Chapter 1364: Into the Sewers, and We’re Professionals
As usual, Selina listed out her observations. “There are a lot of residents here, but they all live in single-story buildings. The sewer entrance is on the edge. It won’t be easy to find eyewitnesses. Hm, those guys all come at night, and they all wear black. As long as they don’t smile, it’ll be hard for anyone to spot them.”
Luke rolled his eyes, but was unable to respond.
Robberies carried out at night were naturally helped by the cover of darkness.
They only needed to wear dark clothing and stand in the shadows at night, which was no less effective than Luke’s armor’s stealth function.
Selina looked around and frowned. “Many of the houses here are middle-class holiday homes. There might only be people here during the holidays, and there aren’t many homeless people around. There might be fewer witnesses than we expected.”
Luke nodded in agreement.
The homeless were an unavoidable phenomenon in major cities in the United States.
They wandered the streets during the day and gathered in makeshift camps at night.
There were many who didn’t sleep at night, and most of them liked to beg in a fixed location.
They were human 24-hour surveillance cameras, and might know something.
Providing information to various people was also a form of livelihood for homeless people.
For example, when strangers asked for directions, it didn’t have to be in exchange for money; they could give half a pack of cigarettes as a reward.
Detectives like Luke and Selina, on the other hand, were “fixed big clients.” They had eyes in many hot spots, and they spent 100 to 200 dollars every month on each informant.
Of course, Luke and Selina had the money for it.
John and the others were short of money themselves. They only gave money every now and then; usually, they just used their authority to give the patrol officers a call and tell them not to lay a hand on their informants, which could be considered settling the debt.
But in the end, nothing was more useful than money.
Money was definitely the most powerful in a metropolis like New York.
As Luke and Selina chatted, they reached the sewer. Selina slapped her forehead. “Fine, no wonder they chose to dump the bodies here.”
The sewer they were investigating was clearly connected to a sewage channel.
Nobody would build a house next to a sewer channel that stank, so there weren’t any houses in the area. Few people would come here.
With just one look at the sewer channel, Luke knew that this case might be real.
Even in a place with such a foul smell like this, the weeds here had been trampled enough times to create a trail from the main road along the sea to the sewer. Clearly, it wasn’t people just passing by.
Luke’s nose twitched as he eliminated as much of the stench as possible when he activated Sharp Nose.
There was no smell of bodies!
According to the core gang member, he had been drinking with another person, who had bragged about it; he himself had never personally dumped a body here.
When he asked the man later, the man claimed that he had just been spouting nonsense when he was drunk. However, this person had disappeared yesterday, presumably killed by Amanda.
Luke couldn’t do anything about that.
There were more than 20 gangs and over 200 mid-level executives. It was impossible for him to fully grasp all of their movements.
These guys also liked to use “indirectly acquired” new phones and frequently switched them out; it was very hard to pinpoint their locations.
After observing the sewer channel for a moment, they went back to the sewer.
Since Luke’s Sharp Nose didn’t detect anything, he could pretty much confirm that no bodies had been dumped here in the last two days.
However, when they split up to examine the area around the sewer, they uncovered minute clues.
Both of them were wearing special sunglasses that could scan the environment for Little Snail to construct a model.
To put it simply, it was a comprehensive map of the crime scene.
Footprints, a cigarette butt, a paper cup that had been blown here, and some packaging were put together to simulate a sequence of events with 60 to 70% accuracy.
Of course, this definitely included rubbish from passers-by who weren’t part of the body disposal team.
However, Little Snail could eliminate most clues using probability, and Luke and Selina could add or delete them based on their experience.
In this way, the A.I. program and experienced detectives were able to cooperate effectively.
This was also the reason why Luke and Selina went into the police department less and less.
Regular detectives relied on their stamina, brains, and experience, while Luke and Selina gave most of their work to the A.I. program that couldn’t be bought even if you had the money.
The difference was as big as the one between John McClane and Luke’s hairlines.
With this sort of high-tech equipment cheat, they finished their search operation quickly, and regrouped at the entrance to the sewer.
Selina gave Luke a questioning look.
Luke sighed. “Let’s go in. After all, it doesn’t make sense not to if we’re working the case.”
Selina: …But I don’t think we’re worse at field investigations than other detectives?
However, that was reality.
Habits were terrifying.
If they didn’t show they were putting in some effort, even on the surface, it would be very easy for other people to feel that something wasn’t right with the both of them.
It was a good thing that they usually wore work outfits or casual denim when they went to work. Occasionally, they would also wear combat outfits, so that they wouldn’t look too ugly even if they got dirty.
Luke and Selina put on dark gray gloves, opened the metal lattice which covered the sewer mouth, and went in.
As Selina had said earlier, some people were professionals when it came to going into sewers — for example, the two of them.
Standing in the sewer, Luke consciously restrained most of his Sharp Nose.
There was no helping it.
He hadn’t dared enter a place like this when he first acquired Sharp Nose — the smell would have made him pass out.
Luke’s Sharp Nose was now almost instinctual, but it still couldn’t overcome basic principles.
If he wanted a car to go fast, he had to step on the gas.
If he wanted to fully utilize Sharp Nose, he had to inhale more of the smell for analysis.
He didn’t want to pass out from the smell, so he could only do his best to look for clues in less smelly areas.
That was also why Luke had chosen the sewers as his and Selina’s escape route.
Even Sharp Nose was affected, let alone anyone else with a scent tracking ability who wanted to track them down.
He stood there for a few seconds and looked around. Selina stopped next to him and tapped his shoulder lightly.
This was one way they communicated while maintaining silence.
Luke reached out and gently tapped the back of her hand twice to indicate that he would be in the front and Selina would take up the rear as per their standard procedure.
At the same time, two mini drones flew out of his other hand and into the dark sewer.
Their sunglasses switched to night vision, and their feet barely made a sound as they swiftly and steadily made their way deeper into the sewer.