Chapter 192 - 142: Making the Arrest! The Logic of Base Desires

Who was the person before them?

The manager of the wholesale market center, trembling with apprehension. The person in charge!

"Four hundred thousand?"

"And what’s the time frame?"

The middle-aged man looked tense. He wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead and forced a smile.

"Half a month ago. Within one month!"

Xu Huo said.

His purpose for finding Huang Song and the others had been achieved.

Four hundred thousand!

And no trace of the suspect transferring large sums of money at any luxury stores!

These were the two pieces of information he needed!

Xu Huo was a master thief, but not one who ran with the underworld.

Finding shops that fence stolen goods or tracing money transfers requires a veteran of the underworld—especially a well-known one like Huang Song.

Why?

Because besides being spent in regular stores, money can also be spent in the shadows.

For instance...

Gambling!

The killer might take the money to go gambling, to enjoy the thrill. It’s not that the police can’t investigate casinos, but it’s a huge hassle. For a case where every second counts, such an investigation would be far too slow.

On the other hand, bringing in an underworld veteran is a different story.

People like him have their own ways of paying tribute to the local powers, allowing them to quickly identify the major players in the area.

As it stood, the killer hadn’t spent a large amount of money, neither through legitimate channels nor illicit ones...

That meant Xu Huo could proceed with his plan.

"Okay, okay."

The manager hurried out, heading for the records office to pull the files, even though it was late.

Li Jianye glanced around.

This was one of the few wholesale centers in Linlan City.

You could find anything you wanted here. From steel and raw materials down to clothing and food, the only limit was your imagination—if you could think of it, they sold it!

The place was packed during the day, and even now, at 8:30 p.m., a considerable number of people were still around.

As for why Xu Huo had come here...

"Four hundred thousand? We can find a lead here?"

Li Jianye asked in a low voice.

"Captain Li, what do you think money is for?"

Instead of rushing to explain his reasoning, Xu Huo waited for the manager to leave. Then, looking at the captain, he began to gently guide him.

"Money... for spending?"

Li Jianye paused, his voice filled with doubt.

"That’s right. Money has only one purpose: to be spent!"

Xu Huo nodded.

Money has no other purpose. It’s meant to be spent. Of course, if you really wanted to, you could probably use it as toilet paper, I suppose.

But would the killer need four hundred thousand to wipe his ass?

So, we can assume he’s just going to spend it.

"He stole the money to spend it."

"And for a petty thief, easy money is never cherished. They tend to spend lavishly and extravagantly, blowing it all before they know it."

Xu Huo nodded, then shifted gears to talk about the typical traits of a petty thief.

In fact, it’s not just petty thieves. It’s true for any profession where you make easy money.

Take the minor internet celebrities from his past life, for example. The ones who got a taste of fame for a while had their spending habits warped by extravagance. It was very difficult for them to go back to a normal nine-to-five job.

So, in order to fund their lavish lifestyles, many would become escorts, flying all over the country to meet clients.

Or take the truly wealthy, for example.

Sports cars worth millions, bottles of wine worth hundreds of thousands—they don’t bat an eye.

And who are the most frugal?

Migrant workers, blue-collar laborers.

So, easy come, easy go. When you’re trying to spend a lot of money quickly, you usually have to buy expensive things. Otherwise, it’s impossible to get rid of it all.

It’s like going to a restaurant. You could order a thousand plates of smashed cucumber salad or one king crab—it might cost the same. In the first case, the chef would be so exhausted he’d want to murder you. In the second, the owner would just be grinning while he counts your money.

"A petty thief’s spending habits are subconsciously determined by the size of their score. They plan their life of indulgence accordingly."

"So, based on the amount he stole, we can make logical deductions about where he might go to spend it."

Xu Huo explained.

Anyone would love to spend four hundred thousand.

But in reality, given the killer’s circumstances, spending it all would be incredibly difficult.

First, he can’t buy luxury goods. Second, he can’t buy a house or a car. He can only spend it on day-to-day indulgences.

Basically, on food, drink, and entertainment.

Four hundred thousand in this day and age... was equivalent to at least a million in his past life.

How does one blow through a million in daily expenses in just half a month?

Frankly, if you went to the kind of high-end restaurants frequented by the nouveau riche, you could do it. A single meal could cost six to seven thousand, maybe even ten. At thirty thousand a day, you could burn through the million in about a month.

But the killer has half a month at most. Every thief knows that after a crime like this, even half a month on the run is pushing it!

On top of that, he still needs to find time for casing his next target and committing the murder.

So how could he possibly spend it all?

He can’t.

From the perspective of an ordinary person living an ordinary life, it’s impossible to spend that much.

"So the question comes back to the so-called ’smashed cucumber salad’ and ’king crab.’"

"What if... is it possible that even though the killer stole over four hundred thousand, he didn’t go for the ’king crab,’ but instead..."

Xu Huo paused, looked at Li Jianye, and spoke.

"He went for the so-called ’smashed cucumber salad’?"

"A single watch can cost a hundred thousand, but so can tens of thousands of plates of cucumber salad."

"We looked into the ’watch’—the luxury items—and found no record of him buying anything. That leaves only one other possibility."

What are the watch and the king crab? They’re luxury items!

The cucumber salad, however, represents cheap items—things a normal person wouldn’t even look at once they came into money.

Get money, enjoy a better life. That’s a normal person’s logic, their subconscious instinct.

The killer has money—four hundred thousand—but the police haven’t found a single trace of him upgrading his lifestyle...

That only leaves the cheap items.

"When all other options are eliminated, whatever remains, no matter how incredible, must be the only answer!"