With this mindset, Xia Sanghuan clenched her fists and vowed to retrieve the documents. She would never give anyone a chance to covet the Black Bone Spiritual Treasure.
"Professor, I understand everything you've said. But if we rashly tell the Second... Young Master Leng about this, it might only cause more commotion," she said.
"So I think we should first investigate the scene and the surveillance. After we have more definite clues, we can then take the next step."
Professor He pondered for a moment and nodded.
"You're right. I was too impulsive before. I couldn't control my emotions for a while."
Seeing that she had finally managed to calm him down, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Professor, if I remember correctly, there should be instruments in the laboratory that can analyze DNA and extract fingerprints, right?"
"Yes, but they've been kept in the cabinet. It might take a little time to get them up and running again."
"Okay, then I'll leave it to you to start the instruments, Professor. I'll first examine the scene to see if the culprit left any evidence behind."
Having said that, the two of them began to act separately.
Professor He took the instruments out of the cabinet, placed them one by one, and then went to start the fingerprint extraction device.
In this era when fingerprint locks are everywhere, analyzing fingerprints and DNA is actually a matter of minutes.
But the difficult part now is that the person whose fingerprints need to be analyzed is not at the scene. They need to first extract the fingerprints from the doorknob or other places before they can proceed to the next step.
As Xia Sanghuan had expected, the person who came to steal the documents was extremely careful. Not only was there not a single hair strand, but there wasn't even a footprint left.
"Professor, call the tutor again," she said.
"What's wrong?"
"I have some details I want to ask him about."
Professor He followed her suggestion and called Tutor Xu again.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Tutor. I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Is that okay?" Xia Sanghuan asked straightforwardly.
"Ah, sure. Go ahead." The tutor on the other end was a bit stunned but quickly reacted.
"May I ask if when you cleaned the laboratory this noon, the documents of Professor He and I were still on the table?"
"Yes, I didn't touch them at all."
"Okay, then my second question. Did you lock the laboratory door before you left?"
Tutor Xu recalled for a moment and replied affirmatively, "Yes, I locked it. I even checked it twice."
"Okay, thank you. I'm sorry to bother you."
Just before hanging up the phone, Tutor Xu hesitated for a moment and said, "Professor, if the documents are really lost, you should report it to the teaching office and the security department as soon as possible."
Xia Sanghuan sighed. Reporting to the teaching office and the security department would definitely be the quickest way.
But who could guarantee that the data of the Black Bone Spiritual Treasure wouldn't be exposed during the school's investigation?
It should be said that in order to find the documents as soon as possible, the school would only search extensively within the school and spread the news, involving all the teachers and students in the school.
The risk of doing so was simply too great. They couldn't afford it.
But in order not to arouse Tutor Xu's suspicion, she had no choice but to agree.
"Okay, if we really can't find them, we'll report it."
After hanging up the phone, she immediately threw herself back into the pursuit of clues.
Since Tutor Xu had said so, the documents must have been stolen after he finished cleaning.
But as far as they knew, there were only three keys that could open this laboratory.
And these three keys were in the hands of Professor He, herself, and Tutor Xu respectively.
Thinking of this, she walked to the door and carefully examined the keyhole.
There were no signs of the keyhole being pried open violently, and there was no damage around the doorknob.
Either the other person's lock - picking skills were so good that they wouldn't damage the lock, or they simply used a key to open it.
But the lunch break was only an hour long, and Tutor Xu usually took about forty to forty - five minutes to clean.
Even if they calculated according to the most generous time, the other person only had twenty minutes to pick the lock.
As far as she knew, lock - picking wasn't an easy task. Even the most top - notch lock - picking experts needed a series of complex tools to pick a lock without damaging the keyhole, and it would take a while.
Not to mention that the Ferneus Academy had equipped the doors of each laboratory with excellent locks, and this door had received further improvements with the sponsorship from the Leng family.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.
Back then, Second Brother had asked if they needed to add two more locks, one for fingerprint scanning and one for eye - scanning.
At that time, she had thought it was too troublesome and had refused.
Now that she thought about it, she really had been too naive.
But things had already come to this, and it was no use regretting. She could only do her best to find the person who stole the documents.
At this time, Professor He inside the room shouted, "The instruments are all ready!"
She quickly ran back into the room, picked up the instrument, and came to the doorknob.
Under Professor He's guidance, she scanned the doorknob with the instrument and then wiped the doorknob with a special fiber dipped in alcohol.
Using two methods to identify DNA could also reduce errors.
Under the expectant gazes of the two of them, the DNA analyzer slowly started to operate.
Fortunately, the DNA analysis didn't take long. In less than an hour, the analysis results of the DNA appeared on the instrument's screen.
During this period, Xia Sanghuan and Professor He checked the entire laboratory inside and out again to see if they could find any new clues.
Unfortunately, they found nothing.
Just when the two of them pinned their hopes on the DNA analyzer, the instrument's screen clearly showed that there were only the fingerprints of herself, Professor He, and Tutor Xu on the doorknob.
How could this be?
She stared at the result on the screen and was in a daze for a moment.
"It seems that the other side is very cautious. They wore gloves and shoe covers throughout the process of stealing the documents," Professor He analyzed while looking at the instrument.
"But how did they get in?"
"Although this lock isn't the most sophisticated in the world, it's definitely not something that an ordinary person can pry open easily."
The crime scene with no traces left, the undamaged lock, and the stolen documents.
All this evidence seemed to point to one person.
Tutor Xu.
Xia Sanghuan and Professor He glanced at each other and instantly understood that they were thinking the same thing.
"But it shouldn't be. If it was the tutor who stole them, why is he so eager to let the school know?"
"And he even reminded us to report it several times."
She murmured to herself, unable to figure out the reason.
But what if he had a trump card to avoid being discovered?
Thinking of this, she was so scared that cold sweat broke out on her back.
Judging from the current situation, it was indeed only Tutor Xu who could have stolen the documents of herself and the professor from the laboratory and then taken advantage of the chaos caused by the loss of the documents to transfer them to another place.
Once the documents flowed into the market from inside the school, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if they wanted to find them again.