My chat group members are all legendary criminals.

Chapter 37 You're still a thief?

Lu Yiming was somewhat surprised. Why would someone who had lost something forge a fake and hide it?

"Mr. Rockefeller, why are you doing this?" he asked.

Belloc did not answer directly, but simply shook his head, seemingly unwilling to say more.

He took a cigar from his desk drawer and handed it to him.

"Officer Lu, if you're willing to help me find my lost item, I can grant you one request."

Lu Yiming didn't smoke and wanted to refuse, but then he saw the logo on the cigar—Cohiba Behike.

"Damn, this thing looks like it's worth several months of my salary!" He stuffed it into his clothes without batting an eye.

As for what Belloc doesn't want to say, there's no point in asking now.

"It's an honor to serve you." Lu Yiming's thought was that once this deal was closed, the villa would be his.

"But I hope you won't tell anyone about the burglary at my house, especially not your superiors at the police station," Bellock emphasized.

Lu Yiming nodded: "Of course. I'd like to see the scene of the theft."

Belloc nodded and led Lu Yiming, Mia, and the pale-faced Webber toward the upper floors of the manor's main building.

This is the owner's rest area, which is even more luxurious than the reception area.

They walked through a corridor adorned with classical oil paintings and arrived at Belloc's master suite.

The bedroom was spacious and luxurious. The group walked to a huge full-length dressing mirror.

Belloc stepped forward and pressed his finger firmly on a certain part of the carving on the side of the frame.

Click.

With a soft click, the entire dressing mirror slid to the side, revealing a hidden compartment embedded in the wall behind it.

Inside the hidden compartment was a small, black metal safe, about the size of a microwave oven. The door was ajar.

"That's where the item was lost," Belloc explained.

Lu Yiming was somewhat surprised.

It's not because there's a safe behind the wardrobe, it's because the safe is too small!

It doesn't fit Rockefeller's identity at all; it looks more like something an ordinary family would use to store cash and jewelry.

"This painting has special significance for me. It wasn't stored in the underground vault with the other collectibles; it's kept here separately," Belloc said.

"After discovering the theft, I gathered everyone in the entire manor to search it, and we searched the whole manor inside and out, but we found nothing."

Lu Yiming squatted down and began to examine.

The safe was empty, with no obvious signs of prying.

"Besides that painting, what else is in this safe?"

Bellok's eyes flickered. "There are also some gold bars, and... some personal items that are very important to me personally."

Some important personal items?

Lu Yiming's heart skipped a beat. He casually checked the inside of the trunk door and then closed the half-closed door.

He suspects that these personal belongings are the reason Bellock was unwilling to report the incident to the police and even forged the painting himself to cover it up.

Weber added, "The theft happened a week ago. All the security systems in the manor were deliberately powered off that day, so they didn't capture anything. The gentleman happened to be out, and the thief took the opportunity to sneak into the bedroom and open the safe."

Lu Yiming didn't speak, his fingers brushing across the surface of the safe.

This is a high-end electronic password and fingerprint dual authentication safe from a well-known brand, and it looks very high-tech.

He took a small piece of thin metal wire out of his pocket and played with it between his fingertips.

Weber saw through his intention and said disdainfully, "Officer Lu, this is the latest military-grade safe. It's drill-proof, explosion-proof, and technically resistant."

Without the password and the owner's fingerprint, it's impossible to open. I've already checked it; there are no signs of forced entry.

I believe it was an inside job. Someone must have seen the combination when Mr. Bellock opened the safe and managed to copy his fingerprints…”

He didn't finish his sentence.

Click.

With a crisp sound, the latch snapped back.

Lu Yiming appeared to simply poke the side of the keypad a few times with that thin metal wire and casually turn the knob a few times.

The heavy door of the safe popped open with a thud.

Weber: ? ? ?

Is this guy a cop or a thief?!

Belloc was also stunned, and slapped his forehead with a wry smile.

When I bought this box, the salesperson raved about how safe it was... and this is what it turned out to be?

Mia didn't think that far ahead and blurted out, "Lu Yiming! You're a thief too!"

Lu Yiming shrugged and pushed open the locker door: "Don't be too superstitious about so-called high technology. Many of these electronic locks have physical emergency interfaces to prevent the owner from forgetting the password or running out of battery. As long as you know the location and the tricks, sometimes they're easier to open than mechanical locks."

He casually made up a couple of sentences, leaving Belloc and Weber stunned.

In reality, the safe wasn't that bad; unfortunately, it encountered the lock-picking skills of the cunning thief, Jade.

"So, it might not necessarily have been someone from inside the manor who did it?" Mia pressed.

Lu Yiming shook his head: "We can't completely rule it out yet. But it at least shows that external thieves with professional lock-picking skills could also do it."

He previously speculated that it might be an "order-based" theft, with a notorious thief specifically targeting "Angeli's War".

But now it seems that not only were famous paintings stolen, but also gold.

Once a famous painting falls into the hands of a specific collector, it may very well disappear.

But gold is different; the purpose of stealing gold is to convert it into cash. This gave him a new direction for his investigation.

"Mr. Rockefeller, what did your lost gold bar look like?" Lu Yiming asked.

Belloc waved his hand, and soon a servant brought over a heavy gold brick, imprinted with:

【JPMorgan Chase & Co. Investment Gold Bar 10KG. 】

— JPMorgan Chase invested in 10 kilograms of gold bars.

Lu Yiming swallowed.

Good heavens! His own twenty gold bars only weighed one pound each.

This one piece is worth more than eleven of his! Is this the work of the Rockefeller family?

Belloc said gravely, “Just like this. But the gold isn’t the key; the key is the painting… and the other things.”

Lu Yiming understood.

The best way to sell stolen gold, especially investment gold bars with bank markings, is to remelt them on the black market and underground banks.

And coincidentally, he knew someone who had "close ties" with these channels.

Lu Yiming stood up. "I'll go investigate now and contact you again if I have any news."

"Me too! Take me with you!" Mia exclaimed excitedly as she ran after Lu Yiming.

Completely ignoring the surprised look her father gave her.

"Hey! Wait for me! I'm changing my clothes!" she shouted, and without waiting for Lu Yiming's reply, she rushed out of the bedroom.

Belloc was a little dumbfounded as he watched his daughter and the young policeman run away one after the other.

What exactly is the relationship between Mia and this guy?

"Sir," Weber interrupted his reverie, saying:

"If what's in the safe... is revealed, the consequences will be severe. Should we give them a heads-up beforehand?"

Belloc remained silent for a few seconds before slumping into his chair.

"If we can't find it, and those things are made public, they'll be finished too, not to mention protecting us."

"Besides, would they even know we have a copy of this?"