hid the item, 70% of the employees had already moved out of the apartment building. It was possible that Cai Wu concealed the item among the belongings of the remaining 30%, or someone had already taken it away. While this possibility existed, it was beyond the scope of what the detective could recover.

The client didn't provide a clear background story, significantly reducing the likelihood of Liang Xi deducing the hiding place through background inference. Of course, if the client had provided all the details, Liang Xi might not have taken the case.

Liang Xi's strategy was to start with the most probable scenarios. Logically, 1702, being Cai Wu's friend, had a high probability of being the hiding place. However, Liang Xi's deduction was based on the premise that it had already been searched, so 1702 was not the most likely hiding place. Considering Cai Wu's convenience in retrieving the item while avoiding detection, the highest probability was that it was hidden in a room near 1502.

Rooms where people currently lived were not suitable for hiding items, so the highest probability was near 1502, specifically, rooms that had been vacated: 1503 and 1501. Next in line were 1506, 1507, and 1509.

Someone has searched and not found the target item, indicating that Cai Wu was prepared, showcasing her intelligence. How intelligent is Cai Wu? If she is just moderately intelligent, and the item is not in 03, it must be in 01. If Cai Wu is clever enough, the item won't be in any room, making it impossible to locate. Liang Xi can only rely on high probabilities, so he narrows down to rooms 01 and 03. If nothing is found in these two rooms, Liang Xi will decide whether to search for rooms 06, 07, and 09 based on the remaining time.

Theory of searching: When looking for something at home, if you search more than 50% of the area, the likelihood of finding the item drops below 20%. If you search over 80% of the area, the likelihood drops close to zero. Once you search more than 94% of the area, it's practically impossible to find the item.

With 17 floors, each having 12 rooms, all potentially hiding the target item, not to mention the time constraint of two hours, Liang Xi might not find it even in two days. Where is the limit to stopping the search? This is the question that the searcher must consider.

Although the probability of finding the item is not high, Liang Xi's cost is minimal. He brought along a second-hand tablet, a few storage card converters, and a flashlight.

...

Liang Xi began to climb the stairs. The building had long lost power, and as the sun set, the light dwindled. This wasn't an issue; the fading light wouldn't hinder Liang Xi's search. Thieves don't prefer daytime or well-lit environments for break-ins. The real challenge lay in the fifteen floors he had to navigate. Gasping for breath as he ascended to the 15th floor in one go, Liang Xi's eyes sparkled with fatigue, a consequence of his routine lack of exercise.

Pushing open the fire door revealed a long corridor, a characteristic feature of older constructions, a corridor extending from end to end. Compared to the corridor, room 1501 appeared cluttered, filled with various items discarded by its owner: shoes, clothes, socks, paintings, a treadmill, and more.

Liang Xi had coined his search method as "Special Concealment." Where would a rarely used but necessary item be placed? For example, the charger for an electric shaver. An electric shaver's charge could last for one to two months, and if the item were placed casually, it would create unnecessary disorder. Yet, the charger was an essential item, so the best choice was to stow it away, in a place not routinely visible but still findable.

Similar situations arose with some women, especially older women. They would engage in "Special Concealment" for valuable items, especially gold jewelry. Their imagination was remarkably rich, allowing them to hide things in seemingly impossible places.

Another common scenario was the hiding of personal savings.

Therefore, Liang Xi referred to this type of concealment as "Special Concealment." It's something you wouldn't see, and sometimes, you couldn't find it without resorting to extreme measures.

With time running short, Liang Xi switched on his flashlight and got to work.