54 Li Xuan's True Purpose

As Kang Shuwei spoke these words, his tone carried a tinge of self-blame. But he quickly reverted to his previous demeanor, saying, "The distance from the train station to the school is almost the same as from the airport."

"After leaving the school, Li Xuan immediately went to the airport..."

"By around 10:20, he should have reached the airport, right?"

"Currently is..."

He glanced at his wrist to check the time, then continued, "It's one thirty in the afternoon."

"He should have boarded the plane, already departed."

As Kang Shuwei's voice faded, the entire room fell silent. Amazement and shock surged through the hearts of the members of the task force. An intricately woven trap! A massive scheme!

Ye Gaoyi felt his legs stiffening, suddenly understanding a fraction of what Wang Hua must have felt before committing suicide. It was a kind of despair in the face of being outmaneuvered in every way.

Zheng Ze, after repeatedly confirming Kang Shuwei's account of Li Xuan's actions, pushed his glasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose with force. After a prolonged silence, only Dong Yang couldn't accept it and spoke again.

"How could he possibly calculate events forty-five days in advance?"

"Even in cases like explosions, unexpected things always arise, no matter how meticulously calculated."

"Moreover, this kind of precise calculation?"

"Even the slightest deviation would shatter his plan!"

"Captain Kang, are you overthinking this?"

Dong Yang hesitated, then continued, "Then how..."

Kang Shuwei explained, "_In this scheme, there are indeed many variables, but Li Xuan doesn't need to control everything."

"He only needs to convey these false messages to us."

"I've said it before, this is just the most crucial step for us, but for Li Xuan, it's just one part of his plan."

"At its core, his purpose for coming to the school was to hide his identity while studying."

"Li Xuan's ultimate goal is to rise in Jinling."

"All these mentions before were just traps he casually left."

Hearing these words, Dong Yang couldn't say anything further. In his heart, there was only admiration for this 18-year-old.

In a span of one and a half months, it was impossible to calculate every variable. Li Xuan had merely left a few messages and spun them around in circles.

Ye Gaoyi took out a cigarette from his pack, lighting it up. If you looked closely, you could see his hand trembling slightly. He thought back to the events on K331. The impression Li Xuan left on him was as if he could manipulate everything in the world.

Sun Ting, however, had a perpetual frown on her face. According to Kang Shuwei's account, Li Xuan had indeed gradually led them into a trap, but it didn't make sense...

She pondered it over and over but ultimately couldn't arrive at any conclusion. After much contemplation, she had to speak up.

"Captain Kang, if Li Xuan is truly this capable, why didn't he escape quietly?"

"By acting like this, he's only increasing his risk, isn't he?"

"If he had the ability to leave, why did he show up on the surveillance cameras on August 15th?"

"And after showing up on the cameras, wasn't he worried that we would find him ahead of time?"

"True, we put in a lot of effort to search for him, and we only found his lead today."

"But..."

"Actions are in the hands of people. If we hadn't reached this point on the 19th, wouldn't his plan have been completely thrown off?"

Upon hearing Sun Ting's words, Ye Gaoyi put down his cigarette and looked back at Kang Shuwei. He hadn't thought of what Sun Ting had mentioned, but he also wanted to know the answer. The reactions of the others mirrored Ye Gaoyi's sentiment.

Kang Shuwei took a deep breath and then began, "He had no risk."

He furrowed his brows and continued, "This is a bit complicated to explain. But I can give you the conclusion first."

"Regardless of whether we discovered his fleeting presence in the August 15th surveillance footage or not, he would still have been able to leave."

"As for why he intentionally exposed himself..."

"That's where his brilliance truly lies."

Kang Shuwei took a deep breath, stood up from the lawn, and his expression grew more serious.

However, the reactions of the others to Kang Shuwei's demeanor at this moment were even more astonished. Originally, they thought Li Xuan's setup was already astonishing enough, but they hadn't anticipated that Li Xuan's motives had an even deeper layer!

"As for this aspect, I just thought of it."

Kang Shuwei began, "This requires us to consider the issue from Li Xuan's perspective."

"Do you remember when we started discovering Li Xuan's traces?"

"September 15th."

"We discovered Li Xuan's shadow in the surveillance on August 15th. And the retention time for surveillance footage in various locations is just one month, after which it's routinely cleared."

"Is this a coincidence?"

"No."

"Li Xuan's scheme truly began on August 15th. He planned everything he needed to do."

"Since he was prepared to leave from the airport, the best choice for him, of course, is this place."

Saying this, Kang Shuwei pointed to the ground beneath him.

"For him, the best choice is certainly Jinling Aeronautics and Astronautics University. So he must have conducted a thorough investigation of this school."

"Since this biennial Aerospace Dynamics Competition is so important, Li Xuan would undoubtedly thoroughly understand the details of this competition."

"This also set the day for his escape."

"Logically, this laid out everything in his plan."

"As for whether we would come to the school before September 20th..."

"Sure, we did expend a lot of time on the investigation, but in reality, we were also fortunate to be able to reach this point."

"Don't forget, the reason we could discover Li Xuan's presence so quickly was that we only took two days to find the place where Li Xuan had stayed in Xuanning District."

At this point, Sun Ting's brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Because this was where her confusion lay. Even Captain Kang mentioned luck. But what if they had more luck?

If they could have found the lead even a bit earlier, then all of Li Xuan's calculations would have turned to dust. How could they talk about the follow-up then?