The elevator ascended slowly, and when Michelle posed her question, Luo An's eyes flickered with an almost imperceptible glimmer. Without answering her question, he patted her on the shoulder with a smile:

"Mona is investigating that suspicious black man, and just now the trace examination department also found clues related to the bomb maker.

Once we capture them, we should be able to know the truth behind this case."

"Alright."

Michelle nodded her head, soon after the elevator doors opened, and Luo An hurried back to Investigation Team 13 with her, beginning to sift through information.

The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye, and the next morning, the agents walked into the meeting room to start analyzing and integrating the clues in their hands.

Seated around the long conference table, the agents settled in as Luo An turned his gaze first toward Reesi. Seeing this, Reesi spread her hands in resignation, saying:

"The $100 US Dollars the suspicious black man paid to courier Ham Mark, turns out Ham Mark didn't actually spend it on alcohol, but on a woman in a bar.

I found the woman, but she served several men last night and used the money she earned to buy food and such; the trail goes cold there."

Luo An's lips twitched, while Winslow's eyes widened in disbelief:

"From the moment Ham Mark entered the bar, to when he saw the news, and finally his escape - the whole timeline was less than fifteen minutes. Where did he find the time for a woman?"

"No, you got the sequence of events wrong, Ham Mark first sought out the woman upon entering the bar, then watched the news, and only then did he make a run for it."

Reesi corrected Winslow's statement, then spread her hands with a chuckle:

"So it seems, sometimes speed is also a form of strength, very useful in critical moments."

"..."

The room fell into an awkward silence. Mona covered her eyes, unwilling to speak, while Winslow and Chenier's faces twitched uncontrollably, and Michelle, expressionless, silently poured Luo An a cup of coffee.

Luo An tossed the folder in his hand to Reesi, signaling her to quiet down for a while, then asked:

"Chenier, Winslow, how are your investigations going?"

"We've found a very suspicious individual."

Chenier passed her folder in front of her to Luo An and then turned to Mona:

"I've briefed Mona on the situation, I'll let her take it from here."

"OK."

Mona nodded, typed a few keys, and displayed her laptop screen to everyone, introducing:

"Folks, the mixed-race man in the photo is Adam Avalos, 31 years old, working at a restaurant, and is a member of a New York northern anti-gun organization.

Last March, Carlton, the victim in this case, had debated with members of that organization, and Adam was involved, ending up being silenced by Carlton."

"Very normal."

Reesi glanced at Adam's personal information before saying:

"As the data shows, Adam didn't even finish high school, how could he possibly be more eloquent than Carlton, a graduate from an Ivy League university."

Luo An nodded, then asked:

"Why do we suspect this Adam Avalos?"

"Three reasons."

Mona opened two surveillance videos to show everyone, explaining:

"Firstly, Adam Avalos has a younger sister who was killed in a street robbery three months ago. The killer used an illegal firearm to shoot her, and has not yet been caught.

Secondly, since the incident, Adam Avalos has become increasingly radical, vehemently opposing gun owners.

Chenier and Winslow found several surveillance videos yesterday that show Adam Avalos smashing the NRA's doors with eggs and other objects more than once.

Thirdly, I found another piece of surveillance footage near the victim Carlton's apartment.

The footage shows that shortly after his sister's death, Adam Avalos had gone to Carlton's residence to throw trash and verbally abuse him, his behavior was quite deranged.

However, a month ago, Adam Avalos suddenly stopped these actions.

I checked his bank account, and the records showed that he withdrew thousands of US Dollars from his account during those days."

"It's not just that."

Mona had barely finished speaking when Winslow passed Luo An a folder with a grave expression and said:

"We've also found that Adam Avalos borrowed a high-interest loan of 50,000 US Dollars, which was due to be repaid within a month.

Now a month has passed, and the loan company is frantically looking for Adam Avalos, but they can't find him at all.

Later, the loan company tried to take Adam's house, but found out that Adam had already mortgaged his house to the bank and took out 100,000 US Dollars from the bank."

"A man unburdened, unable to find the murderer who killed his sister, filled with hatred for gun proliferation, and desperate for money everywhere..."

Looking at the information in the folder, Luo An squinted slightly, thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Winslow and asked:

"Is there any way to find out the specific time or place where Adam disappeared?"

Winslow shook his head and replied:

"Adam was last seen a week ago when he bought some groceries at a supermarket.

After that, the guy completely vanished, not even the loan company can find him."

Luo An closed the folder, impressed by the federal team's broad pool of talent, then turned his gaze to Mona and asked:

"What about that suspicious black man, how's the investigation going?"

"I've found him!"

Mona's lips curved slightly as she quickly tapped a few keys on the keyboard and displayed a photo of a black youth with a prominent nose, introducing:

"Hasim Reed, 36 years old, unemployed, or at least that's what I can't find about his profession.

This guy has never paid taxes, and the money in his bank account is just below the threshold for having to pay taxes."

Luo An nodded without changing his expression; it's common for lower-tier black citizens to avoid using bank accounts or checks for transactions and prefer using cash instead.

It's a legacy issue for the federation, like the Black Panther Party incident decades ago, where many of the group's leaders were executed, assassinated, or imprisoned for a long time.

Much of the "evidence" came from banks, so ever since then, the lower-class black citizens started living in cash, trading in cash, or doing business in cash.

Luo An thought for a moment, then asked:

"Can this Hasim Reed make bombs?"

"He didn't even finish elementary school, so definitely not."

Mona shook her head, then she typed a few more keys and pulled up another photo of a middle-aged black man, and said:

"But this guy definitely can.

His name is Elaine Reed, 50 years old, once a knowledgeable senior member of a black gang.

The gang was busted more than twenty years ago, and Elaine Reed was in prison before he even reached 30, and was only released eight months ago.

Hasim Reed and Elaine Reed are related, so after Elaine got out of prison, he started living with Hasim."

Luo An's brows lifted, asking:

"What's the name of that prison?"

"The name of the prison isn't important."

Mona smiled, and she pulled up a file to show to Luo An, continuing:

"What's important is, this 50-year-old Elaine Reed, and the 35-year-old Luca Kurs that you, Luo An, found in the Trace Examination Department yesterday, were in the same prison.

Not only that, their cells were very close, just a few rooms apart."

"That's why I say, prison is the real talent exchange center."

Luo An casually put the photo aside and said with a smile:

"A fifty-year-old man coming out of there can earn a living thanks to the skills he's learned."

"It's just that the means of making money is somewhat illegal."

Reesi grinned and asked:

"What's the plan now?"

"Simple, make the arrest!"