Chapter 105: Warehouse Theft
Chapter 105: Warehouse Theft
Early the next morning, at the entrance of the warehouse, Xu Qingnan stood with an ugly expression on his face, his emotions a mix of anger and frustration.
The warehouse had been robbed!
Xiaowu had discovered the issue when he arrived early in the morning to transport goods. Without hesitation, he immediately reported the situation to Xu Qingnan.
Realizing the severity of the situation, Xu Qingnan rushed over from the store to assess the damage and sent someone to inform Li Yi.
After a thorough inventory check, they confirmed that nothing was missing except for one item— a television.
Xu Qingnan was now in a state of panic. That television alone was worth thousands of yuan!
The home appliance experience store hadn't even opened yet, and something like this had already happened. How was he supposed to handle this?
When Li Yi received the news, he was momentarily surprised but remained calm.
It was just a television. A loss of a thousand yuan wasn't a significant financial setback for him at this point. He could afford it.
What truly surprised Li Yi was that someone had actually dared to steal from him!
Upon arriving at the warehouse, he found Xu Qingnan sitting on the steps at the entrance, looking utterly defeated.
For a moment, Li Yi grew concerned. Was something else wrong with him?
"Sister, are you really this upset over a stolen TV?" he asked.
Seeing Li Yi, Xu Qingnan quickly wiped the corners of his eyes, trying to hide his emotions. He then said regretfully, "That was the one you brought back from Yanbei City… I should have replaced the lock with a better one yesterday!"
Li Yi sighed helplessly. So this was why he was upset.
Kneeling down in front of him, Li Yi reached out and gently pinched Xu Qingnan's cheek with a smile. "Sister, it's just a television. The store hasn't even opened yet. We have plenty of time to recover from this."
"Trust me, it's only a matter of time before we catch this thief!"
Hearing Li Yi's reassurance, Xu Qingnan's mood visibly improved. After a brief moment of contemplation, he asked in a low voice, "Do you really think we can get it back?"
"Of course!" Li Yi responded confidently.
"But right now, we have no clues except for some footprints…" Xu Qingnan hesitated.
Li Yi shrugged and smiled. "Don't worry about that. Just leave everything to me!"
After reassuring Xu Qingnan, Li Yi turned to face the warehouse, his expression darkening.
Xu Qingnan was right— the only clue they had was the footprints left behind.
Judging by the timeline, the thief had likely broken in during the early hours of the morning— possibly not long after they had left.
However, something didn't add up. The thief could have stolen more valuable items. There was even a small stash of cash in the adjacent office, yet they had ignored it entirely.
Instead, they went through all this trouble just to take a heavy television?
Li Yi frowned. This was puzzling.
At this point, he had two choices:
1. Report it to the police.
Given Li Yi's close ties with Public Security Bureau Director Li Wenshan, finding the culprit wouldn't be difficult. Li Wenshan would undoubtedly provide full support.
2. Handle it privately.
Li Yi worried that the thief might be someone he knew. If that were the case, reporting them to the police would put him in an awkward position.
After weighing his options, he decided to investigate first.
He began examining the warehouse grounds carefully.
Soon, a series of footprints caught his attention.
Li Yi squatted down to get a closer look. Something was off.
The footprints were strangely small— a size 39 at most.
Could the thief be a woman?
Yet, judging from the depth of the prints, the person seemed to be carrying a lot of weight.
Li Yi wasn't a detective, but he had a friend who was.
Back in his previous life, he had once asked his police officer friend whether it was possible to determine a person's gender, height, and weight just from their footprints.
His friend had explained that while it wasn't an exact science, footprints could indeed provide valuable clues.
For example, someone weighing over 200 pounds wouldn't have extremely small feet— that would be biologically inconsistent.
Recalling that conversation, Li Yi compared the footprints before him with his own.
Standing up, he stepped beside the tracks, deliberately leaving his own footprint next to them. Then he squatted down again for another comparison.
Weizi and the others, who had been watching Li Yi, were confused.
"What is he doing?" Weizi whispered.
Li Yi made a startling discovery.
He weighed around 140 pounds and stood nearly 1.8 meters tall. His footprints were deep, as expected.
However, the size 39 footprints next to his were even deeper.
This meant that the person who left them was significantly heavier than him.
No matter how naive one was, this was an obvious red flag.
The thief had been clever enough to wear smaller shoes to mislead them.
But while shoe size could be faked, weight could not!
Li Yi concluded that the thief was definitely taller than him and, despite the small shoe size, was undoubtedly a man.
Weizi, who had been watching closely, suddenly caught on.
"Brother Yi, you're a genius!" he exclaimed.
"But… how do you know these footprints belong to the thief?" Weizi asked, stretching his foot over the prints for comparison. His shoe was clearly larger.
Li Yi rolled his eyes and lightly smacked Weizi on the head.
"Of course, these are the thief's footprints. But they're fake!" he explained.
At this, Da Chu and Xiaowu, who had been listening, were even more confused.
"If the thief left them, how can they be fake?"
Li Yi chuckled.
"Listen, this person is an outsider. He doesn't know how our warehouse operates. He had no idea that we kept cash in the store's desk drawer."
"He must have seen our delivery truck arriving during the day and watched us unloading appliances."
"Stealing something during broad daylight with so many people around would be too risky. So he waited until nightfall."
Xiaowu, Weizi, Da Chu, and even Xu Qingnan nodded as they processed Li Yi's reasoning.
His words made sense. But who was this person?
Li Yi smiled and continued, "This person went through all this effort just to steal a single television. The loss is only about a thousand yuan. I doubt he'll risk coming back."
"If he realized we haven't called the police, he might assume we're being cautious and won't attempt another theft."
"A thousand yuan isn't a huge deal. We have more than that in cash right now. Once our home appliance experience store opens, we'll make far more. Let's just let this one go."
"Alright, enough dwelling on it. Get back to work. We still have drivers waiting for deliveries!" Li Yi clapped his hands, signaling everyone to resume their tasks.
Xiaowu and the others exchanged looks before reluctantly nodding.
It felt like they were letting the thief off too easily, but at the same time, they couldn't afford to let this incident delay the store's opening.
As they dispersed, Li Yi's expression turned serious.
What he had just said was actually a setup.
Now, he just needed to see if anyone took the bait.
Just as Xiaowu and the others disappeared down the street, Xu Qingnan's voice came from behind.
"If you're really not calling the police, then… what about the TV?"
Li Yi smiled.
"Sister, I told you, leave it to me."
"I'll find the real thief."
Seeing his confidence, Xu Qingnan could only nod and trust him.
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End of Chapter 105