Chapter 57: Doesn't Waiting by the Stump for a Hare Seem a Bit Foolish?

As expected, the case involving Yang Yuxuan and Qi Xiaojia caused a massive uproar online.

Recently, the once-sensational poisoning case had already been stirred back into the public eye, and with this new incident erupting right on top of it, the topic skyrocketed straight to the trending searches.

Fortunately, Qi Xiaojia came to no real harm. After a brief surge of public attention, the Nancheng Branch quickly released a statement detailing the course of events: Qi Xiaojia, suspecting that Yang Yuxuan was trying to steal her boyfriend, hired someone to assault Yang Yuxuan. Terrified of public scrutiny and unable to bring herself to call the police, Yang Yuxuan ultimately chose to retaliate by poisoning Qi Xiaojia.

Although many people sighed with emotion over the tragedy of the case, the fervor quickly subsided.

The internet is flooded with too many eye-catching spectacles every day, and the ripples that a straightforward case with a clear cause and effect can stir up are quite limited.

Over the past few days, Cen Lian and his team finally managed to gather information on all the swapped and stolen meteorites.

Inside the office, dozens of documents were piled up in front of Cen Lian.

"In just over a year, they managed to swap out that many meteorites, and all of them possess a certain research value," Wang Yuanteng said, holding documents in both hands with no space left to pick up his water cup.

"Judging by the timeline, the first meteorite went missing one month after Zhu Yao entered the industry. At that time, she acquired a stony-iron meteorite worth 190,000 yuan from Heilongjiang. Based on the previous owner's photographs, it bears a striking resemblance in shape to the swapped stony-iron meteorite." Yuan Chenxi was pinning photographs onto the whiteboard.

Although she had already prepared a PowerPoint presentation, she had probably been watching too many TV dramas lately and decided that pinning them to a whiteboard felt more atmospheric, so she simply went ahead and printed out the photos.

It was definitely not because their office had just been equipped with a color printer capable of printing photographs directly.

Looking at the photos on the whiteboard, Cen Lian realized that the person orchestrating these swaps must have kept an eye out for specific meteorites and then sent Zhu Yao to the market to purchase similarly shaped specimens from private collectors to use as replacements.

Zhu Yao had no criminal record whatsoever, which meant she was unaware of what the other party was doing and had not participated in swapping the meteorites; she had simply carried out the acquisitions.

"Check all of Zhu Yao's contacts, as well as the surveillance footage, courier logs, and errand-running records from the days following her meteorite acquisitions." Cen Lian refused to believe that the person trading with Zhu Yao could completely conceal their identity.

Qi Yian looked at the photos for a moment, then turned to his phone.

"The seven previously filed meteorite theft cases have now been consolidated with ours. The local police forces conducted some preliminary investigations, but there isn't much evidence," Qi Yian said, looking up. "Some of the relevant case files are already on their way, but the two cases from Heilongjiang can't be sent over for now; heavy snow has blocked the roads."

This was a very realistic problem. Yunling Province was also expecting snow soon, and many matters would have to be put on hold.

"For this case, let's investigate as much as we can before the New Year. Our opponents are deeply hidden and won't show their flaws so easily." After reviewing the investigative reports of the other cases at the time, Cen Lian felt that it would likely be difficult to find any solid evidence.

This gang was extremely professional. Although those previous cases were classified merely as thefts, the stolen objects were meteorites of immense research value, so the local police had treated them with the utmost seriousness. It could be said that they hadn't missed the golden window for investigation during the process, yet they still had nothing to go on.

The police had reviewed vast amounts of surveillance footage and even screened everyone who could have possibly come into contact with the meteorites, but they never found the missing specimens.

"I actually have an idea," Yuan Chenxi said, standing in front of the whiteboard after a long silence. "Since Captain Cen's intuition is so strong, why don't we try waiting by the stump for the hare."

Cen Lian waited for Yuan Chenxi to continue.

"Look, all the previously stolen meteorites had a relatively high research value. I remember that Lingxi University currently has a meteorite with very high research value; it might just become their next target." Yuan Chenxi pointed at the photo of Lingxi University. "Do you think they might be interested in this one too?"

"The one currently undergoing research at Lingxi University is a witnessed fall meteorite, and it contains rare earth elements. I suspect it's very likely their target," Cen Lian mused for a moment. "From what we know so far, the meteorites Zhu Yao previously acquired fall into two categories: one consists of those similar in shape and structure to the stolen meteorites, while the other comprises those with high research value containing rare earth or unknown components. This meteorite certainly fits their criteria."

Yuan Chenxi grew excited; this path genuinely seemed viable.

Wang Yuanteng reminded Cen Lian, "Perhaps they just haven't found a meteorite of a suitable shape to use as a swap, which is why they haven't made a move yet."

The security at the Lingxi University meteorite exhibition room could hardly be described as rigorous, probably because ordinary thieves simply couldn't fathom the monetary value of such niche collectibles.

"I'll look around." Cen Lian did have some personal connections for meteorite collection, but finding a suitable match would still take some time.

Wang Yuanteng did not expect the case to be solved immediately; everything they were doing right now was merely preliminary investigation.

After the New Year's Day holiday ended—during which reinforcements were deployed to maintain security at popular tourist spots—Cen Lian simply gave everyone two days off. It wasn't that their precinct was actually idle to that extent, but the municipal bureau had sent him a message via Wu Qiushan, notifying him that an old, unsolved cold case was slated to be handed over to them, and they should adjust their state of mind and prepare in advance.

The subtext was that this case would be exceptionally complex and difficult.

Considering that they might need to pull all-nighters later on, Cen Lian chose to go home and sleep for two days first.

Lin Xiangqi watched from the forensic office as the others left to rest for the holidays, shaking her head helplessly.

Injury assessments spiked right before the New Year, and she would consider herself lucky if she could get off work on time during this period.

When Cen Lian arrived home, he noticed an exceptionally large box sitting in his room.

"Mom, what is this?" he asked, assuming it was some New Year goods purchased for the family.

Lian Ya poked her head out from the kitchen and called out, "That's something your dad bought for you. Open it up and you'll see."

Puzzled, Cen Lian opened the delivery box and discovered inside it the exact astronomical telescope he had been saving up to buy for a long time.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the telescope in silence for a long while.

So when his old man sat in front of his window late into the night that day, was that what he had been thinking about?

No wonder when he mentioned coming home today, his dad suddenly rushed off to a gathering with his old war buddies.

He probably didn't know what to say to him face-to-face.

Cen Lian smiled, set to work assembling the telescope, and took a picture to post on his Moments.

The caption read: *A New Year's gift from the old man.*

Less than five minutes later, he saw that someone had liked the post—an aging father whose nickname was *Jianjun*.

After a moment of thought, he sent a WeChat message over.

"Rest assured, your son really didn't encounter any life-threatening danger while earning merits and awards."

For a long time, Cen Jianjun did not reply.

Cen Lian put down his phone, deciding to take advantage of tonight's clear weather to look at the stars; at least he shouldn't let such a fine telescope go to waste.