The next day, Sunday, 9:30 AM, FBI Washington Headquarters, Investigation Team 13's office area.

Reesi sat at her workstation, organizing documents and briefing the other agents on last night's operation.

Hearing how Luo An calmly went up to open the travel bag, Winslow and Chenier looked on in admiration, while Michelle and Mona were very nervous.

"Everyone, this month's salaries and the bonuses for solving the case have been issued. Check your accounts to see if there are any discrepancies."

Just then, Luo An walked out of the team leader's office, waving his cellphone with a smile:

"Overtime pay for these past few days has also been sent out."

"Wow!"

"That's awesome!"

"We love you, Luo An!"

Winslow and others exchanged glances and took out their phones, loudly thanking and praising Luo An, while Mona didn't pay much attention to this. She stood up and walked over to Luo An, asking quietly:

"What was the deal with that bomb yesterday?"

"Don't worry, I had it under control."

Knowing Mona was concerned for him, Luo An gave a smile and explained:

"Before the operation began, I had already noticed the bag in Ham Mark's hand.

From the moment he got out of the car to looking for a cigarette, the whole process was very natural. Although he was always carrying the travel bag, he did not seem particularly concerned about it.

If there were a bomb inside the travel bag, he would have been very focused on it, it wouldn't have been that casual..."

Besides this reason, from the moment Luo An arrived at the station, he had activated his "emotional perception" in his mind.

If there truly were a bomb inside the travel bag, the "emotional perception" would have given off frantic warnings, but everything was normal yesterday. Luo An deduced from this that Ham Mark was just bluffing, trying to use the lie of a bomb to force Luo An to let him go.

However, this reason was not convenient to explain, so Luo An only mentioned his observations and logical deductions before the act.

Mona immediately breathed a sigh of relief; nearby, Winslow, Chenier, and the others who heard Luo An's explanation all looked at him with admiration and gave him the thumbs-up.

Once all the agents had confirmed that there were no errors with their salaries and bonuses, Luo An steered the conversation to the main topic, commanding:

"Reesi, Winslow, bring Ham Mark to the interrogation room.

Chenier, get ready, you'll join me for the interrogation."

"OK!"

"No problem!"

The agents, energized by their salaries and bonuses, responded loudly and readily accepted the orders.

Before long, Ham Mark was brought into the interrogation room, and Luo An and Chenier sat down with their notebooks across the interrogation table.

"Ham Mark, 49 years old, Caucasian, male, has a pending sexual assault case..."

Luo An briefly introduced Ham Mark's identity, then picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip, asking:

"Anything wrong?"

"No."

Ham Mark shook his head, licked his dry lips, and asked:

"Can I have a cup of coffee?"

"Of course."

Luo An smiled, didn't refuse the small request, and went out to pour him a cup of coffee.

Seeing Ham Mark gulp down the cup of coffee, Luo An picked up the coffee pot, filled it up again, and asked with a smile:

"You should know why we're holding you, right."

"I do, I've seen the explosion on the news."

Ham Mark smacked his lips, looked up at Luo An with a serious face, and said:

"But I really don't know what happened!

I didn't make that bomb; I'm just a courier!"

Chenier frowned slightly:

"Then why did you run?"

Ham Mark shifted his gaze to Chenier and retorted:

"The delivery I made exploded! It killed a bunch of people, how could I not run?!"

Chenier replied coldly:

"You had other choices, like going up to any NYPD officer on the street and turning yourself in."

"Hah—"

Ham Mark scoffed, pointing at Luo An and said:

"The FBI man just said, I'm still embroiled in a case, barely escaped with my life and have been living incognito for so long, how could I possibly turn myself in?

Getting caught means at least 10 years behind bars! I'm nearly 50 this year!

Besides, there are some damn freaks in prison who like to target older guys like me because I can't fight them off..."

Hearing Ham Mark talk about the culture inside the prison, Chenier's head was full of disbelief, and Luo An waved his hand to cut off the other's rambling, saying:

"Let's change the subject, Mark.

According to the investigation by my agents, the courier company you work for has no record of those two parcels' tracking numbers. Where did they come from?"

"A man gave them to me."

Ham Mark once again drained his coffee in one gulp, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and explained:

"Yesterday morning, I was out delivering parcels as usual when someone stopped me on the street.

He told me, since I was a delivery man, he wouldn't bother going to the courier station and asked me to deliver the two parcels for him."

Luo An continued to ask:

"That doesn't seem to comply with your company's policies, does it?"

"Indeed it doesn't, but the man handed me a Franklin."

Ham Mark spread his hands, indicating that no one could resist the allure of a Franklin, so he accepted the task.

However, the man did not specify a time, so he didn't hurry to deliver those parcels right away. It wasn't until the afternoon, after he had delivered all the other parcels assigned by his company, that he delivered those two parcels to the specified location.

After delivering the parcels, Ham Mark hadn't walked far down the stairs when he heard an explosion.

But initially, Ham Mark didn't think much of it because this was New York, where gunfights and explosions are commonplace.

It wasn't until he rested in a bar and saw on the news the specific location of the explosion that Ham Mark realized something was off, so he quickly returned to his place to pack up and start running.

"Emotional Perception" confirmed that what he was saying was the truth, Luo An's eyes flickered slightly as he continued to inquire:

"What did the man who gave you the parcels look like?"

"I didn't see clearly, the person wore a mask and sunglasses."

Ham Mark scratched his head, then suddenly clapped his hands and said:

"But I can be sure the guy was black, the kind whose skin is so dark it's reflective."

"Black?"

Hearing Ham Mark's identification, Luo An and Chenier exchanged a surprised look.

According to the FBI's internal database, over 75 percent of bombers within the federal territory are white; black bombers are rare.

Luo An was silent for a few seconds, then continued to ask:

"That smaller parcel, did you deliberately place it at the door of the office where the explosion happened?"

The smaller parcel Luo An was referring to contained a box with a piece of paper inside marked with the word "game."

Ham Mark shook his head:

"It was the black guy who told me to do it. For the sake of that 100 US Dollar bill, I agreed."

Chenier furrowed her brows upon hearing this:

"Didn't you ever suspect why he wanted you to do that?"

"What's there to be suspicious of?"

Ham Mark leaned back, answering with a calm look:

"I've worked at the courier company for two years, I've seen all sorts of things.

Once, a guy asked me to deliver a package at 3:30 in the morning, because it was adult material he had bought, and the guy was under 15; he was afraid his mom would see.

Another time, a woman asked me to deliver a parcel to her neighbor's house across the street because she was having an affair with the male head of that household, and she was afraid her husband would find out..."

Ham Mark talked about many bizarre incidents he encountered while delivering parcels, illustrating that the unsettled land of the federation harbored all manner of eccentrics; he was already no longer surprised by any of it.

"OK."

Chenier was full of frustration, and Luo An continued to ask a few questions. After obtaining the location where the suspicious black man met Ham Mark, he stepped out of the interrogation room.

"How did it go?"

Seeing Luo An and Chenier emerge, Reesi hurried over and asked:

"Did you get any leads?"

"We did, but not entirely."

Luo An rubbed his temples and handed over the interrogation records to Mona, instructing her to investigate the location where the suspicious black man appeared to search for and screen him. Then, he turned to Michelle and inquired:

"The clues we got from that hospital yesterday, did you find anything?"

Michelle nodded, tapping on the keyboard while responding:

"That Carlton, he might not be as straightforward as he appears."