With his master-level insight, Li Xiang personally saw him make the move, and the wallet is now on him, so how could he be wrong?
So he started searching him, but after a long time, he didn't find anything.
"How is there nothing?" Li Xiang was shocked inside, clearly he saw it was his hand that moved, could it be...?
"Where's the evidence? Without evidence, how can you say I'm a thief?"
The pickpocket struggled to stand up, thoroughly positioning himself as a victim.
The passengers watching the commotion on the bus also started to doubt Li Xiang:
"Exactly, you say he stole the wallet, then where is the wallet?"
"Right, are you even a cop? We need to speak with evidence, also undercover cops show their badges, show us your police ID."
Li Xiang is an auxiliary police officer, so he didn't have a police ID.
Originally, he thought his master-level stealing skill would ensure catching the thief with evidence, and the pickpocket couldn't argue, thus taking him to the police station would be a natural course.
Unexpectedly, things went awry and something went wrong.
The wallet disappeared.
The girl's wallet was indeed stolen by him, but now it's not on him, so there's only one truth: the wallet was transferred when Li Xiang wasn't looking.
There's an accomplice on the bus.
"The lady's wallet was indeed stolen, and I indeed saw him steal it, but now the wallet has been transferred, it's on the bus, just two stops ahead and we'll arrive at Hongqiao Police Station, driver, please take the bus directly to the police station, then the truth will come out."
As soon as Li Xiang finished speaking, someone in the crowd immediately shouted: "I have urgent matters, I can't waste time with you here."
"Exactly, I have an appointment, people are waiting for me, if you want to go, then go, I'm getting off now."
One person's disagreement gradually turned into a large opposition, with people even shouting to get off the bus.
Seeing the passengers agitated, the girl who lost the wallet crouched down on the floor crying, clearly she hadn't been in such a situation before.
"Don't cry, I will surely help you find your wallet."
Taking the time to comfort the girl, Li Xiang desperately recalled everything that happened, surely some step went wrong, the pickpocket transferred the wallet at the first moment after stealing it.
And who was closest to him at that time?
Numerous scenes flashed in his mind, and one person's silhouette gradually came clear, Li Xiang swept his gaze over the crowd and quickly locked onto that person.
He was the first one to stir things up, leading to the agitated situation in the bus, he deserves a great deal of credit.
"Everyone, quiet down, let me say a few words, since no one wants to go to the police station, I won't force anyone,..."
The girl, hearing the police say not to let everyone go to the police station, immediately stood up: "What about my wallet? There's over a thousand bucks of cash inside."
"Don't worry, with me here, the wallet will definitely be found."
After soothingly saying this to the girl, Li Xiang continued speaking to everyone: "I've really seen him steal the wallet, the reason it's not on him now is because his accomplice is in the crowd, he transferred the wallet the instant he stole it."
"Huh? There's an accomplice?"
Li Xiang's words instantly made the passengers alert, quickly minding their valuables, looking at the people around them, seeing everyone as potential thieves.
An uncle with glasses curiously asked: "You say he has an accomplice, then who is this person?"
"Whoever has the wallet is the accomplice."
Someone curiously asked: "Then who has it?"
Everyone curiously looked at Li Xiang, wanting to know if he could really identify the thief.
Li Xiang scanned everyone's faces, observing their expressions.
There was curiosity, expectation, unease, tension, and indifference, but mostly a look of wanting to watch the drama unfold.
"Would you mind opening your bag and showing us?" Li Xiang pointed at the glasses guy, speaking with a hint of mockery.
At first, he thought the uncle was just a keen onlooker, but recalling everything that just happened, he finally realized when the pickpocket transferred the wallet.
Or rather, it wasn't the pickpocket who transferred it, but the glasses guy who, the moment the pickpocket was caught and pinned down by Li Xiang, stole the wallet from the pickpocket and into his own hands.
His stealing skill isn't much inferior to Li Xiang's, he too backtracked the process from the result, finally understanding the trick.
"Ridiculous, you want me to open, and I should just open? Why? You're slandering my character, what's your badge number? I'm going to file a complaint against you."
The wallet was indeed in his bag, so how could the glasses guy open it in public?
At this moment, he also felt a bit nervous, didn't expect this kid to actually guess it was on him.
Could it be that I stepped too far forward just now?
The glasses guy was still wondering if his performance earlier was too much, causing him to be targeted.
"Complaining is no issue, as long as you open your bag to prove your innocence, if I wronged you, I'll personally buy fruit and visit you to apologize publicly, how does that sound?"
"Not good, who cares about your apology, I have things to do, not playing with you, driver open the door, I'm getting off."
The more unwilling the glasses guy appeared, the more the other passengers grew suspicious, coming forward to stand at the moral high ground and started accusing:
"What are you afraid of if you haven't stolen anything, a check doesn't hurt."
"It wasn't a big deal, but your squirming looks suspicious, could it really be you who stole it?"
"Don't waste everyone's time, if needed, check mine first, I have nothing in my bag, clear conscience."
"Check mine too, everyone open their bags for the officer, there's no secrets in a check."
Seeing public opinion increasingly turn against him, the glasses guy knew it wasn't going to end well, gritting his teeth, he suddenly turned against the little boy beside him, grabbing him into a hug, somehow a sharp single-edged blade appeared in his hand, pressed against the boy's throat.
"Nobody move, if anyone moves, I'll slit him."
The sharp blade made a small cut on the boy's throat, a drop of blood emerged.
The little boy cried aloud in pain.
The scene instantly spiraled out of control, the boy's mother almost fainted in terror, fortunately, someone held her, she pleaded with the glasses guy: "He's just a child, don't hurt him, let me be your hostage."
And the other people on the bus dared not make any rash moves, in case the other party exerted a bit of force, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Open the door, I'm counting to three, one!"
The glasses guy was very clear-headed, in the bus, he would get caught, he needed to get off the bus, only then could he have a slim chance of escaping.
"Calm down, the crime of stealing a wallet is different from taking a hostage, it's not worth it, put the knife down, let's talk things through."
Li Xiang was also tense, having no time to care about the new task issued by the system, he was trying to work on the glasses guy's mindset.
He never thought a thief would escalate his crimes to hostage-taking.