CHAPTER 641: CHAPTER 616: FINGERPRINT

"You’re talking nonsense. If you don’t explain everything today, I promise you won’t leave this place. You are defaming us. In this sacred temple, you dare to spout such lies?"

The senior brother was furious.

With trembling fingers and eyes as sharp as daggers, he wished he could slowly cut Song Moting with a thousand cuts.

Fa Ming also pointed at Song Moting.

"Yes, if you don’t come clean today, you are not leaving this door."

"Everyone, don’t rush. Stand still. Let me explain. First, why do we say the theft is an inside job? This box obviously has a lock, and you’ve all seen it.

With so much money inside, how could it not be locked? You wouldn’t just display the box openly without securing it."

Fa Ming nodded, "Of course, we had to lock it. I bought the three locks, and upon returning, gave a key to the senior brother, one to the second brother, and one to the master. It was to prevent anyone from secretly opening the box and taking the money."

After saying this, everyone fell silent.

Could they not be silent?

Even they realized the problem. The box lid was already open, but the lock was intact, proving no one had forcibly broken it.

So who used a key to open the box? Only those who had a key could open it.

If it wasn’t someone among them, how could the box be opened?

Surely, the guests from outside couldn’t know about the box, let alone have the keys to all three locks. Even getting one would be improbable.

Getting all three? That’s utterly ridiculous.

"Wow, if we look at it this way, there really is an insider!"

The young man quickly shook off the monk gripping his wrist and stepped beside Song Moting.

He could finally turn things around; the pain in his wrist was excruciating earlier.

Being accused like this was a first in his life.

"But... but..."

Fa Ming wanted to say they didn’t do it, but found himself unconvincing.

"I sincerely thank you, otherwise I would have been wrongly accused. I accidentally walked into that room looking for a restroom, and never saw that damn box."

The young man thanked Song Moting, grasping his hand.

Others also couldn’t help glaring at the monk.

Treating everyone like fools and even aiding a thief to wrong an innocent person. If the young man were taken to the police, he couldn’t explain himself away.

If it accidentally turned into a wrongful conviction, wouldn’t that ruin a young man?

"I’ll reveal the mystery now. The money is still in the building, right on the roof beam of that room, bundled in a small package containing over twenty thousand yuan."

Song Moting’s words immediately made the senior brother’s face change.

"Senior Brother, why are you panicking?"

The senior brother tried to calm himself down.

"What are you talking about? I have no idea! Why would I panic? What is there to panic about? Even if money is found on the roof beams, it can’t prove it wasn’t the young man.

What if he stole it and then realized it was difficult to take it outside? So he hid it on the beam. How can it be proved that he didn’t steal it?"

The senior brother’s heart was pounding, never expecting someone would uncover his deeds.

But luckily, besides money, the package contained nothing that could prove the thief’s identity, even if discovered, what could it prove?

It couldn’t prove he did it.

He steadied his nerves a little.

Completely confident.

Song Moting smiled.

"Yes, don’t wrong my senior brother. My senior brother would never do that."

Fa Ming vigorously defended their senior brother.

"What’s happening? Isn’t someone supposed to call the police about a thief? Where’s the thief?"

At that moment, two police officers approached. Amid the uproar, someone had refunded the fee and already called the police. The station wasn’t far, just at the foot of the mountain.

"Officer, you’re just in time. A sum of over twenty thousand yuan got stolen here. We caught this young man, but he denies it. And this man not only revealed where the money was but insisted it was stolen by our temple’s monks.

We suspect it’s a classic case of a thief crying thief, and he might be in cahoots with the young man. After stealing, they hid the money on our roof beams and now want to blame us to clear their names. Please, you must help us."

The senior brother quickly explained as soon as he saw the police.

His explanation seemed logical and left no room for doubt. Even the onlookers were swayed, starting to believe it was indeed a case of thief crying thief.

"Sir, what’s going on here? How do you know the money is on the roof beams?"

The police officer, upon hearing this, regarded Song Moting with suspicion. After hearing the story, they too found many points of suspicion. How could Song Moting, an outsider, know where the money was?

How could anyone know the whereabouts if not involved?

"Officer, my name is Song Moting, a student at the Medical University. This time, I brought a child to visit here. To be honest, while strolling, we accidentally saw someone climb up the beam.

Then, the young man got caught, so I guessed that the person who climbed up must have hidden the money there."

Song Moting gave the senior brother a meaningful glance.

Senior brother flushed, "Maybe you’re the one crying thief. You said you saw someone climb, but can you prove who it was? It’s all your word. If you’re collaborating, nothing stops you from blaming others to clear yourselves."

"What you said actually makes sense. Everyone might suspect me. It’s simple; Officer, the thief should have thought of this before climbing.

The package likely wasn’t marked, and nothing in it could prove his identity. It’s unclear who stole the money, but the person who put it on the beam forgot one thing. The beam hadn’t been cleaned for years.

When placing the package, they left fingerprints in the dust. Officer, this is your field; with your technological expertise, identifying the fingerprints should be a breeze.

If he’s not a thief, why climb the beam to hide a package? Plus, new fingerprints are easily distinguished from old ones."

The senior brother’s complexion turned ashen.

He collapsed onto the floor.