The nocturnal operation didn't take up much time, and the empty room had almost nothing to gain except for Jason providing some amalalies to refer to, and Bruce taking samples of some dirt on the floor.

"That refrigerator is for merchandise?"

An old refrigerator in the corner with electricity still on catches Bruce's attention.

“... No, he should have put food for himself, I've seen him take something out of it to eat, and he doesn't sell cold drinks or anything like that."

Jason looked at the old refrigerator and thought about it for a moment and replied.

Bruce opened the refrigerator, although it was on the electricity, the temperature of the refrigerator was not too low, and some of the fresh food in the refrigerator had begun to spoil.

After carefully examining the contents of the refrigerator one by one, he closed the refrigerator door and turned to leave the small shop, re-locking the door, and then the two drove back to the bat cave.

Once back at the Batcave, Bruce was busy cramming the samples he had just collected into a computer for analysis.

Jason sat and watched as Bruce analyzed the soil samples on a computer, from how dry they were to their composition.

"What is this?"

Jason was confused by those jargons.

"Polycyclic fenne, which is usually found in the soil around chemical plants"

“... Is it polluted? ”

"Right"

"What is the degree of dryness used for?"

"Used to estimate the approximate time when the dirt entered the room"

“..... Push it out? ”

"It can only be approximate and not exact"

“.... How to push? ”

Jason thinks Bruce must have some kind of superpower, but he hides it.

"It snowed last night"

"Right"

"Then if these soil samples were too dry, they must have entered the store before yesterday"

“.. That's a bit too broad."

"No, this kind of mud must have a certain amount of water to form this kind of clump, the composition of the mud is in line with the contaminated composition around the chemical plant, and it is not mixed with other things, this person should have taken a car directly from the chemical plant."

“... Can't you turn on the heating or something overnight? ”

"It's been snowing a lot lately in Gotham, and the air is quite humid, so if you want this size of mud to dry completely, you do need to turn on the heating, but no, what does that mean?"

Bruce, in turn, threw Jason a question.

"No heating"

Jason answered without thinking.

"What's the reason he doesn't turn on the heating in such cold weather?"

Bruce asked another question.

“..... Save money... Or... He's not there at all."

"Yes, I have seen the food in the refrigerator, and judging by the food inside, the food in the refrigerator has not been touched for almost seven days, because the temperature of the refrigerator is a bit high, and some foods that are not resistant to putting have begun to spoil."

“.... Or maybe he just didn't touch the food."

Jason said with some unconvinced.

"There is indeed a possibility to put it on the list that needs to be excluded"

"Well, even if he's not there, how much can the time frame be narrowed?"

Jason gave up.

"Between the last precipitation and this precipitation, it was about five days, and in addition to the people who entered the room with this mud mass, there should have been a wave of people who went in, and they cleaned up the room"

Jason listened carefully as Bruce could figure out how long the room was vacant and what it was like when it was empty just by analyzing a lump of mud.

"Why?"

"It is not known yet, perhaps to cover up something. You said the desktop was clean and exceptional, right?"

"Right"

"Someone went to that room to look for something, and cleaned it to cover up their behavior, and you said that the furnishings in the room had changed, right?"

“.... Yes, but wouldn't a deliberate cleaning tell someone that someone had been there? ”

Jason remembered the reason Bruce had stopped him from wiping down the tabletop.

"There are two possibilities, one is that a layman comes here looking for something; And the second is that the boss himself did it."

Jason nodded incomprehensibly, he didn't understand why the boss would deliberately clean up when he went to find something, at least in his impression that the old man or the man was definitely not the kind of person who was very diligent.

"If it's a group of laymen, they may just be commissioned to create an empty door, like we did tonight, but if it's the boss himself, it's probably to cover something, and he may or may not have taken it."

"Oh....."

Jason was confused, Bruce's analysis was his speculation from beginning to end, and there was not even a little evidence, but he didn't know why Jason just couldn't find a reason to refute it.

“... And what about that lump of mud? ”

"The ground was cleaned up, but this mud was left in the corner, indicating that the cleaners were in a hurry."

“......... And then what? ”

"There are a few possibilities, there was a person from a chemical factory during the last rainfall, and the relationship between him and the boss should be familiar, so he walked around the room at will, and the location of the mud ball was very corner, and it was almost impossible for anyone to walk there, so it should be that person who sat on a chair and threw his legs in that position, and he may have told the boss something, or he may have given the boss something and left. After that, there was a group of people who came to the store to look for something while the boss was away, and after that, it was us."

Bruce's analysis made Jason always feel that there was a contradiction and kept thinking about it, but Bruce didn't say anything or ask anything, just continued to look for clues from the computer that he needed.

“... And what about the boss who went to find something himself? ”

"It's just that the second step is replaced by the boss himself"

Jason fell silently again, thinking that something was not quite right.

"Gentlemen, it's too late today"

Alfred's time to show up suggests that the two gentlemen have been long behind the time they should have been laid for. Although Jason passed the entrance exam, he could only wait until the next time school started to officially enroll, so he didn't need to wake up early. Bruce barely gets up early, but Wayne Enterprise is not a problem with this, but that doesn't mean they can stay up all night.

“..... That's right, that's all for tonight, Jason go get some rest early."

Bruce said, glancing at the time on the computer.

“... I'm thinking about it for a while."

Jason felt that he might not be able to sleep tonight, and Bruce's analysis seemed to be somewhat contradictory, but Jason really couldn't find the problem.

"Master Jason, long-term lack of sleep in boys who are growing up will affect their height"

Alfred said as he stood beside Jason with a glass of hot milk.

“... Could it be that the boss himself came back from the chemical plant? Or was it that the man from the chemical factory got into a fight with the boss and damaged the shop, so the boss moved the contents of the room again? ”

Jason asked suddenly with hot milk.

“... All of these possibilities are available, so we need more clues to rule them out and go to bed tonight."

Doesn't this mean that the clues they have now can't be called clues at all?

Jason thought a little depressed as he walked back to his room.