Chapter 154: The Surveillance Content

Chen Mo had, of course, already prepared his story for the police.

"He rang the doorbell and said he was my friend’s uncle, here to drop something off. But when I opened the door, he suddenly pulled out a knife and tried to stab me. Luckily, I was in the middle of some work and happened to be wearing cut-resistant safety gloves. That’s how I managed to wrestle the knife away and subdue him." Chen Mo succinctly described the key events, then pointed to the safety gloves he had just taken off and set aside.

"Your friend? Where is she?" the officer asked.

"She’s at an evening study session at school, not at home," Chen Mo replied.

Just then, the younger officer restraining Li Tie searched him and found a wallet containing his ID card.

The older officer glanced at the ID, then at Li Tie’s pained face, and confirmed his identity.

"Alright, we have a preliminary understanding of the situation. Li Tie, you are under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon and breaking and entering!" the older officer announced to Li Tie before signaling his partner to handcuff him.

Just as the police were about to take Li Tie away, the older officer seemed to remember something. He scanned the living room, and his gaze landed on a security camera in the corner. "You have a security camera installed?"

"Yes, for security," Chen Mo confirmed with a nod.

"Good. We’ll need to copy tonight’s surveillance footage as evidence," the officer said matter-of-factly. It was standard procedure.

Chen Mo already had a plan for this.

He put on a troubled expression and explained sincerely, "Officer, this camera is mainly for home security. It also captures a lot of my and my roommate’s daily life, which involves a lot of personal privacy.

How about this? I can immediately edit out the relevant clip, from when this man appeared to when you arrived. I’ll delete the unrelated parts before and after that involve our privacy, keeping only the crucial section where he knocks, enters, attacks, and I subdue him. I’ll make sure it’s clear and complete.

Then I can give you a copy of the edited video file right away. Or I can upload it directly to a cloud drive you specify. That way, the evidence remains valid, and our privacy is protected.

If needed, I can sign a declaration guaranteeing that the submitted video is the original, untampered key footage."

Chen Mo’s reasoning was sound, and his attitude was cooperative.

The older officer considered it. The situation at the scene was clear, the suspect was in custody, and the surveillance footage was just supplementary evidence. It wasn’t strictly necessary to obtain all the raw data on the spot.

He nodded. "Alright, we’ll do it your way. I’ll leave you an email address. Send the edited key video clip to the station as soon as you can. Remember, it must be the original footage. Don’t make any edits that would affect its authenticity! We will verify it."

"Understood. I guarantee it won’t be a problem. Thank you for your understanding, Officer." Chen Mo smiled and gave a small salute.

"Well now, that’s a pretty standard salute you’ve got there," the older officer remarked, a little surprised to see Chen Mo execute a textbook-perfect salute.

At the same time, he instantly recalled Chen Mo’s performance earlier.

The kid wasn’t very old, yet he had single-handedly subdued a knife-wielding assailant. The information he provided when calling the police was clean and concise, and he was able to explain the video editing issue with such clarity. His composure was almost too polished.

He gave Chen Mo a surprised look but didn’t dwell on it.

A crowd of onlookers had already gathered, all asking what had happened.

Seeing the crowd grow, the officers quickly shielded Li Tie’s face and pushed the groaning, protesting man into the patrol car before driving off.

The clamor outside faded away with the receding sirens.

Chen Mo closed the door and leaned his back against the cold wood. The room was instantly silent again, leaving only the sound of his own slightly heavy breathing.

The tension that had kept him on edge finally eased, and a wave of fatigue and suppressed emotions washed over him.

Combined with his illness, he now felt utterly exhausted.

But he still had work to do.

He went back to his room, turned on his computer, and pulled up the surveillance footage.

The footage showed that as soon as he knew Li Tie had arrived, he had deliberately gone to find and put on the gloves.

He obviously couldn’t let the police see that part. It would lead to unnecessary questions, which he didn’t need.

He trimmed the beginning and end of the recording, creating a single, continuous clip.

It started from the moment he opened the door, already wearing the gloves, and ran all the way through Li Tie’s entry and subsequent subdual.

After all, any signs of editing within that segment would be easily discovered by the police upon inspection.

It would be useless.

Back when he was a criminal detective, he had analyzed videos frame-by-frame and spotted flaws in spliced footage.

Trying to fool the police with clever editing was simply impossible.

After finishing the edit, Chen Mo watched it over again carefully.

He mainly wanted to assess the extent of his actions. If the police noticed his skills and asked about them, he needed to decide whether to explain, and if so, how.

He had to think it all through.

After all, he was the victim. Even if he displayed extraordinary combat prowess, the police had no right to pry into personal information unrelated to the case.

Chen Mo could answer if he wanted to, or refuse if he didn’t.

However, refusing to answer would attract unnecessary extra attention from the police.

It would be best if he could just bluff his way through it.

After he finished editing and sent the video to the email address the police had left, Chen Mo finally went to the sofa and collapsed onto it, too exhausted to move another inch.

He was sick, after all. The earlier adrenaline rush had numbed him, but now that things had quieted down, he could only feel his body growing heavier and more tired, his eyelids drooping...

「At the police station.」

An officer who received Chen Mo’s email opened the attached video. After watching it, he couldn’t help but exclaim, "Whoa, come take a look at this! This kid’s got some serious skills."

Meanwhile, the officers who had brought Li Tie back to the station were interrogating him about what had just happened.

But Li Tie was being tight-lipped, refusing to say a word.

Just as they were getting frustrated, news came from the evidence room: Chen Mo had sent the video.

The older officer who had spoken with Chen Mo immediately hurried over to the evidence room.

As soon as he walked in, he saw several people gathered around a computer, commenting on something.

"What are you all doing?"

"Old Liu, you’ve got to see this. It’s from that kid at the house you just responded to. He sent the surveillance footage. Damn, if you didn’t know better, you’d think you were watching an action movie."

Hearing this, Liu Xin stepped forward, his curiosity piqued, and looked at the screen.