Spoiled by Eight Uncles (Lily)

Damian sent the surveillance video to the group, and upon inspection, it was considerably clearer after the enhancement.

Although the surveillance footage did not capture the girl's body, it did show a small part of her. She was walking while looking at her phone and walked to a wooden board that was laid on the ground at a construction site to protect the floor from scratches.

At that moment, she abruptly froze, and the high-voltage electricity instantly rendered her motionless. A distorted shadow was visible under the street lamp, and shortly thereafter, she fell to the ground, lifeless. The screen displayed only one hand, the source of the electrical contact, while the scorched hand on the ground remained curled up. Over time, it became barely recognizable as a human hand.

Josh's hair stood on end as he exclaimed, “This is too scary...” Lilly fixed her gaze on the monitor and asked, “That's it?” Blake replied, “Keep watching.” Approximately five minutes later, another arm entered the frame of the surveillance footage. It appeared as only one arm due to the limited range of the surveillance, which captured only a small part of the incident scene.

The area had been overlooked during the initial investigation because it was too distant, small, and blurry, blending with the swirling shadow of the trees. Without careful examination, one would assume it was the shadow of branches.

The person in the video appeared to be startled, taking a few steps back before sitting on the ground. However, the electrocuted girl's arm was soon dragged out of the screen, and the surveillance video abruptly ended.

Lilly was taken aback, stating, “I still don’t know who that person is...” Blake clicked on another video and said, “Keep watching.” The next video was from the mall and specifically focused on the first-floor bathroom, which led to the back door mentioned by people on the internet. The footage was taken in the morning when the mall was bustling with people.

In the video, a man wearing an orange vest, resembling a worker, emerged from the back door carrying two tool bags. He seemed to be in a hurry as he swiftly made his way out.

Hannah expressed her confusion, saying, “I don’t see anything unusual!” Blake nodded and explained, “To most people, there doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Firstly, it's common to have maintenance workers in the mall. Secondly, it's normal for a worker to carry two tool bags. Thirdly, no one would suspect that two bags could contain a corpse, as it wouldn't be feasible to walk so easily with such weight. And finally, the weight of the bags he’s carrying is likely similar to that of actual tools.” Thus, during the initial investigation and monitoring, this worker was overlooked.

As the video progressed to around noon, the worker returned to the scene again.

“Take a closer look, although the bags he’s carrying this time are bulging, they seem very light,” Blake pointed out.

Josh agreed, saying, “They don’t seem to weigh much.” Towards the end of the afternoon when work hours were finishing up, the worker reappeared with two bags, and this time, the bags appeared to be heavy.

The footage stopped playing at this point.

Hannah asked, “So what does this mean?” Zachary, folding her arms, raised her head from her notes and responded sarcastically, “I told you to read more, but you insist on playing instead!” Hannah looked perplexed.

Huh? I'm not playing! Blake chimed in, “When the worker first came out with the bag, he lowered his head so we couldn't see his expression. However, there was a slight sense of unease in his behavior.” Hannah said, “Oh... It's hard to tell.” Lilly nodded and added, “Yes.” Hannah remained doubtful, asking, “Did he appear uneasy?” Lilly pointed to the monitor and said, “His hand is slightly raised, as if he wanted to lift it but hesitated. His other hand is holding onto something, but the hand gripping his belt is clenched tightly into a fist.” Blake nodded, impressed by his daughter's observation skills. “There’s one more video to watch, from a surveillance camera located 0.6 feet away from the incident site.” He clicked on the final surveillance video, which showed a roadside view with several large trash cans. Next to the trash cans, there were piles of construction waste, including a dark red wooden board measuring about 20 by 20 inches.

“Do you see this board?” Blake pointed at the frame, pausing for a moment.

Lilly nodded, recognizing it. “Yes! I've been to Uncle Edward's construction site before, and it looks similar to the wooden boards used in the elevator.” Blake confirmed, “That's right. These boards are thin and small, making them easy to be blown away by the wind.” He rewound the video, and the monitor displayed the entire street in the direction of the trash cans.

That night, the wind was strong, causing the large trees to sway, and several bottles of water to roll on the ground.

In the footage, a wooden board appeared, and, although not as fast as the water bottles, it rolled a few times before quickly reaching the side of the road and getting stuck on the road railing.

In the morning, a cleaner picked up the board and walked toward the trash can. Since the board was slightly larger than the trash can, he placed it next to the bin.

The video fast-forwarded, showing the shopping mall near the trash cans undergoing renovations. Some foam boards and carrier bags were brought out, and construction waste was piled up next to the trash can.

Then the garbage truck arrived and collected all the garbage.

Hannah asked again, “So, what does this mean?” Lilly looked at her and let out a sigh, sounding somewhat mature for her age. “Hannah, you have bad eyesight!” “When the board was flying earlier, there were scorched marks on it!” Hannah responded with a puzzled expression, “So?” Zachary patted her on the head with the notebook, saying, “Why don’t you play some more.” Hannah scratched her head, feeling confused. She could not understand why the burnt board had any relation to the girl who was electrocuted.

Josh explained, ” A discharge occurs when a high-voltage electric shock is generated. The arc’s high temperature is caused by both the arc itself and the thermal effect of the current. According to Joule’s law, we can assume the voltage to be...” Hannah was speechless.

| ain't listening to all that! Blake added, “To put it in simple terms, high-voltage electricity burns people, and when it does, it leaves burn marks.” Suddenly, Hannah had a realization: “So the scorch marks on this board are the burnt marks left by that girl?” Blake nodded approvingly, “I guess there's still some brain juice in you.” Lilly stifled a laugh, covering her mouth.

Blake paused the video at a particular frame.

When the cleaner picked up the board, the burned side was facing outward. It was evident that the board was almost completely burned through, with a thin strip from the center to the edge.

“This is where the girl's arm was burned.” Hannah thought to herself...

| get it now, how scary! “So, the girl stepped on this piece of wood and got electrocuted, which caused it to burn. The wooden board was also burnt.

Then the wind blew the burnt board to a garbage can 0.6 miles away, and it was collected by the garbage truck...” Hannah looked somber and suddenly felt scared.

It was only at this moment that Josh realized why she had remained so composed all along. It turned out she was unable to understand anything...

Lilly shook his head and asked, “But | don’t understand. Isn't wood an insulator?” Blake responded, “Didn't Tracy mention that she stepped on something like a nail?” The probability of stepping on a conductive nail was relatively low.

However, if she stepped on the joint between two boards, especially if there were nails along the edge, the likelihood of being electrocuted by a high-voltage shock would be relatively high.

“It's possible that there were two connected boards with nails along the edge... The situation depends on the worker at that time.” This board ended up flying 0.6 miles away, and the others have probably been dealt with.

There were also several large trash cans near the flower bed at the crime scene, which were blind spots in the surveillance. It was difficult to determine if the other board had been discarded or taken away.

“Now, let's go find this worker.”